With a court-imposed deadline to settle a racial profiling lawsuit against Cincinnati fast approaching, three issues have emerged that threaten negotiations between city officials and plaintiffs.

        Sources involved in the unprecedented effort to improve police-community relations and avoid a potential court battle told the Enquirer on Thursday the issues are not insurmountable. However, they have clearly sucked the momentum from the mediation process.

        The issues are:

        • Whether recommendations from the U.S. Department of Justice's report — regarding use of force, in particular — will be included in the settlement. The Justice Department looked into the Cincinnati Police Department's patterns and practices after Mayor Charlie Luken called for an investigation last year.

        • What will ultimately happen to the Citizens Police Review Panel, which reviews incidents of alleged police misconduct. The group voted Monday to suspend public operations, citing a lack of adequate staff support.

        • The extent to which the federal court or those involved in the mediation will have jurisdiction over enforcement of any agreement.

        Justice Department officials are open to having a single monitor to make sure the police department follows use-of-force recommendations, sources said. However, the city is opposed to allowing the plaintiffs in the lawsuit to have a say in who that monitor might be.

        “The issue is not whether (the plaintiffs) can have a say,” a source said at the meeting. “The issue is whether they are the say.”

        After 14 hours of the most intense negotiations since the mediation process began last May, talks showed the first signs of a possible breakdown Wednesday night.

        Looking haggard and frustrated, negotiators left a series of meetings held at Xavier University around 11:30 p.m. without commenting.

        Mediator Jay Rothman pledged that the group will resume its work next Thursday and Friday.

        Negotiators had set Wednesday as the deadline for talks to end and the framework of an agreement to be in hand.

        But after tempers flared late Wednesday night, each side became entrenched in its positions and the meeting adjourned.

        At times, lawyer Ken Lawson, who represents the plaintiffs; Mr. Luken — who was on a speaker phone from a vacation spot in Florida — and others could be heard yelling from behind closed doors at the Cintas Center.

        Sources said Thursday city lawyers asked for the postponement, saying they were not ready to discuss certain issues because they were unsure what Cincinnati City Council's reaction would be. They also have been slow to provide written proposals for plaintiffs to review.

        Mr. Luken remains optimistic that differences can be settled. However, the city will not cave in.

        “I think it's true that the city's not agreeing to everything,” he said.

        “There are certain requests being made of us that I think are not healthy for the police department and the reduction of crime we need so badly in our city.”

        This week's intense negotiations evolved after a yearlong process to garner community support and input to settle a racial profiling lawsuit that the American Civil Liberties Union and a group of local black activists asked to widen into a class-action last year. The lawsuit alleges decades of discrimination against blacks.

        As part of the mediation, dozens of meetings and suggestions from 3,500 citizens helped mold five goals, which have become the foundation of the proposed settlement.

        If an agreement is reached, the process could take on new importance in solving race relations problems not only in Cincinnati, but also in cities across the nation, criminal justice experts say.

        U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott has set April 5 — two days before the one-year anniversary of the shooting incident that sparked the Queen City's worst riots since 1968 — as the date for negotiations to end. By that date, either an agreement will be signed or the parties will stop negotiations and head back to court.

        Judge Dlott was present at some of the meetings Wednesday.

        “I think it's encouraging that we're still meeting,” Councilman Pat DeWine said, adding that the one-week break will give all sides a chance to focus the issues.

        Mr. DeWine said council members have been briefed on the progress of the negotiations and would be prepared to vote on a proposed settlement rather quickly — depending on the settlement.

        “Obviously, the price tag matters,” he explained. “But obviously, it depends on what we're spending our money on. To the extent that we're spending money on better police protection, that's something I'm willing to live with.

        “If the agreement is we've got to pay the Black United Front's attorney fees, it's going to have a tough time in my committee.”

        Enquirer reporter Gregory Korte contributed to this report.

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