A new order essentially bars Cleveland police from shooting at or from a moving vehicle, one of 26 reforms recommended as part of a two-year review into the department’s use-of-force policies and practices by the Police Executive Research Forum, reports the Plain Dealer. The PERF review is separate from an investigation launched in March by the U.S. Justice Department. That review, still underway, is focused on training, supervision and accountability of officers.
Police Chief Michael McGrath said his department has implemented 25 of the PERF recommendations. Civil rights advocates called for a federal investigation after the Plain Dealer published a series of stories in 2011 concerning officers using non-deadly force and the administrative reviews that followed. An analysis found that between October 2005 and March 2011, officers used electrical-shock devices to gain control of struggling suspects 969 times. Supervisors found the use of a Taser to be appropriate in all but five of the cases they reviewed.