When lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice return to Cincinnati today, they're expected to meet with police leadership, defense attorneys and citizens who claim officers have targeted them because they're black.

        The Justice Department lawyers are conducting an investigation of the Cincinnati Police Division's “patterns and practices” to determine if the department has violated the civil rights of citizens.

        City and police officials prepared documents to give the investigators, but they would not elaborate on what the information would include.

        “We are preparing information they have expressed an interest in,” said Lt. Col. Rick Biehl, an assistant chief.

        Said assistant city solicitor Richard Ganulin: “DOJ will be reviewing documents and speaking to people. Who specifically, I don't know.”

Tours sought

               Justice officials had asked to tour all five police districts and other police division offices. But Greg Baker, acting safety director, said Friday that plans were not final.

        The federal lawyers, just as they have since their investigation was announced May 7, refused to explain anything about their plans for this visit. Federal officials in Washington have prom ised the process wouldn't be as adversarial as it has been in other cities, but they're also authorized by law to sue the city if an agreement on changes can't be reached.

        Mayor Charlie Luken asked for the federal intervention after the police shooting death April 7 of Timothy Thomas, a 19-year-old unarmed black man who was wanted on 14 misdemeanors — mostly for traffic violations — and ran from officers in Over-the-Rhine. Officer Stephen Roach, who shot him, was indicted on charges of negligent homicide and obstructing official business.
       

Less confrontational

               Lt. Col. Ron Twitty, acting chief last week with Chief Tom Streicher out of town, said the relationship between the department and the investigators has not been adversarial. The federal officials have promised it wouldn't be, unlike their work in other cities.

        “We think that we can show that we have a very good police department,” he said. “And if they find loopholes, we'll close them.”

        Lawyers involved in suing the city over racial profiling expect some of their clients to speak to justice investigators Thursday. Details were not final last week, but attorney Al Gerhardstein said they expected to set up several interviews.

        “We want the Department of Justice to hear from people who've had these things happen to them,” Mr. Gerhardstein said. “I'm sure we have more people than they have time for, but we will make them available for as long as they want to listen.”

        The lawsuit accuses the police division of decades of poor treatment of African-Americans. Both sides are trying to settle the case through an elaborate mediation system designed to eventually involve thousands of citizens.

        Also Thursday, local criminal defense lawyers are invited to meet with the investigators in the Hamilton County public defender's office.

        The federal officials contacted leaders of the Greater Cincinnati Criminal Defense Lawyers Association for help in reaching lawyers who might have clients with concerns about police treatment, said Bill Gallagher, the group's past president and chairman of its board of directors.

        “My impression is that what they would like to do is talk to anybody who has a viewpoint on the criminal justice system,” Mr. Gallagher said.

        The group sent letters and e-mails to its 115 members. Among the concerns he said members have expressed: seeing many of the same police officers in court often; and arrests by officers on off-duty details.

        Those have led attorneys to wonder, Mr. Gallagher said, if cops become aggressive and make arrests to get extra pay for going to court.

        ""They may be in just an area where a lot of crime happens upon them,” he said.

        The federal lawyers also have an appointment with Urban Waldbillig, a longtime local advocate for people with mental illnesses. He called them several weeks ago, asking to outline how much he thinks the police division has improved in its dealings with mentally ill people since the fatal shooting in 1997 of escaped mental patient Lorenzo Collins, who wielded a brick against officers.

        The lawyers will visit him Wednesday at his apartment.

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