By Carl Weiser, Enquirer Washington Bureau
and Jane Prendergast, The Cincinnati Enquirer

WASHINGTON - Summoned to a hearing by an angry Cincinnati congressman, a top U.S. Justice Department official Thursday backed off a policy Cincinnati police said would have drowned them in paperwork and deterred them from fighting crime.

At issue was the reporting of incidents in which police use "hard hands" - varying degrees of physical force - to make suspects comply. The Justice Department had sought to have each incident thoroughly investigated by supervisors, including on-scene interviews of witnesses and tape-recorded statements from the officers involved - a process officers say can take hours.

But Mayor Charlie Luken said that would "handcuff our police." He appealed to Attorney General John Ashcroft and the city's congressional delegation, which includes the chairman of the House Constitution subcommittee, Steve Chabot. The delegation also includes Rep. Rob Portman, a member of the House GOP leadership, who sent a letter protesting and called Justice officials.

Chabot scheduled the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights division, Ralph Boyd Jr., to testify Thursday afternoon. Just hours before, one of Boyd's top aides, Robert Driscoll, flew to Cincinnati and settled the dispute, agreeing to ease up on how much investigation more routine "hard hands" incidents would require.

"I think that made the difference," Luken said of the congressional pressure. "We had a much more productive meeting this morning than we have in weeks."

The new deal means the Justice Department won't file a lawsuit against the city, Driscoll said.

Portman said he was "delighted" at the new agreement.

"It's proportional," said Portman, R-Terrace Park. "Not every touching would require the same paperwork."

Chabot, a Westwood Republican, asked Boyd whether the Justice Department itself may be partly to blame for the city's rising crime rate, by hamstringing city police. He cited the shooting this month at Fountain Square - "the symbolic heart of our city" - the record number of murders, and a shoot-out last month on Harrison Avenue, in his own neighborhood.

"We have witnessed a breakdown in law and order during the past two years," said Chabot, a former city councilman. "Not coincidentally, there is growing sentiment that the agreement with the Justice Department may be contributing to this dangerous situation."

Boyd told Chabot at the hearing that he didn't believe there was any relationship between the city's crime rate and the 2002 agreement between the city and the Justice Department.

"I don't think there is," Boyd said. "Or I want to say this: there shouldn't be."

The city signed an out-of-court agreement with the Justice Department, restricting the use of excessive force against suspects. The Justice Department agreement is a companion to the "Collaborative Agreement" on police-community relations, which settled a federal class-action lawsuit on racial profiling.

Boyd said the Justice Department wanted police to enforce the law, but to do it "within the rules."

Gregory Korte contributed to this report.

E-mail cweiser@gns.gannett.com or jprendergast@enquirer.com