U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday that the Cleveland police department systematically engages in excessive use of force against civilians, and that a court-appointed monitor will now oversee implementation of reforms. (Reuters)

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday that the Cleveland police department systematically engages in excessive use of force against civilians, and that a court-appointed monitor will now oversee implementation of reforms. (Reuters)

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced Thursday that the Justice Department has found a pattern or practice of “unreasonable and unnecessary use of force” by the Cleveland Police Department, and it comes at a moment of heightened national scrutiny of police tactics, particularly in minority communities.

His announcement of the findings of an investigation by the department’s civil rights division, launched in March 2013, follows the fatal shooting 16 days ago of a black 12-year-old, Tamir Rice, by Cleveland police officers. The findings also come the day after a grand jury in New York declined to bring charges in the death of Eric Garner, a black 43-year-old Staten Island man who died in July after a New York police officer placed him in an apparent chokehold during an arrest.

In September, Holder opened a similar broad civil rights investigation into racial profiling and the use of force by the police department in Ferguson, Mo., where a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black 18-year-old, Michael Brown, in August.

“Accountability and legitimacy are essential for communities to trust their police departments and for there to be genuine collaboration between police and the citizens they serve,” said Holder, who traveled to Cleveland to make the announcement. “Although the issues in Cleveland are complex, and the problems long-standing, we have seen in city after city where we have been engaged that meaningful change is possible.”

The Justice Department opened an investigation into the Cleveland police after a number of high profile use-of-force incidents and requests from the community and local government to investigate the local department. In a 58-page report, civil rights division investigators found that Cleveland officers used excessive deadly force, including shootings and head strikes with impact weapons; the unnecessary, excessive or retaliatory use of less lethal force including Tasers, chemical spray and fists; and excessive force against people who are mentally ill or in crisis.

“We saw too many incidents in which officers accidentally shot someone either because they fired their guns accidentally or because they shot the wrong person,” the report said.

The Justice Department and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson have signed an agreement to develop a court-enforceable consent degree that will include a requirement for an independent monitor to oversee reform efforts.

“We look forward to working together with the city of Cleveland, members of the Cleveland community and Cleveland police officers to address the deficiencies that have led to this pattern of unnecessary and excessive force,” said Vanita Gupta, acting assistant attorney for the Civil Rights Division.