Director’s Corner

September 2, 2026

To the residents of Cleveland,

When I was appointed by Mayor Justin M. Bibb into this role in January, I inherited a Commission with an extraordinary mandate and a long list of work that had been waiting. Eight months later, I want to use this space to do something I believe is overdue: recognize the Commissioners who have picked that work up and carried it forward!

Building the Accountability Framework

Commissioners Shandra Moriera-Benito, Piet van Lier, and Tera Coleman along with new staff member, Assistant Director, Tim Scott, have led the development of new policies that will govern how police discipline is administered, how evidentiary hearings are conducted, and how cases are reviewed. This is the architecture that Issue 24 promised Cleveland voters in 2021 – this is where talk becomes action and action becomes accountability in practice.

That work was not done in isolation. These Commissioners worked collaboratively with the Cleveland Division of Police to build policies that are workable and grounded in the Charter. Collaboration of that kind takes patience and a willingness to sit at the table through hard conversations – our Commissioners did both.

Leading the Way

The Charter of the City of Cleveland (the “Charter”) gives this Commission a role in the promotion of Cleveland Police Commanders, but a process to carry that responsibility out was not established until this year. The CPC has now created and established that process for the first time in its history under the leadership of Commissioner Untaya Miller, Chair of the Training Committee; Commissioner Maya Kincaid, Chair of the Outreach Committee; and Commissioners Sheila Mason, Imoh Umosen, and Sharena Zayed.

The Commission no longer has a theoretical role in promoting Police Commanders. Two Commander interviews have been conducted, with approximately six more interviews to come before letters of recommendation will be sent to the Mayor. Officers who have served in an interim status for far too long will finally have a decision.

These same committees also established a process for Inspector General interviews, and have worked to bring our District Policing Committees into compliance – the neighborhood-level bodies where residents and officers meet each other directly.

Additionally, the CPC’s staff has grown this year from 1 employee to 5, with 3 additional employees expected to join before 2027. Before introducing the newest employees, I want to especially acknowledge Jocelyn Sandusky, the longest tenured employee in the CPC, for her unwavering commitment to the City of Cleveland and the CPC.

When other CPC staff left the organization over the past two years, Jocelyn stayed and continued to be the voice of the CPC staff. The institutional knowledge she carries has allowed our newest staff members to make informed decision to shape the CPC’s future in a meaningful way. Thank you, Jocelyn!

Below is a brief list of our newest employees and some of their accomplishments to date:

1. Lisa Johnson: Lisa initially came to the CPC at the beginning of May 2026 as the Office Manager but quickly found herself immersed in the CPC’s grant program. Since joining the CPC, she has cleared almost 50% of the backlog of grants that were awarded in 2023 and 2024 but had not yet been issued to grantees. Clearing the backlog has resulted (as of the date of this post) in a total of $492,216 being distributed to grantees over the previous two months.As a result of these efforts, Lisa was promoted to Grants Manager in August 2026. In her new role, she will serve as the CPC’s direct liaison to grantees, oversee the grant application and distribution process, and assess the impact of grants on community organizations.
2. Timothy Scott: The Charter states the CPC’s Executive Director will have at least one assistant, but no one had filled the role until Timothy Scott became the first Assistant Director in the CPC’s history. Upon joining the CPC in May 2026, he immediately began identifying policy and procedure gaps in the CPC’s internal structure and operations.To improve the CPC’s efficiency, Timothy has developed and distributed 14 policies or procedural manuals to various Commissioners for adoption by the CPC, including the police disciplinary hearing rules and policies for the Accountability Committee. Timothy is actively engaged in improving the internal and external operations of the CPC while setting the tone for the CPC staff’s professionalism, accuracy, and dedication to its mission.
3. Claire Foley: The newest member of the CPC’s team is our Senior Policy Analyst, Claire Foley. In less than one month at the CPC, Claire has cleared 90% of a 10-month backlog of disciplinary case letters. Claire’s next step is to analyze the efficiency and fairness of CDP’s disciplinary actions and provide feedback to the Accountability Committee.Claire has also provided her expertise to clear a 9-month backlog of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Deployment Reports that detail how the Cleveland Division of Police uses drones. Now that the CPC has logged the UAS Deployment Reports, Claire will help determine whether CDP’s reports of drone flights match the CDP’s policy requirements for drone use reporting.

With additional well-qualified staff expected in 2026, I anticipate several more milestones will be achieved by the CPC in the near future.

What this Means

I want to be plain about why I am naming this progress publicly.

Some of the work described above should have been completed years ago, but the CPC’s focus is not on what “should” have happened. Instead, we are choosing to focus on the future with the goal of truly establishing an independent civilian oversight system of the Cleveland Division of Police.

In the eight months since I arrived, every committee is producing and matters that sat untouched are moving. That is not the achievement of any one person – it is what happens when commissioners show up, chairs take ownership, and staff and commissioners pull in the same direction.

The needle is moving toward Consent Decree compliance and toward an office that runs efficiently enough to meet the responsibilities Cleveland voters handed us. We are far from finished. But we are moving, and the public deserves to see it.

To Commissioners Moriera-Benito, van Lier, Coleman, Miller, Mason, and Kincaid, and to every Commissioner serving alongside them: thank you. To the residents of this city: this work belongs to you. Our meetings are open, our policies are public, and your voice is the reason this Commission exists.

We remain committed to a Cleveland where policing is constitutional, accountable, and worthy of the community’s trust.

In service,

Shalenah “Shelly” Williams, Executive Director
Cleveland Community Police Commission