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US Attorney Dettelbach emphasizes importance of community support of consent decree

Cleveland has reached an agreement with the U-S Department of Justice to reform the city's police department.  

Some of the changes detailed in the consent decree include: new policies and training of police on the lawful use of force; the hiring of a civilian to oversee the police department's internal affairs unit; collection of data on every police stop, search or seizure; and specialized training of officers to handle incidents involving people with mental health issues.  

At a press conference today, US Attorney Steven Dettelbach emphasized the need for everyone to work together.

DETTELBACH: Police leaders also have to be open to the honest truth that as long as police officers are human beings, they will not always reach that standard of excellence.  And that the people who might criticize the police are not the enemy.  They are part of the community that the police officers are sworn to serve and they ought to be listened to.

The consent decree comes five months after the Justice Department issued a scathing review of the Cleveland police department. 

Annie Wu is the deputy editor of digital content for Ideastream Public Media.