Our nation was founded on the principle of self-governance. We fought the British and won to establish our independence and our right to rule ourselves. Indeed, Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address restated that principle when he said “ … and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Unfortunately, the notion of a self-governing populace is one that has been increasingly diminished in the “land of the free” over the last century or so.
Which brings me to the recently handed-down consent decree that was entered into by the city of Cleveland and the Department of Justice, which did an excellent job of delineating — and setting forth solutions to — the systemic problems that have plagued the Cleveland Division of Police for as long as anyone can remember, but did little in terms of putting forth concrete methods for the citizenry to be able to oversee the implementation of said solutions. Oh, the words of inclusion and transparency are in there to be sure, but they — by-and-large — are as empty as a popcorn fart.
Remember, “recommendations” are just that: “Recommendations.”
Virtually every group of citizens, civic, religious, civil rights and legal organizations that were invited to provide input to the formulation of the consent decree put forth the idea of an elected civilian police review board, one with real teeth and power. However, since they could only “recommend”, the final document ignored their calls for accountability to the electorate. The decree set forth a complicated-sounding method for the appointment of members to the board — this was done to add weight and legitimacy — but, in the end, it still won’t be a group elected by citizens. How can trust be rebuilt when those who formulated the consent decree engaged in this bit of legalistic sleight of hand in its crafting?
The question now becomes one of: Will those groups that worked so diligently to come up with valid recommendations meekly resign themselves to having their suggestions ignored? The answer from government of course will be that it’s too late to amend the consent decree, which is total nonsense. Or will they press their demands for inclusion, even if that means putting an issue on the ballot to change the city charter?
A better, fairer method — one that does more to satisfy and serve our democratic ideals — would be to have a hybrid police civilian review board with an equal number of board members appointed by those folks who are assured they are much smarter than us, and other members who are elected by us, the people who were dumb enough to allow those allegedly smart people to make our decisions for us in the first place.
Indeed, the city has had appointed police civilian review panels for decades, but to what end? Other than throwing a hissy fit or holding their collective breath until they turn blue in the face, what was that body able to accomplish? Indeed, if such a construct had been effective we wouldn’t be dealing with the problems with the police we’re currently faced with.
Without true accountability to the citizenry the consent decree is basically toothless. That’s why, before the ink was even dry on the paper it was written on, Steve Loomis (the head of the police union) was using it for toilet paper. Cops who don’t care to follow the rules will quickly find ways to subvert, get around or totally ignore all of the strong language in the document. To them it will become little more than a dead letter; strong words on paper that are to be quickly ignored.
Without accountability to those who are governed and policed, we should not expect much of real substance to change.
[Photo: Orin Zebest/Flickr]
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.