CLEVELAND — Before they vote, we would urge citizens of Cleveland to carefully read their copies of the initiated Issue 24 proposal that recently arrived in the mail to amend the Cleveland City Charter to establish a permanent Cleveland Community Police Commission. The proposal describes a structure and process that is openly hostile to police; its adoption would make it extremely difficult for Cleveland to retain and recruit police officers. It would make Cleveland less safe.

The proposal calls for the establishment of a 13-member Community Police Commission with enormous power over police discipline as well as most aspects of police governance. Three members of the commission will represent police associations and may be serving Cleveland police officers. The qualifications of the other ten members, who must never have been employed by the Division of Police, are best described by quoting from the proposal:

At least two Commission members must represent community organizations focused on civil rights issues. At least one Commission member must be, represent, or be knowledgeable of, as applicable: i) the issues of those who are limited-English speakers, homeless, or who have mental-illness and substance-abuse disorders; ii) those who have been directly impacted by police violence, or be a family member of a person who has been killed by police; iii) those who have been incarcerated and exonerated where police were involved in the wrongful conviction or incarceration; iv) gun-violence survivors or be a family member of a person killed by gun-violence; v) an attorney with experience representing victims of police misconduct or criminally prosecuting police misconduct.

Under these terms, Cleveland will likely have significant difficulty recruiting new police officers. Why would anyone want to enter a difficult and dangerous profession knowing that their career may be terminated by the vote of a commission comprised of members who have been specifically selected for their hostility to police?

The mayor will appoint 13 members to four-year terms with a majority vote of City Council. The three members of the commission representing police associations may be removed summarily without cause by the mayor or by a majority vote of the other 10 commission members. In contrast, the other 10 commission members may be removed by the mayor only for malfeasance, misfeasance, nonfeasance, or gross neglect of duty and only after the presentation of written charges followed by a public hearing where the accused has the right to subpoena witnesses and documents.

The commission will nominate an executive director to be appointed by the mayor. The powers of the commission and the executive director are extremely broad, superseding the powers of the mayor and chief of police. The commission will be the final authority on all matters of police discipline. The commission will interview and recommend candidates for police commander to the mayor. The commission will have final authority over police recruitment, police procedures, use-of-force policy, and training. Indeed, the commission would have unchallengeable authority over virtually every aspect of police activity.

The commission will be funded with an annual budget not less than $1 million, to be adjusted annually for inflation. This budget will be appropriated by the mayor and City Council independent of any other city department. In addition, the commission will receive 0.5% of the Cleveland Police budget to fund grants to various related programs, at its discretion. This fund would exceed $1 million annually and be administered by the commission without any apparent oversight or provision of transparency.

This proposal originates from Citizens for a Safer Cleveland, an organization whose amended statement on circulators of its initiative petitions, filed with the city of Cleveland, shows that both its agent of initiative petitions and the primary funder of petition circulators were in Youngstown. If adopted, it will result in fewer, less-empowered police in our neighborhoods, and it can only be modified by amending the City Charter. It will not address the growing violence on our streets. Adoption of this proposal will not make Cleveland safer.

James A Dayton Jr. and Carol O. Dayton are both retired civil servants who served in management positions. James had a long career as an engineer with NASA and in private industry. Carol is a social worker and was the chief over adult protective services for Cuyahoga County. They are proud parents of a Cleveland Police detective.

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