Modified Consent Decree
Modified Consent Decree
)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, )
)
Plaintiff, )
)
v. ) Civil Action No. c-1-80-369
)
CITY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO )
et al., )
)
Defendants. )
___________________________________)
This action was initially brought in 1980 by the United States against the Defendants,
the City of Cincinnati (“City”), the Cincinnati Police Division (now commonly known as the
Cincinnati Police Department (“CPD” or “Police Department”)), and the members of the
Cincinnati Civil Service Commission (collectively the “City Defendants”) to enforce the
provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., (“Title VII”).
This Court has jurisdiction over this action under 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-6 and 28 U.S.C. §§
In its Complaint, the United States alleged that the City Defendants were engaged in a
pattern or practice of discrimination in employment on the basis of race (black) and sex (female),
in violation of Title VII. On August 26, 1980, Queen City Lodge No. 69, Fraternal Order of Police
In August 1981, the United States, the City Defendants, and the FOP entered into a Consent
Decree (the “Original Consent Decree”) to resolve all claims in the United States’ Complaint. The
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Original Consent Decree did not constitute an admission, adjudication, or finding on the merits of
the case, and the City Defendants denied that any unlawful discrimination had occurred.
The Original Consent Decree did not specify a particular date of expiration, but rather
permitted the City Defendants to notify the United States of their intention to terminate the Decree
any time after five years from the date of the Decree. (See Original Consent Decree ¶ 9). Neither
the United States nor the City Defendants have moved to terminate the Original Consent Decree
Throughout the City’s hiring and promotion cycles since 2012, the United States and the
City have been evaluating the City’s compliance with the Original Consent Decree and whether
the City’s current Police Officer and Police Sergeant selection procedures comply with Title VII
The United States and the City Defendants are seeking a modification of the Original
Consent Decree based upon changed circumstances as recognized in the Court’s Order Granting
Plaintiff’s Motion to Modify the Consent Decree. Doc. 198 at PAGEID 231 (Sept. 15, 2021)
(noting an increase in both minority and female representation within CPD from 9.9% and 3.4%
respectively in 1980 to 28.3% and 22.9% in 2021). Additionally, circumstances regarding how
the City hires certain law enforcement officers has changed as well. In 2001, Cincinnati voters
approved a Charter amendment that provided for the positions of police chief and assistant police
chief to be in the unclassified civil service and exempt from all competitive examination
to the City’s Charter that provides that graduates of a public safety academy established by
Cincinnati Public Schools in collaboration with the City of Cincinnati be provided an incentive to
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serve the City in the fire and police departments through an award of 5 points in examination credit
2021, the City filed a Notice of Appeal regarding the Court’s September 15, 2021 Order. On July
11, 2022, the City filed a Motion to Dismiss the Appeal. On July 11, 2022, the Sixth Circuit
In this Modified Consent Decree (“Modified Consent Decree”), the Parties recognize the
effect of this Court’s September 15, 2021 order which terminates the provisions of the Original
Consent Decree that provide for interim race- and gender-based goals as a means to achieve the
short- and long-term goals of the Original Consent Decree (see Original Consent Decree ¶¶ 2(A)–
(B)); and agree to put into place a process by which the City, in consultation with an expert, will
consider expert recommendations about current best practices to recruit, promote, and retain black
and female personnel using race- and gender-neutral means in order to ensure that the Police
Department continues its progress toward achieving diversity following the termination of the
short- and long-term goals. The City will further determine which best practices it will adopt after
full consideration of the expert recommendations, to include whether the best practices are
consistent with its obligations under federal, state, and local law and adhere to the terms of
applicable collective bargaining agreements. This Modified Consent Decree (“Modified Consent
Decree”) specifies a period of time to allow for adequate review of the City’s efforts as described
above. During that time period, the United States will continue to review the City’s current Police
Officer and Police Sergeant selection procedures to “[e]nsure that blacks and women are not
disadvantaged by the [City’s] hiring [and] promotion[al] … practices.” (Original Consent Decree
at ¶ 2). The Modified Consent Decree establishes a specific termination date for the Decree.
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In order to implement the Court’s Order of September 15, 2021, and to resolve all claims
in this matter and avoid the burden of protracted litigation, the United States and the City
Defendants enter into this Modified Consent Decree and agree to waive hearings and findings of
1. The “Parties” to this Modified Consent Decree are the United States, by the
Department of Justice, (“United States”), the City of Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Police
Department, and the members of the Cincinnati Civil Service Commission (the “City
Defendants”).
2. “Days” refers to calendar days unless business days are clearly specified in the
context of a specific provision of this Modified Consent Decree. If any deadline referenced in this
Modified Consent Decree should fall on a weekend or federal holiday, the deadline shall be moved
3. The term “date of entry” of the Modified Consent Decree refers to the date on
which the Court orders entry of the Modified Consent Decree pursuant to Section IV of this
Police Department or any person who was hired as a police officer for the City Defendants’ police
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Department or any person who was hired as a police sergeant for the City Defendants’ police
to evaluate a person’s qualifications for appointment to the position of Police Officer or Police
7. The purpose of this Modified Consent Decree is to ensure that the City Defendants
comply with Title VII by using selection procedures that do not unlawfully discriminate on the
basis of race or sex in the hiring of applicants for the position of Police Officer and in the promotion
8. The City Defendants, their officials, agents, employees, and successors, and all
persons acting on behalf of or in active concert or participation with the City Defendants, are
enjoined from using, in the hiring of Police Officers or the promotion of Police Sergeants, any
selection device that has a disparate impact upon black or female candidates on the basis of race,
sex or both, and is not job-related for that position and consistent with business necessity, or
9. The City Defendants, their officials, agents, employees, and successors, and all
persons acting on behalf of or in active concert or participation with the City Defendants, are
enjoined from engaging in any act of retaliation or act which in any respect adversely affects a
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10. This Modified Consent Decree supersedes the Original Consent Decree and upon
entry of this Modified Consent Decree, the Original Consent Decree shall no longer be operative.
11. The City Defendants shall designate a person who shall be responsible for assuring
their compliance with the provisions of this Modified Consent Decree. The designated person’s
responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to, ensuring that the City Defendants fully
implement and comply with all paragraphs of this Modified Consent Decree.
motion(s) and any other process the Court directs, that the terms of this Modified Consent Decree
are fair, adequate, reasonable, as well as consistent with the public interest and otherwise consistent
with federal law, the Court shall enter the Modified Consent Decree.
13. No later than thirty (30) days after the date of entry of the Decree, the City shall
retain a consultant with expertise in the areas of diversity and inclusion in public safety
employment environments to review the Police Department’s hiring and promotional processes.
That consultant shall provide recommendations to the City Defendants for incorporating best
practices for the recruitment, hiring, promotion, and retention of black and female applicants to
the positions of Police Officer and Police Sergeant. As part of the review, the consultant shall
solicit input from community stakeholders identified by the City, including but not limited to the
Fraternal Order of Police Queen City Lodge 69 and the Cincinnati Police Sentinel’s Association.
The City will provide a copy of this Modified Consent Decree in any Request for Proposal, if a
competitive process is used. The City will include a copy of this Modified Consent Decree as an
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14. No later than one hundred and eighty (180) days after the date of entry of the
Decree, or other time period as reasonably established by the City’s consultant and agreed to by
the Parties, the City’s consultant shall provide the City Defendants with a report which:
b. identifies best practices for the recruitment of the black and female sworn
c. recommends changes and tactics the Police Department can use to improve the
effectiveness and efficiency with which it recruits black and female police
officer candidates;
d. identifies and evaluates the effectiveness of the public safety academy operated
e. identifies and evaluates approaches to engage and attract youth between the
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activities aimed at retaining and promoting black and female police officers;
i. identifies lawful best practices for the retention and promotion of the black and
j. recommends lawful changes and tactics the Police Department can use to
improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which it retains and promotes
black and female police sergeant candidates, including examining the length
the retention and promotion of black and female police sergeant candidates
and;
(k), identifies the resources needed by the Police Department to meet its goals,
and recommends minimum and ideal budgets for the Police Department to
15. Nothing in this Modified Consent Decree prevents the City from requesting that
the consultant additionally consider recruitment, promotion, and retention of Hispanic, Asian-
American and Pacific Islander, and Native American candidates, nor does this Modified Consent
Decree prohibit the City from requesting that the consultant consider retention of all Cincinnati
Police Officers.
16. No later than sixty (60) days after receiving the consultant’s report, the City shall
provide the United States with a copy of the consultant’s report, along with its response to the
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consultant’s report. The City’s response shall identify whether the consultant’s recommendations
are consistent with federal, state, or local law, including collective bargaining agreements; which
of the consultant’s recommendations it intends to adopt; the steps the City will take to implement
the recommendations it intends to adopt including funding for the implementation; and a proposed
timeline for the steps identified. If any of the recommendations the City intends to adopt conflict
with applicable state or local law or the applicable collective bargaining agreements, the City will
include in its proposal steps within its lawful authority for addressing any such conflicts.
17. No later than thirty (30) days after receiving the City’s response and the
consultant’s report, the United States shall inform the City in writing either that it has no objection
to the City’s response to the consultant’s report, or that it objects to the City’s response to the
consultant’s report. The United States may object to the City’s response if it believes that any
aspect of the response does not conform to the objectives of the Modified Consent Decree or to
any controlling legal standards. If the United States objects to the City’s response, it shall state the
basis for its objections in the notice required by this paragraph. If the United States objects to the
City’s response to the consultant’s report, the City and the United States shall meet and confer and
use their best efforts to resolve any resulting dispute about whether the City’s response complies
with the Modified Consent Decree and controlling legal standards. If the United States’ objections
are resolved during the meet and confer process, it shall provide the City with written notice that
it has no further objections. If the United States and City are unable to resolve such a dispute within
twenty-one (21) days of the date of the United States’ objections, the United States or the City will
follow the procedures set forth in Paragraph 35 regarding disagreement as to compliance with the
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18. After receiving the City’s response and the consultant’s report, the Department of
Justice’s Civil Rights Division will identify competitive funding opportunities offered by the
Department of Justice that relate to the subject matter of the consultant’s recommendations that
the City intends to implement. The Civil Rights Division will notify the City of any relevant
funding opportunities for which it may wish to consider applying for during the 2023 or 2024
19. The City shall begin implementing the actions identified in its response to the
consultant’s report no later than thirty (30) days after the United States notifies the City that it has
no objections to the City’s response or that its objections have been resolved or, absent agreement,
20. The City will use lawful selection devices to select qualified candidates for hire to
the position of Police Officer and for promotion to the position of Police Sergeant that meet the
requirements of Title VII. The selection devices shall either have no statistically significant
disparate impact on the basis of race or sex, or shall have been demonstrated to be job-related for
the Police Officer position and Police Sergeant positions. If a selection device has a statistically
significant disparate impact on the basis of race or sex, the City will be in compliance with this
provision if it evaluates whether there are alternative uses of the selection device that have less
disparate impact and are substantially equally valid and, if so, adopts such an alternative use
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21. Production of Police Officer Hiring Data from June 2018-Entry of Decree: No
later than thirty (30) days after the date of entry of the Decree, the City shall provide to the United
States the following data upon which any eligibility list was based for the Police Officer position
physical agility test) that has been used as part of the application, selection, and
hiring process for the Police Officer position in the Cincinnati Police
Department during the relevant time period, including any selection devices
seniority, or other bonus points, and the ranks for each applicant who
applicant was not selected (e.g., withdrew from process, declined offer, not
c. Information relating to the scoring system and any passing or cut-off score
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the manner in which the selection device has been used as part of the
application, selection, and hiring process (e.g., whether it has been used on a
pass/fail basis, for ranking applicants, for banding), and the distribution of
scores by race and sex for each administration of each selection device.
d. Answer keys and item-level data (e.g., test question responses for each
22. Production of Police Officer Hiring Data after Entry of Decree: No later than
thirty (30) days after the completion of the administration and scoring of the City’s first entry-
level examination administered after the entry of the Modified Consent Decree on which any
Police Officer eligibility list may be based, the City shall provide to the United States the
following information.
seniority, or other bonus points, and the ranks for each applicant who
c. Information relating to the scoring system and any passing or cut-off score
part (a) herein, including the manner in which the entry-level examination has
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been used as part of the application, selection, and hiring process (e.g., whether
it has been used on a pass/fail basis, for ranking applicants, for banding), and the
distribution of scores by race and sex for all components of the entry-level
examination.
d. The City will provide the answer keys and item-level data (e.g., test question
examination.
23. Within ninety (90) days of the City providing the information identified in
Paragraphs 21 and 22, the United States must either propose an alternative use of the entry-level
examination that is substantially equally valid to the City’s use and results in less disparate impact
on the basis of race, or notify the City that it has not identified such an alternative use. If the United
States makes an alternative use proposal, it will provide the City with a written justification of the
proposal explaining its analyses. The City will evaluate whether it will adopt the alternative use
recommended by the United States and inform the United States of its decision within thirty (30)
days of receiving the United States’ proposal. The Parties shall meet and confer in good faith to
attempt to resolve any disagreement. If the United States and City are unable to resolve such a
dispute within twenty-one (21) days of the date of the United States’ objections, the United States
or the City will follow the procedures set forth in Paragraph 35 regarding disagreement as to
24. The United States has the right to request additional information and data
regarding the City’s administration of Police Officer selection devices. The City will cooperate
with the United States’ request(s) for any additional information related to the administrations of
selection device(s) (e.g., application, multiple choice examination, written examination, reading
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examination, video test, report writing test, physical agility test) that has been used as part of the
application, selection, and hiring process for the Police Officer position in the CPD during
25. Production of Police Sergeant Promotional Data from June 2018-Entry of Decree:
No later than thirty (30) days after the date of entry of the Decree, the City shall provide to the
United States the following data upon which any eligibility list was based for the Police Sergeant
position from June 2018 through the date of entry of this Decree.
test, report writing test, physical agility test) that has been used as part of the
application, selection, and hiring process for the Police Sergeant position in the
seniority, or other bonus points, and the ranks for each applicant who
applicant was not selected (e.g., withdrew from process, declined offer, not
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c. Information relating to the scoring system and any passing or cut-off score
the manner in which the selection device has been used as part of the
application, selection, and hiring process (e.g., whether it has been used on a
pass/fail basis, for ranking applicants, for banding), and the distribution of
scores by race and sex for each administration of each selection device.
d. Documentation that purports to validate the City’s use of the selection device(s)
26. Production of Police Sergeant Promotional Data after Entry of Decree: No later
than thirty (30) days after the completion of the administration and scoring of the City’s first
promotional examination after the entry of the Modified Consent Decree on which any Police
Sergeant eligibility list may be based, the City will provide the following information.
examination.
military, veteran’s, seniority, or other bonus points, and the ranks for each
c. Information relating to the scoring system and any passing or cut-off score
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sub- part (a) herein, including the manner in which all components of the
and hiring process (e.g., whether it has been used on a pass/fail basis, for
ranking applicants, for banding), and the distribution of scores by race and
27. If the United States determines based on its review of the information provided
pursuant to Paragraphs 25-26 that the City’s use of the selection devices do not comply with Title
VII and with this Modified Decree, the United States shall notify the City in writing that it objects
to the City’s use of the promotional examination. The United States shall provide such notice no
later than ninety (90) days after receipt of the information required by Paragraphs 25-26, and the
Parties shall meet and confer in good faith to attempt to resolve any objection(s). If the United
States and City are unable to resolve such a dispute within twenty-one (21) days of the date of the
United States’ objections, the United States or the City will follow the procedures set forth in
28. Within ninety (90) days of the City providing the information identified in
Paragraphs 25 and 26, the United States must either propose an alternative use of the promotional
examination that is substantially equally valid to the City’s use and results in less disparate impact
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on the basis of race or sex, or notify the City that it has not identified such an alternative use. If
the United States makes an alternative use proposal, it will provide the City with a written
justification of the proposal explaining its analyses. The City will evaluate whether it will adopt
the alternative use recommended by the United States and inform the United States of its decision
within thirty (30) days of receiving the United States’ proposal. The Parties shall meet and confer
in good faith to attempt to resolve any disagreement. If the United States and City are unable to
resolve such a dispute within twenty-one (21) days of the date of the United States’ objections, the
United States or the City will follow the procedures set forth in Paragraph 35 regarding
29. The United States has the right to request additional information and data regarding
the City’s administration of Police Sergeant selection devices. The City will cooperate with the
United States’ request(s) for any additional information related to the administrations of selection
examination, video test, report writing test, physical agility test) that has been used as part of the
application, selection, and hiring process for the Police Sergeant position in the CPD during the
30. Upon resolution of any disagreements between the Parties or resolution by the
Court, the City shall certify the eligibility lists for Police Officer and Police Sergeant.
31. While this Modified Consent Decree remains in effect, the City Defendants shall
maintain all of the following records (including those created or maintained in electronic form):
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c. all other documents relating to the City Defendants’ compliance with the
requirements of this Modified Consent Decree.
32. Except as otherwise provided in this Modified Consent Decree, the City
Defendants will make available to the United States, no later than thirty (30) days after the United
States so requests in writing, any records maintained in accordance with the preceding paragraph
of this Modified Consent Decree and any additional documents relating to any dispute arising
33. When possible, all records furnished to the United States shall be provided in a
34. Within thirty (30) days after the United States so requests in writing, or other time
agreed to by the Parties, the City Defendants shall make available for interview or deposition (at
the United States’ option) any agent, employee or official of the City Defendants who the United
States reasonably believes has knowledge of information necessary to verify the City Defendants’
compliance with the terms of this Modified Consent Decree or to resolve a dispute arising under
35. The Parties shall attempt in good faith to resolve informally any disputes that arise
under this Modified Consent Decree. If the Parties are unable to resolve the dispute expeditiously,
either party may submit the disputed issue to the Court for resolution upon seven (7) days written
notice to the other party, unless a different time period has been specified elsewhere in this Modified
Consent Decree.
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36. This Modified Consent Decree shall be dissolved and this action shall be
dismissed, without further order of the Court, upon the occurrence of the later of the following
two events: (a) thirty (30) days after the United States provides written assurance that it has no
further objections to the City’s response or, absent agreement, where ordered by this Court as
described in Paragraph 17 or (b) thirty (30) days after the Parties resolve any disputes or the
37. Each party shall bear its own costs and expenses incurred as a result of
38. Each party shall bear its own costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees incurred in
this litigation.
X. MISCELLANEOUS
39. The Court shall retain jurisdiction over this Modified Consent Decree for the
purpose of resolving any disputes or entering any orders that may be appropriate to implement
the Modified Consent Decree, including joining any parties whose joinder is necessary to
40. The United States and the City may agree to modifications of the time limits
for the performance of the provisions set forth in this Decree without Court approval.
41. This Modified Consent Decree constitutes the entire agreement of the Parties,
and supersedes all prior agreements, decrees, representations, negotiations and undertakings not
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42. Where possible, all documents required to be delivered to the United States under
this Decree shall be sent via electronic mail to Jeremy Monteiro (at
such electronic mail is not possible, documents shall be sent via overnight delivery to:
Jeremy Monteiro
Catherine Sellers
Employment Litigation Section
Civil Rights Division
United States Department of Justice
4 Constitution Square
150 M Street, NE
Washington, DC 20530
43. All documents required to be delivered under this Decree to the City shall be sent
via electronic mail where possible to Emily Smart Woerner (at emily.woerner@cincinnati-
oh.gov) and William Hicks (at william.hicks@cincinnati-oh.gov). Where such electronic mail is
City Solicitor
City of Cincinnati Solicitor’s Office Labor & Employment Section
Law Department
801 Plum Street, Room 214
Cincinnati, OH 45202
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