A growing number of Cincinnati City Council members are questioning whether the process helping mediate a racial profiling lawsuit against the city ought to be used to implement Justice Department recommendations on the police use of force.

        John Cranley and Alicia Reece, two Democrats who voted for the so-called collaborative process, now say they're considering council action to keep control of the issues at City Hall.

        If they join two Republicans and a Charterite who voted against the collaborative from the beginning, they could curtail the scope of the mediation effort.

        Lawyers in the racial profiling lawsuit had expected the mediation to become the vehicle for implementing the Justice Department recommendations as well.

        The Justice Department's 24-page report, issued a month ago, found problems with the Cincinnati Police Division's use-of-force policy, record-keeping and training.

        The move wouldn't necessarily affect the racial profiling suit, which was filed in March by the American Civil Liberties Union and local black activists and alleged decades of discrimination against blacks.

        A federal judge moved that lawsuit to a collaborative mediation process, and City Council voted to support the mediation with $100,000 in funding by a 5-4 vote in May.

        There is also a practical implication to the process: many police officers feel that City Council will be more responsive to their concerns than a federal judge.

        “We don't need the federal government running our Police Division,” said Fraternal Order of Police President Keith Fangman. “The people of this community have elected nine council members to do that.”

        Mr. Cranley, for one, would like to keep control over the federal recommendations at City Hall, rather than allowing the collaborative to fold them into the racial profiling settlement.

        He wants City Council to get to work on three areas:

        • The police use-of-force policy, which the Justice Department found to be too vague, giving officers too much discretion on when to use chemical irritants, physical force or attack dogs.

        • A disciplinary system which has led the Police Division to reinstate officers fired for serious offenses. Since 1997, the city has lost all 14 suspension and firing cases that were heard by arbitrators.

        • The police oversight system, which involves an often unwieldy bureaucracy that includes the Police Division's own Internal Investigations unit, the Office of Municipal Investigations and the Citizens Police Review Panel.

        “The federal government is not going to let us go unless we make substantive changes,” Mr. Cranley said. “If there are issues to be remedied, why are we delaying?”

        By taking action at City Council, Mr. Cranley said, the city can retain local control and keep the process open.

        Republicans have offered another reason for City Council to take action: the city could save on six-digit legal bills it would likely have to pay plaintiffs' lawyers if the reforms were brought about by the lawsuit.

        Democrat Paul Booth said City Council missed its opportunity to fix the department.

        “We could have called for an audit of police procedures in April. Then we could control the process,” he said. “Justice is not free. It's never been free. There's a cost, and it's a cost we have to measure.”

        The key vote seems to be Ms. Reece, who has expressed growing frustration with the collaborative this week.

        “I was somewhat disappointed that we're getting mixed messages. There are some who say that we're not moving fast enough, and others say City Council should get out of the way,” she said during a committee meeting Tuesday. “We can never get out of the way after we spent $100,000 on the collaborative. And to be honest, I'm not sure what that $100,000 has been used for.”

        Ms. Reece said she thinks the focus ought to be on changing police policies and procedures, rather than recommending a list of new police-community relations programs that will have difficulty getting funded with the city's $17 million budget deficit.

        “I'm not willing to commit at this time to do away with the collaborative,” she said. “Am I willing to look at other options? I am.”

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