CLEVELAND — International Day Against Police brutality was on Friday.
In Cleveland, people gathered at the ACLU for a rally in support of Issue 24, which would change the way the city holds police accountable.
“So Issue 24 is a charter amendment to make the Community Police Commission a permanent body of civilian oversight. We want to ensure that we have independent investigations into police misconduct, that we have accountability, and most importantly, civilian oversight,” said LaTonya Goldsby, president of Black Lives Matter Cleveland.
Kimberlee Vaughn is just one of the dozens who attended the rally in support of Issue 24.
Vaughn drove from Akron to support Citizens for a Safer Cleveland, which organized the rally.
“It provides for a safer Cleveland for my brothers and sisters here. Also calls for greater accountability for the officers in this area,” said Vaughn.
Jeff Follmer, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, said he does not support Issue 24.
He said police oversight is already in place.
”We’re against it because we have a mayor. We have a safety director. We’re under the justice department right now. We have a chief that does discipline. We are probably No. 1 in the country for discipline,” said Follmer.
Issue 24’s supporters said the current oversight didn’t do enough to protect their loved ones.
“I’m actually here in the fight for justice for my former husband, for justice for Mohamed. He was shot 15 times in the back by Akron police on 12/15/19,” said Vaughn.
Follmer said Issue 24 is the wrong way to improve accountability.
He said it could discourage people from entering law enforcement.
“You would have less police officers, which would make it less safe. And the service would not be as good because you would be having everyone on patrol. You would lose people on (the) homicide unit, sex crime units. You couldn’t even think about having a community policing group because there wouldn’t be enough police officers,” said Follmer.
Voters will decide the fate of Issue 24 on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
