Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb has named Leigh Anderson, a criminal justice studies professor at Southern Illinois University and member of the consent decree monitoring team in Ferguson, Missouri, to the new role of executive director of the Police Accountability Team.
Anderson started this week.
The job is similar to the one held by Judge Greg White who was Cleveland’s police consent decree coordinator from 2016 until late 2021 – tracking and reporting on the city’s progress toward completing the consent decree.
“Her deep experience from Ferguson to Chicago plus her extensive training and research acumen make her a perfect choice to help us ensure that the improvements we have made become permanent parts of a police culture of service, safety and accountability,” Bibb said in a press release announcing the hire.
The Police Accountability Team that Anderson runs will “support the City of Cleveland’s continuing efforts with the final implementation of the consent decree.”
Cleveland police have been under a consent decree for more than seven years. The court-appointed monitor, Hassan Aden, recently resigned and the city and Department of Justice are in the process of selecting a replacement.
Until then, former deputy monitor Ayesha Bell Hardaway is interim monitor.
Anderson’s job, heading up the Police Accountability Team, will include working with the monitoring team, in addition to Cleveland police and public safety officials.
She served as the lead community engagement member of the Ferguson, Missouri consent decree monitoring team and has also worked on police oversight issues in Chicago, Gary, Indiana and Harvey, Illinois.
