Under mayor Justin Bibb, Dornat "Wayne" Drummond is the current Interim Director of Public Safety, and Dorothy Todd is Chief of Police.

[3] In 2014, the Justice Department concluded an investigation into the CDP which found that the CDP had demonstrated a "pattern ... of unreasonable and unnecessary use of force" and used "guns, Tasers, 'impact weapons', pepper spray and fists in excess, unnecessarily or in retaliation" and that officers "carelessly fire their weapons, placing themselves, subjects, and bystanders at unwarranted risk of serious injury or death.

[7] Concerns over the adequacy of this arrangement had led, in 1837, to the formation of the Cleveland Grays, a private military company, for the partial stated purpose of assisting local law enforcement when and if the need arose.

When legendary Prohibition-era crimefighter Eliot Ness became director of public safety in 1935, he abolished the existing system of precincts and reorganized the city into police districts, with each commanded by a captain.

Under Ness, the Division of Police has experimented with new technologies and procedures, gaining a reputation as one of the most progressive and efficient departments in the nation.

[11] Further aggravating the situation, The City of Cleveland was found guilty of discriminating against minorities in hiring, promoting, and recruiting government officials, specifically police officers, by a federal court in 1977.

The Cleveland Police are also investigating the possibility of remodeling certain aspects of the department after the NYPD, including initializing a CompStat system.

Under Mayor Jackson, the department has also embarked upon a program of increased cooperation and coordination with other law enforcement agencies in the region.

[14] In 2017, Cleveland Police became the final group of the city's first responders to carry the naloxone nasal spray Narcan, the opioid antagonist that can reverse the effects of a drug overdose.

[23] Racial tension was high between Cleveland's police and its African American community to begin with, and played a crucial role in further escalating the situation.

Cleveland police officers were watching Fred Ahmed Evans and his radical militant group, who were suspected of purchasing illegal weapons.

[25] The following day, when it became clear that the department was ill-equipped to handle the situation, then-mayor Carl B. Stokes asked Governor James A. Rhodes to activate and deploy elements of the Ohio National Guard.

[25] As then-mayor-elect, Dennis Kucinich appointed former San Francisco Sheriff Richard D. Hongisto as chief of police in 1977, a decision he would later come to regret.

[29] A special unit of Cleveland narcotics officers known as "The A Team" became partners with two drug dealers named Arthur Feckner and Leonard Brooks in 1985 to raise more than $560,000 for an undercover sting that led them to Miami, Florida.

Chief of Police William Hanton and his "heir', Lt. Howard Rudolph, protected Feckner and Brooks while they sold more than $500,000 in crack to poor Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) residents living at and around Woodhill Estates.

According to an investigative news story published in the LA Times, and written by Eric Harrison on June 14, 1989, Feckner and Brooks were generating about $60,000 a day and delivering the cash to "A Team" cop Lynn Bistricky who then turned it over to Hanton.

[30] The A Team working with the DEA made the bust in Miami and it would have been successful until news of how the money was raised for the buy became public and the NAACP got involved.

[30] Cleveland's Black community, once again betrayed by the city's police, were outraged that cops were behind a $60,000 a day crack operation that ruined more lives.

[30] On November 29, 2012, 104 Cleveland police officers were involved in a high-speed chase that resulted in the shooting and killing of a man and a woman.

On October 16, 2013, Police Chief Michael McGrath announced suspensions totaling 178 days for sixty-three of the officers who joined the chase in violation of department regulations.

[32] In the aftermath of the shooting, it was reported that Timothy Loehmann, who was identified as the officer having fired the shots that killed Rice, had been deemed an emotionally unstable recruit, and unfit for duty in his previous job as a policeman in Independence, Ohio.

[35] In December 2012, after a series of deadly force incidents, Cleveland mayor Frank G. Jackson, local U.S. Representative Marcia Fudge, and others asked the United States Department of Justice to investigate the division.

[37] On December 4, 2014, United States Attorney General Eric Holder announced the completion of an investigation into a long-term pattern of excessive force by Cleveland Division of Police officers.

[40] The report found that from 2010 to 2013, the Cleveland police had demonstrated a "pattern ... of unreasonable and unnecessary use of force" and used guns, Tasers, "impact weapons", pepper spray and fists in excess, unnecessarily or in retaliation.

"[42] The agreement follows a two-year Department of Justice investigation, prompted by a request from Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson,[43] to determine whether the CDP engaged in a pattern or practice of the use of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 42 U.S.C § 14141.

[4][5] At the same time as the announcement of the investigation findings, the City of Cleveland and the Department of Justice issued a Joint Statement of Principles agreeing to begin negotiations with the intention of reaching a court-enforceable settlement agreement.

[6] At least some of the provisions have been identified as unique to Cleveland: On June 12, 2015, Chief U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. approved and signed the consent decree.

In 2014, the Cleveland Division of Police stopped purchasing Chargers as their primary squad cars and switched to the Ford Taurus.