The Cincinnati Police Department has settled over fifty brutality and corruption-related lawsuits during the past ten years, spending more than $2 million in the process, according to a report published in the Cincinnati Enquirer. One- hundred thirty-seven lawsuits were filed against the department over the last decade. Fifty-six were settled out of court. Most of the lawsuits alleged that officers used excessive force and discriminated against civilians on the basis of race and sex.

Cincinnati's police department made national news last April when an officer was acquitted of brutality charges. The decision sparked three days of rioting in the city. Overall, fifteen black men and one child have died during altercations with Cincinnati police since 1995. Five of the deaths involved unarmed civilians.