Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson hires Black police chief, demotes Safety Director Martin Flask, promotes Police Chief Michael McGrath to safety director, shake-up follows calls by community activists for new law enforcement leadership team as to the murders of 11 Black women by serial killer Anthony Sowell on Imperial Avenue, the gunning down, with a hail of 137 bullets, of unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Tim Russell by 13 White Cleveland police officers, Imperial Women, other activists had picketed mayor's home around Imperial Avenue murders, no racial diversity among memebrs of the mayor's law enforcement leadership team, and police negligence
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| Newly Appointed Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams |
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| Community Activist Kathy Wray Coleman, who leads the Imperial Women Activists Group, raises her hand and chants along with some 45 other activists during a 2009 rally she led outside the home of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. The protest was in response to what activists said was police negligence and apathy relative to the murders of 11 Black women on Imperial Avenue on the city's east side. The remains of the women were uncovered beginning in October 2009 and since convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell sits on death row following convictions on 82 of 83 counts, including multiple counts of rape and murder. Activists were also upset because at the time the law enforcement leadership team of the Cleveland Police Department, including the chief of police, law director, safety director, chief prosecutor and EMS commissioner, had no Blacks, though the city is largely Black. On Monday Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson appointed Deputy Police Chief Calvin Williams , who is Black, as police chief. Williams is the third Black city police chief. Photo by John Kuntz, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio's largest newspaper. CLICK THIS LINK HERE TO READ THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER NEWSPAPER AT CLEVELAND.COM
"This is a step in the right direction we believe as to the promotion of Deputy Police Chief Calvin Williams, who is Black, as Cleveland police chief. But until we see a substantial reduction in police excessive force and relative to the rape and murders of women across racial lines in greater Cleveland with many of their assailants still at large, it is nothing to write home about."...Quote below by Imperial Women Activists Group Leader Kathy Wray Coleman.
CLEVELAND, Ohio-The top brass of the Cleveland Police Department is experiencing a shake-up as Mayor Frank Jackson, the city's Black mayor who last month began a third four-year term in office, swore in a new police chief on Monday, and made other police personnel changes.
Calvin Williams of Cleveland, who is Black and homegrown, was sworn in by Jackson Monday morning to replace former Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath, who was promoted to take the job of ousted Cleveland Safety Director Martin Flask. Williams had been a deputy police chief under McGrath.
Williams, the city's third Black police chief, will be paid $110,562 annually, and McGrath got a raise of $10,000 to bring his annual salary to $127,720.
"We definitely want this city to be the best city in the United States," Williams, a 27-year veteran, told reporters on Monday.
Flask will stay on for now as special assistant to the mayor and will earn $121,000 annually.
Community activists, led by the Imperial Women Activists Group, had picketed the mayor's home on two occasions, the first time in 2009 after the remains of 11 Black women were uncovered on Imperial Avenue on the city's largely Black east side at the since demolished home of convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell, who sits on death row while he appeals his convictions on 82 of 83 counts, including multiple counts of rape and murder.They say that police negligence allowed Sowell's release from custody in 2008 to murder the last six of his 11 murder victims. Sowell was also convicted of raping three women who got away, all three of whom are also Black.
Flask and McGrath have also come under fire by community activists and others for the handling of a police chase in November of 2012 that began in downtown Cleveland and ended in neighboring East Cleveland in which unarmed Blacks Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell were gunned down by 13 all non-Black police officers shooting a hail of 137 bullets.
A Cuyahoga County Grand jury is assessing evidence to determine if criminal indictments should come down against the 13 officers, who were among 104 police and 65 police vehicles involved in the deadly chase. Some supervisors have already been punished and even one fired, though most if not all of them are appealing the discipline saying, as Cleveland Police Patrolmen's President Jeffrey Follmer has said, that they did nothing wrong.
Follmer, the union president for the Cleveland police rank and file, has called the unprecedented shooting ' a good shooting,' angering community activists who have also protested around the police killings.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's report on the police shooting puts the blame on the system, saying systemic problems in the police department led to the killings, something the mayor denies.
Federal authorities from the U.S. Department of Justice are also investigating the sensitive shooting ordeal, and citizens complaints of police brutality and excessive force.
Activists had complained during the first picket at the mayor's east side home in 2009 of a lack of diversity. Until Monday's shake-up Jackson had appointed no Blacks as safety director, chief of police, chief prosecutor, law director or EMS commissioner in a majority Black city where unrest continues between police and the Black community as to claims of excessive force and safety concerns. The appointment of Williams, since he is Black, changes that. But whether the diversified administrative changes will satisfy activists or enhance community relations with police remains to be seen.
"This is a step in the right direction we believe as to the promotion of Deputy Police Chief Calvin Williams, who is Black, as Cleveland police chief," said Imperial Women Activists Group Leader Kathy Wray Coleman, who spearheaded the picket of Jackson's home in 2009. "But until we see a substantial reduction in police excessive force and relative to the rape and murders of women across racial lines in greater Cleveland with many of their assailants still at large, it is nothing to write home about."
Cdr. Wayne Drummond is being promoted to take Williams' job as deputy chief, and Captain Dennis Hill has been promoted to be commander of the city's Fifth Police District. Drummond and Hill are also Black and will be paid roughly $110,000 and $100, 000 annually, and respectively.
McGrath, Williams, Drummond and Hill were also sworn in by the mayor on Monday.
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