Cleveland police monitor seeks court help on equipment plan

CLEVELAND (AP) — The independent monitor overseeing an agreement to reform the Cleveland police department said in a federal court filing this week that he will ask a federal judge to address the city's failure to create a detailed plan on how it will invest in equipment like cruisers and in-car computers to modernize a department that lags behind other cities.

A planned Jan. 6 court conference will be the first time that Barge, who heads a team of police experts, will ask U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. to directly intervene in the agreement reached between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice after a DOJ investigation concluded in 2014 that Cleveland officers had shown a pattern and practice of using excessive force and violating civil rights.

The plan submitted by the city also fails to address the shortage of computers in district stations and in-car computers used by police departments big and small that allow officers to do their jobs safely and efficiently, Barge wrote in the court filing.