For the past two months, Dettelbach and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson have appeared at community events, met with other officials and taken in community comments on how the city's police force should be reformed.
Speaking on WVIZ's Ideas program Dettelbach said the Justice Department is ready to sit down with the city to reach a comprehensive agreement and he's hopeful.
"One of the reasons I'm hopeful is because the mayor has been very clear that he views this as a historic opportunity and that he wants it to be real and comprehensive, that he doesn't want just have some kind of surface change. And that's where we are too.," Dettelbach says.
The requirement for a binding consent decree comes after federal investigators found a pattern or practice of excessive force by Cleveland police officers.