Reform of the Cincinnati Police Department intersected with boycott politics once again Tuesday, as members of City Council hashed over the city's response to a U.S. Justice Department investigation of police.

        As the city's Washington lawyer briefed the Law and Public Safety Committee on progress the city is making on resolving police issues, the discussion turned to frustration over the boycott.

        The Black United Front, a plaintiff in the racial profiling lawsuit against the city, is negotiating a settlement to that lawsuit even while pushing a boycott.

        “They can't at the same time say that there's no improvement in police-community relations,” said Billy Martin, the lawyer hired to represent the city on police issues. “What we want them to say is, if there's a boycott, it's not related to what we're working on here.”

        The special counsel's appearance at City Council on Tuesday was significant in itself. It was the first time Mr. Martin has spoken publicly about the investigation in any detail.

        The city released Mr. Martin's 27-page response to the “patterns and practices” investigation Monday. It shows general accord between the city and federal governments on most of the 91 issues raised by the Justice Department.

        One emerging area of disagreement, however, is over “unholstering.”

        The Justice Department wants police officers to file a report each time they remove their weapons from their holsters.

        To Councilman David Crowley, that's not an unreasonable request.

        “Given the importance of this move by an officer — the symbolism of it, and the potential for harm or damage or loss of life — what would be the objection to reporting an unholstering?” he asked.

        Mr. Martin had no answer, except that he could find no other major police agency in the country with that requirement.

        Police Chief Tom Streicher, who was out of town Tuesday, has resisted the policy because he fears it could cause police officers to second-guess themselves in dangerous situations.

        Justice spokesman Dan Nelson said Tuesday he did not know if the department had asked any other police agencies to record all unholsterings of their weapons.

        Monitoring of the agreement is also an issue. Mr. Martin said all sides agree on the need for some kind of independent checks.

        The city would like to have one entity overseeing progress on the use-of-force issues raised by the Justice Department and the racial profiling raised in the lawsuit.

        Mr. Martin said it's unclear whether the other parties would agree.

        Also unresolved is how long that monitoring would last. Mr. Martin said the city wanted it to be perhaps three to five years — long enough to ensure that the city was getting proper credit for implementing long-term reforms, but short enough that the process will have a clear end.

        But he also suggested that, if implemented correctly, much of the agreement would become self-enforcing.

        “One question we get a lot is, "We've heard all those words before. How do we know this is meaningful?'” Mr. Martin said. “One answer is that we will have gotten citizen involvement to tie the police and the citizens together in enforcing these goals.”

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