So few police officers have participated in the mediation process for a racial profiling lawsuit filed against the city that a federal judge has agreed to a rule change to accommodate them.

        Aria Group, the conflict resolution firm from Yellow Springs, Ohio, that is guiding the process, announced Friday that two meetings will be held Monday for officers to share their ideas for better police-community relations. But they will be held in private.

        “Many times when a police officer, or anyone for that matter, has a TV camera sticking in their face, sometimes it's human nature not to be as open and honest as you would otherwise,” said Fraternal Order of Police president Keith Fangman.

        The five groups that have already participated — religious and social service leaders, youth, African-Americans, city employees and white citizens — have had open sessions.

        “It is unfortunate and we would prefer that the entire process be open, but if this is what we have to do to get them engaged and to participate, so be it,” said Brooke Hill, an Aria spokeswoman.

        Though there was no written change in the federal court order, U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott signed off on the idea several weeks ago after the parties in the lawsuit agreed.

        “This is a mediation and they (parties) set the rules of the order,” the judge said. “You can always change the rules. My goal in this whole matter is for everybody to be able to express their views.”

        So on Monday, 300 officers are expected to share their goals for better police-community relations and to choose representatives to participate in a second meeting, at which those goals are debated and ranked.

        Al Gerhardstein, one of the three lawyers who filed the federal lawsuit in March accusing the city of decades of discrimination against blacks, said police participation is more important than rigid adherence to rules.

        “We have not decided, however, that this is the process for ongoing goal-setting,” he said. “We can let them tell their stories and pick their reps in private but after that I am not going to be as sympathetic.”

        Discussions about allowing groups to decide whether to meet in private began after Aria Group president Jay Rothman canceled the feedback session scheduled for police in August.

        “Quantitatively, we had enough goals but we weren't getting the buy-in that we wanted,” he said.

        So he set up meetings with police administration to negotiate a way to get the officers more involved. Aria Group has already received nearly 190 survey responses from police officers and their families. Officials hope to get 50 to 100 more Monday.

        This is not the first time the mediation rules have changed, Mr. Rothman said. During the youth outreach some did not want to provide all the demographic information that was required.

        So Aria Group made a new rule to accommodate them: 20 percent of the surveys did not have to have all the information, though in the end most provided it.

        “That was probably the first exception that was made,” Mr. Rothman said.

        Mr. Fangman said many officers he has spoken to recently are interested in participating in the new process.

        “The sense I'm getting is they do feel comfortable ... because they feel what they say is not going to be filtered or taken out of context by the media,” he said.

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