Police Practices

06.01.20

There Are Good and Bad Ways to Decrease Jail Populations

By Sarah Khan-Williamson

Ohio has one of the largest combined jail and prison populations in the country. (Jail is where people are held pretrial or serve time for misdemeanors, while prisons are where people serve time for felonies.) Pre-pandemic, on any given day, over 70,000 individuals were held behind bars, with around 50,000 people in prison, and around 20,000 people in jail.

08.07.19

Cleveland Police Need a Strong Policy to Protect Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Residents

By Emma Keeshin

Cleveland Division of Police (CDP) is in the midst of adopting comprehensive reforms, as required by a federal consent decree. While not specifically required by the consent decree, at the urging of ACLU of Ohio, Equality Ohio, Trans Ohio, and the Cleveland Community Police Commission, CDP has agreed to create a policy that will instruct officers on best practices for interacting with individuals who are transgender or gender non-conforming.

03.29.19

On Police Violence, Our Legal System and Community Members Disagree

By Emma Keeshin

It was a Saturday in August 2017 when I drove across town to gather in Euclid with family and friends of Luke Stewart, a young father who was killed by Euclid Police after they found him sleeping in his parked car.

03.08.19

ACLU of Ohio Urges Improvements to Cleveland Police’s Search and Seizure Policies

By Emma Keeshin

As part of its consent decree process, the Cleveland Division of Police is revising its search and seizure policies, which govern when and how officers can stop, arrest, and detain community members. Although its 2018 revised drafts represent an improvement, there are still changes that must be made for the policies to comply with basic best practices.

10.10.18

No Safety Without Justice: Recommendations for a Toledo that is #SafeForAll

By Emma Keeshin

When we first met with Toledo city officials to discuss safety it was the summer of 2017, and it had just been announced that Toledo would partner with the Department of Justice (DOJ) on an anti-violent crime initiative. Less crime, less violence – what could be bad about that?

06.13.18

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan’s Letter to DHS Regarding Sandusky ICE Raid

By ACLU of Ohio Staff

On Tuesday, June 5, 2018, over 200 ICE agents descended upon agriculture businesses in Sandusky and Castalia, Ohio. They arrested 114 workers and loaded them onto buses bound for detention facilities in Youngstown, Ohio and Battle Creek, Michigan.

On Friday, June 8, the ACLU of Ohio called on our supporters to urge U.S.

05.18.18

Are Law Enforcement Officers Committed to Safety for All, or Just Some?

By Emma Keeshin

In case you didn’t know, it’s National Police Week. Let’s reflect on what’s missing from the conversation.

We can all agree that we want our neighborhoods to feel safe. But “safe” can mean many different things to many different people. And too often, governments have used the idea of “safety” as a way to diminish people’s rights – particularly in communities of color and low-income communities.

08.09.17

Cleveland Mayoral and City Council Candidates Must Prioritize Police Reform

By Emma Keeshin

With so many candidates for Cleveland mayor and City Council this year, it can be hard to keep track of all of them. But something you must keep track of is their commitment to police reform in Cleveland.

That’s because Cleveland is in year two of a multi-year police reform process, known as the consent decree, which is overseen by a federal judge after the U.S.

05.24.17

Keep Cleveland’s Consent Decree Moving Forward

By Katrice Williams

As the two-year anniversary of Cleveland’s second consent decree approaches, many residents are worried that the Cleveland Division of Police will adopt Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ “law and order” attitude. Mr. Sessions champions loosening restrictions on police. That “law and order” attitude will likely only be used against civilians and not the law enforcement officers who have been tasked to protect them.

02.08.17

“Alternative Facts” on Sanctuary Cities Will Hurt Our Communities

By Mike Brickner

One of the major fears rising from the campaign of Donald Trump was that his rhetoric would embolden state and local officials—especially those seeking to capitalize on the headlines the President is generating—who wanted to roll back important Constitutional protections. Case in point: the recent announcement by state Treasurer (and 2018 U.S.

10.21.16

Government Not Counting Deaths In Police Custody

By James Kosmatka

Advances in media and technology have brought desperately needed visibility to the pressing issue of police violence. Visibility alone, however, cannot create long-term accountability and transparency in law enforcement. That is why the successful implementation of the Deaths In Custody Reporting Act (DICRA) is crucial.

08.17.16

Blurring Lines: Police Militarization and the RNC

By Allison Kao

Photo by Raymond Wambsgans through Flickr Creative Commons.

Allison Kao is a high school student serving as a summer intern at the ACLU of Ohio.

After two years of anticipation, preparation, and scrutiny in the national spotlight, Cleveland can finally reflect on the 2016 Republican National Convention.

02.19.16

How Do We Know if Police Are Obeying the Law?

By Ellen Kubit

For years, the story has been the same. Its plot involves unnecessary stops, disproportionate responses, and inexcusable use-of-force. People of color in Cleveland, and cities like it across the country, have become intimately familiar with this narrative. Police enforce the law in different ways depending on who they are policing.

01.29.16

2016 Must Not Be a Missed Opportunity for Police Body Cameras

By Lisa Wurm

Police body worn cameras are now a reality in Ohio. Law enforcement rapidly continues to purchase and use them, and before we know it they will be an afterthought as part of everyday policing.

Striking a Balance

Body cams are also a complex issue for organizations like the ACLU of Ohio because they raise issues of police accountability, personal privacy, surveillance, and government transparency. 

01.18.16

MLK Day: Yesterday and Today

By Tim Cable

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an opportunity to reflect not just on what King accomplished but also on how his tactics can inform our work for social change.

When King wrote his Letter from Birmingham Jail, racial segregation was an institution.

01.08.16

Black Children are Children: Tamir Rice and the Adultification of Black Bodies

By Shakyra Diaz

Many would like to quickly move forward now that a grand jury has decided not to indict the Cleveland police officers involved in the tragic death of Tamir Rice, the 12 year old child who was shot in less than one second while playing in a park.

12.18.15

#YearWithoutTamir Honors Life of Slain 12 Year Old Child

By Ellen Kubit

November 23, 2015 marked the one-year anniversary of the death of Tamir Rice, a 12-year old boy shot and killed by Cleveland police while playing in a park near his home. His family and local activists organized several events over the weekend to celebrate his life and to draw attention to the grand jury investigation overseen by Prosecutor McGinty.

09.04.15

Time for Voters in Toledo to Get Sensible about Marijuana

By Steve David

If you live in Ohio and are inclined to follow political news and developments, you are already aware voters will be asked in November whether or not they favor legalizing marijuana in Ohio.

What you probably do not know is Toledo voters have a similar issue on their citywide ballot. 

07.27.15

Transparency Is Key for Police Body Cameras

By Lisa Wurm

In a trend I hope will last, the public is paying much more attention than it once did to how law enforcement operates.  As a result, on any given day there are various community discussions, debates, and media analyses on topics, such as uses of force, racial profiling, targeting of communities of color, and police militarization.

07.25.15

Does Ohio Need a Police Shooting Database?

By Shakyra Diaz

There has been recent public outcry about the disproportionate interactions with law enforcement in communities of color. To better understand what’s happening, Ohio could make use of a centralized database that would document instances of excessive force, lethal and non-lethal.

Earlier this year, two criminal justice students at Sinclair Community College in voiced support for a database that specifically would document instances of police shootings.

07.17.15

A Victory for Transparency

By Shakyra Diaz

Photo by Supreme Court of Ohio

For a person paying thousands upon thousands of dollars a year to a university, which has the responsibility to mold and educate them, transparency might seem like a simple request. However, for many private institutions across the country and in Ohio, right-to-know standards have not been the norm.

06.19.15

How I Found My Voice and Took to the Streets in Protest

By Adrienne Gavula

On the day Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo was found “not guilty” on all counts against him in the tragic and unnecessary execution-style deaths of Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell, I was in complete shock.

My Reaction to the Deaths

I remember the morning after the two Cleveland residents were murdered in November 2012.

06.12.15

With Great Power Comes Great Accountability

By Ellen Kubit

Photograph courtesy of Rachel Woods

Change in the Cleveland Division of Police is long overdue.

After the U.S. Department of Justice publicized its findings from its most recent investigation of the CDP, the ACLU provided recommendations for how Cleveland police can fix their unconstitutional policies and practices.

06.09.15

Just a Dent in Militarized Policing

By Shakyra Diaz

Photo by Raymond Wambsgans through Flickr Creative Commons.

Last month, President Obama took a preliminary step to curb decades of militarized policing in America.

The call for change, however, began a year ago.

Raising the Alarm

The ACLU issued “War Comes Home: The Excessive Militarization of American Policing” in June 2014.

06.06.15

An Open Letter in the Aftermath of the Brelo Verdict

By Adrienne Gavula

Editor’s Note: On May 23, Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo was acquitted in the shooting deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams.

Dear Cleveland,

I was in class, listening with one ear to the live stream of the Brelo verdict on my laptop.

05.22.15

Being a Witness Is Not Enough

By Ellen Kubit

If you pay any attention to the news lately, you would think that the country is suddenly in the midst of a police misconduct crisis.  Every month or so, we learn about how a police officer killed someone of color: Michael Brown, John Crawford, Eric Garner, Tanisha Anderson, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Tony Robinson, and unfortunately, far too many more.

05.01.15

Vote: Let’s Get Free!

By Shakyra Diaz

In this country money and votes matter. These two factors determine whether or not the people elected to represent us will listen to us. We may or may not have the money to be heard but many of us do have the right to vote and that scares some people.

03.06.15

Racial Justice and Police Practices: Raising the Issue

By Steve David

Are people right to say that if you don’t break the law police won’t bother you? Is it true that if you obey police orders you won’t get hurt?

Not if you live in Cleveland—or in Ferguson, Missouri, for that matter.

03.04.15

Police Body Cameras Are Promising, but Need Protections in Place

By Shakyra Diaz

Photo: West Midlands Police via Flickr Creative Commons

Every so often, new or updated technology is introduced to law enforcement. The list includes tear gas, pepper spray, stun guns, dashboard cameras, and automatic license plate readers, among other things.

These tools greatly assist police.

03.02.15

International Relations, ACLU Style

By Kimberly Millhoan

What happens when delegates from various continents are in one room together to talk about democracy?

Last month we found out.

In early February, we met with emerging leaders representing Argentina, Botswana, the Republic of Korea, Spain, and Tajikistan as part of a professional exchange program sponsored by the U.S.