29-03-2025
I-Team: Billing taxpayers to watch police ceremonies
CLEVELAND (WJW) — The FOX 8 I-Team has found your tax dollars are paying a man big money to attend police awards ceremonies and neighborhood meetings.
Charles See earns $230 per hour as a member of the Cleveland Police Monitoring Team, a federal group overseeing police reform.
We went to see him Thursday, before a neighborhood meeting on the west side.
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We told him, 'We had some questions about some of the billing you give to the city for some of your activities with the monitoring team.'
We found See has billed the city hundreds of dollars to monitor a 'police and community gathering to honor safety forces members who died in the line of duty.'
He has billed hundreds more to monitor police awards ceremonies, and more to meet with residents and to attend a Coffee with a Cop meet-and-greet event.
See told us he can't talk without permission from a federal judge.
Nonetheless, we asked, 'How does having someone like you attend an awards ceremony make the Cleveland Police Department function better?'
See responded, 'Ed, as I've said before, I'd be happy to answer that question, and I've got an excellent answer to it. But, according to what we have to do as far as speaking to the press, I have to follow those protocols.'
Newer members of that monitoring team earn three times as much per hour as Charles See. Billing records show he takes part in reviewing police operations and policy changes, too.
Still city records show he has collected a total of about $400,000 over the years.
The neighborhood meeting on Thursday night focused on police oversight. Some folks held signs calling for it to end.
'It's gotta end. It's gotta end,' Therese Pohorence said.
Others said city leaders share blame for oversight dragging out over a decade.
Darrell Houston spoke up and said, 'See what your elected officials are really doing. They're the ones who are squandering your taxpayer dollars. Figure out where their money's going.'
There's no way to know if See will bill the city for attending that meeting.
'You get that permission [from the judge],' See said to us. 'I'd certainly be happy to speak to you, particularly about any of my billing.'
The federal judge has never responded to us before, so we also said, 'Why don't you go to the Court and say, 'Hey, I want to explain this to Ed Gallek?''
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The city of Cleveland Law Department has challenged some of these bills. The monitoring team has argued that watching an awards ceremony helps the group be aware of positive police work.
A judge has final say over what gets paid.
In the meantime, the monitoring team has been in the headlines as a result of the lead monitor being involved in an incident at JACK Cleveland Casino. An off-duty officer said Karl Racine was refusing to leave. He ultimately left and he did not get arrested. He said he did not act inappropriately.
But Councilman Brian Kazy has called for Racine to resign.
U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno has called for an investigation by a bar association disciplinary counsel.
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