While Cleveland City Council members got a chance Wednesday to hear for the first time from the newly named Monitor overseeing police reforms mandated by a 2015 federal consent decree, some of their questions angered Samaria Rice who walked out of chambers frustrated and upset.
Rice, who said she's still grieving the death of her 12-year-old son Tamir who was shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer in 2014, said she feels like council members are standing in the way of meaningful progress and change in the city鈥檚 police department.
鈥淚鈥檓 just aggravated because [City Council members] are acting like they don't know what鈥檚 going on here,鈥� she told 海角破解版 on Wednesday. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been doing this for eight years 鈥� Everybody in there needs to resign their jobs and start from scratch.鈥�
Her frustration came after a line of questioning from council members over progress in the city鈥檚 federal , an agreement entered into by the city in 2015 to address police reforms after a Department of Justice investigation found a pattern of excessive use of force within CPD.
Over the past eight years, the city has . And while new Monitor Karl Racine commended city and police leadership for making 鈥渄emonstrable progress,鈥� the found Cleveland is actually losing ground on police reform: falling from 42.5% compliance to 39% in the second half of 2022.
Much of the conversation focused on what some council members perceived as steep hourly rates for the team of monitors, led by Racine who presented before council in .
Some members of the 27-person team, 15 of whom are full-time, make up to $250 an hour. Historically, Racine notes, a $1.1 million cap is not exceeded in any given year and 20% of their billable time is free to the city.
Still, council members like Ward 16鈥檚 Brian Kazy dug in. After a line of questioning about pay, he asked if the other two monitors sitting in the audience would bill the city for attending the meeting and 鈥渘ot participating.鈥� He said it doesn鈥檛 sit well with community members whose tax dollars are funding work on the consent decree.
Racine pushed back to defend his team and their pay, saying they will leave 鈥渉appily鈥� once the consent decree is completed.
鈥淚 respectfully completely and totally disagree with the suggestions you make,鈥� Racine said. 鈥淚 have seen quite the contrary: extraordinary commitment, a lot of hard work鈥� If you look at the individuals in this room, since that鈥檚 who you refer to, they have been engaged in the community for decades."
Kazy also asked about the metrics the monitors use to determine compliance and how they 鈥渃heck the box鈥� to present findings to a judge, who will decide when to relinquish the city from the consent decree.
鈥淭he work of organizational transformational and constitutional policing that鈥檚 deserved by the community is not 鈥榗heck the box,'鈥� Deputy Monitor Ayesha Bell Hardaway said in response. 鈥淚t is not subjective. There is an entire discipline of creation of data.鈥�
The discussion upset Rice as she waited nearly two hours for her chance to make a public comment, leaving before she had the chance to do so.
鈥淲hat difference does it make how much the monitor needs to be paid?鈥� she told Ideastream outside the committee room. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a necessity that needs to be here in the city of Cleveland.鈥�
Rice singled out Public Safety Chair Mike Polensek, who led the meeting, for bringing up the monitors' pay and asking what she felt were repeated questions council members should already know nearly a decade into the consent decree.
鈥淚f there had not been so many murders and no accountability, maybe the monitor wouldn鈥檛 even be here,鈥� Rice said. 鈥淐ity Council can鈥檛 do the job 鈥� You coming in here like you want to attack the monitor? You cannot attack this monitor. He鈥檚 doing what he鈥檚 supposed to do.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 care if it costs $500 an hour. Pay him,鈥� she continued. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what he鈥檚 here to do. To make sure the city is in compliance.鈥�
After Rice left, Councilmember Stephanie Howse criticized her colleagues for filling the time with their comments and leaving little room for community discussion. She said public testimony should come first, saying Rice came early to make her voice heard before ultimately exiting chambers.
鈥淐ommunity members are not being paid to be here. We are,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e are here because [Rice] lost her baby. She lost her baby. 鈥� We should do better.鈥�
Ygal Kaufman contributed to this story.
