United States v. City of Cleveland, Order Denying Joint Motion to Terminate (N.D. Ohio, May 8, 2026)

The order refusing to end Cleveland’s police consent decree. 74 pages, fetched and read in full.

The definition, and it is the essay (¶401, quoted in the order): “‘Substantial and Effective Compliance’ means that the City either has complied with all material requirements of this Agreement, or has achieved sustained and continuing improvement in constitutional policing, as demonstrated pursuant to this Agreement’s outcome measures.”

The finish line carries an or. The second branch is a direction, not a destination.

The holding, verbatim: “In viewing the Decree as a whole, the court finds that the City has a ways to go before reaching Substantial and Effective Compliance with all of the material sections of the Agreement.”

And the sentence that says who was reading: the City “has not satisfied the sustainment period contemplated by the Decree — a matter which the parties do not address.” The DOJ and the City moved jointly to terminate. Neither raised it.

Why the decree exists. After a nearly two-year investigation, the Department of Justice found “reasonable cause to believe that CDP engages in a pattern or practice of using unconstitutional force in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” and that officers “use unnecessary and unreasonable force in violation of the Constitution at a significant rate, and in a manner that is extremely dangerous to officers, victims of crimes, and innocent bystanders.”

The founding incidents, as the order records them. January 2011: officers used excessive force “including kicks to the head, against an unarmed man who officers had already handcuffed and moved to the ground.” November 29, 2012: “more than 100 Cleveland police officers engaged in a high speed car chase, in violation of CDP policies, and fatally shot two unarmed civilians,” after which “thirteen CDP officers fired 137 shots at the car, with both occupants suffering more than 20 gunshots wounds.”

Note: the order does not name the two people killed. WR does not add names the record before it does not carry; a separate source is required before naming them.