What Happened to Cincinnati’s Efforts on Bias-Free Policing?

 

Nov 2017 Mutual Accountability Progress Report

collaborative refresh plan update 2019

 

I posted a picture of the final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark,” because that is what is like searching the city’s website. There is a lot there but there is a lot of disarray.

My search was more focused on “Bias Free Policing,” which is one of two overarching elements of the Collaborative. The other being” Community Problem Oriented Policing.”

So far, the documents are showing that in June 2017, the city contracted with Former U.S. Attorney in Detroit, Saul Green, to provide the city with a progress report on the Collaborative Agreement. Mr. Green is the former court-appointed monitor of the original agreement.

In a November 2017 report titled, “City of Cincinnati Collaborative Agreement Mutual Accountability of All Parties,” Mr. Green reports the following:

“Perhaps the most critical omission in the current array of data analytic tools is the absence of methods used to assess bias. It is difficult to assess the progress in the Collaboration toward bias-free policing without these tools.”

In other words, the city had not yet developed a methodology to measure police bias using the data they had been collecting with the contact cards.

Then, in the 2018-2019 timeframe, (which I haven’t nailed down yet),  CPD issued an RFP to develop such an analytical tool to address Mr. Green’s finding. A contract was awarded to the University of Cincinnati, Institute of Crime Science. A kick-off meeting was held July 22, 2019.

There are also references to the effort on “bias-free policing” in a 2019 report from the city manager titled,   “City of Cincinnati Office of the City Manager Collaborative Agreement Refresh 2019 Summary.”

After a February 2020 entry on CPD’s “Collaborative Agreement Timeline,” the structure and transparency of the management of the Collaborative Agreement Refresh seemed to fall off a cliff. For example, what happened to the contract with the University of Cincinnati? Did UC develop an analytical tool  for measuring police bias?

We will continue to piece together what happened to the city’s efforts on bias-free policing but the city’s mismanagement of the “Collaborative Agreement Refresh” left the city wide-open like sitting ducks for a group like Campaign Zero to do their hit job.

I’ll be posting relevant documents on my website. There are a lot, so I’ll be adding them over time.