Police-community relations have become the focus of heated public attention. After a spate of police-related fatalities, anthems such as “I can’t breathe,” “Hands up, don't shoot,” and “Black lives matter” have joined a chorus of national outrage over the excessive use of police force, especially against young men of color.
Toledo has avoided the raw rancor that has ripped apart communities such as Ferguson, Mo. Some of the credit goes to the Toledo Police Department. Under Chief George Kral, who took office in January, 2015, TPD has become more responsive and transparent.
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Still, young men of color here, as in other cities, complain of police harassment and excessive force. So Toledo police need to pay attention when community leader Baldemar Velasquez, founder of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and FLOC Homies Union, suggests ways for police to improve relations with the communities they serve.
Mr. Velasquez has called for, among other things, making changes in how police take internal affairs complaints, encouraging police to live in or near their assigned neighborhoods, and ensuring that citizens know their rights when officers want to conduct a search without probable cause. All of these proposals have merit, and all of them have the attention of Chief Kral.
Filing a complaint against a police officer through Internal Affairs at the downtown Safety Building is cumbersome, as Mr. Velasquez points out. It is also intimidating and inconvenient — and may be impossible for some people without vehicles or with disabilities.
Citizens should be able to file such complaints online or at any police station, and possibly even at community centers at designated times. Officers could take preliminary information from citizens, and forward the allegations and contact data to trained internal affairs officers. Internal Affairs could then contact the person making the complaint or ask him or her to come downtown to meet.
In an interview with The Blade’s editorial page, Chief Kral said he is considering ways for citizens to make initial complaints against officers online. To make citizens more comfortable, he also is thinking of moving Internal Affairs officers into the downtown Government Center this year.
“It would still be downtown, but it wouldn’t be in a police station,’’ Chief Kral said. “Moving Internal Affairs away from the cop shop to make people feel more at ease is an idea that departments all over the country are talking about.”
Moving Internal Affairs officers into Toledo’s city hall and allowing people to initiate complaints online would make the process more user-friendly. But TPD should also consider allowing people to initiate complaints at the Ottawa Park substation and at community centers at specified times or by appointment.
Moreover, after a citizen’s complaint is thoroughly investigated and resolved, the results of that investigation should be posted online at TPD’s website. Case information should include the name of the person making the complaint, the officer involved, and how the complaint was adjudicated.
Posting Internal Affairs investigations online would make for real transparency. Citizens would know whether certain officers are subject to numerous allegations of misconduct, or if some people are making spurious and unwarranted allegations against police.
Residency is another area in which Toledo police could improve. Slightly more than half of Toledo’s more than 600 sworn officers live in the city. Residency gives officers a greater stake in the community, deepens their understanding of its people and problems, builds relations with residents, and increases the visibility of police in city neighborhoods. It also has obvious collateral benefits to a central city that is struggling to maintain its population and tax base.
Cities cannot lawfully require police officers to live in the city where they work. Nothing, however, prevents municipalities from encouraging residency.
Chief Kral, who lives in the city of Toledo, said last week that he wants to offer Toledo police officers incentives to move into the city, such as monthly stipends. But he said that residency incentives would have to be approved not only by the mayor and City Council, but also by the police officers’ union. That would mean postponing incentives until after the current contract expires in two years.
Residency stipends for officers are not uncommon. Ferguson, Mo., after the 2014 shooting of an unarmed teenager by a white officer there, committed to increasing monthly stipends — from $100 to $300 — for officers who live in the city. In 2011, Detroit started to help its police officers buy tax-foreclosed homes in solid neighborhoods.
Having more officers in the city would benefit the entire community. TPD probably does not need the union’s consent to grant benefits beyond those provided by the contract. The chief ought to clarify that issue with the union and city Law Department, and move forward with a residency incentives plan as soon as possible.
Chief Kral also said officers carry consent forms for search requests that don’t meet the standard of probable cause. That’s good, but the chief also needs to ensure that all officers are clearly telling citizens that they have a right to refuse search requests that lack probable cause to expose criminal activity.
All of these changes would move Toledo’s police department in the right direction, and help TPD continue to avoid some of the tensions that have torn other cities apart. Mr. Velasquez deserves credit for speaking out. Chief Kral deserves credit for listening to dissenting voices and taking proactive steps to avoid problems.
Working under far more scrutiny, police departments today need to become more accountable, more transparent, and more professional. That benefits everyone, including cops, who can’t do their jobs in a community that fears and distrusts them.
First Published February 24, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
