Activists urge Chattanooga City Council to fight for Civilian Oversight Board

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Local activists are calling for Chattanooga city council members help in protecting the future of a potential police oversight board.

The group says they want a community led board to promote accountability within CPD.
In an open letter to council they said they want the board to have subpoena powers and the ability to amend policies and priorities of the police department.

Since the release of this video, various community groups have been calling for change in how the Chattanooga Police Department reviews police brutality complaints.

Ayanna Clemmons-Smith with CCJ, “We believe that the bottom line principle is for effective citizen oversight board is independence from local law-enforcement. ” why is that” we believe that nothing about us without us is for us and that directly impacted folks know exactly how our community should be policed we believe in accountability of our law-enforcement.”

Anthony Byrd says, “Every police officer is not a racist, is not trying to hurt someone, is not here to cause division. Just like every young kid walking down the street with the gun is not a gang banger, you know, so we have to find that balance so I think that those offices that on the board… I think a lot of them have good intentions. Does things need to be changed? Do we have a problem? Yes we do but I think we need offices that are there for guidance. I think we need the citizens there for a fact checking to make sure that things are done right.”

The city council and the police department met a few weeks ago, where Chief David Roddy agreed that there are some areas that need to be fixed. They also agreed to work on the Administrative Review Committee that the department already has in place, that has 3 citizens on it.

Byrd says, “there is a policy and process for how things go the same things that they are fighting for and I’m fighting for, just on this side of the aisle, it’s a different way that I have to fight than you have to fight. That doesn’t mean that we aren’t fighting for the same cause and don’t want the same outcomes .”

Outcomes that the Concerned Citizens for Justice says can’t be accomplished with the board how it is right now. They called the board “active and ineffective.”

One of the organizers said, “we wouldn’t be feeling the need for a civilian oversight board if the one that we have already had in place is actually working.”

“Effective civilian oversight is independence from law-enforcement City Council has already eroded the basic principle by including law-enforcement in the decision making process about oversight for Chattanooga.”

This is the full letter to City Council:

Open Letter to CHA City Council:  Follow the Community for Effective  Oversight of the CPD

Recent high profile cases of police brutality in Chattanooga have once again highlighted the unaccountability of the Chattanooga Police Department (CPD), officers and administration. On February 5th, 2019, members of CCJ attended a City Council Strategy Session discussing civilian oversight of the CPD. During this session, Councilperson Henderson stated that “this would be a professional effort and not an activist one.” CCJ would like to remind him, as well as other Councilmembers, that it was consistent pressure from community ‘activists’ that forced the City Council to take action towards police accountability in the first place.

Currently the council is trying to fast-track their own effort that will seemingly reaffirm or tweek the existing and ineffective Administrative Review Committee. Furthermore, while the City Council and City staff play catch up on looking at different models of civilian oversight and figuring out what is and isn’t possible according to city and state law, community organizations and “activists” have already been studying different models and looking at legal aspects for years. Community members have affirmed the need for independent civilian oversight at dozens of meetings, assemblies, and events convened by CCJ across the city over the last several years. At our recent MLK Week event on the topic, there was broad support and excitement about a community-led effort to implement independent oversight. CCJ asks: what makes the City Council’s hurried effort more professional than community organizations who have decades of experience working for police accountability?

CCJ has been studying different models, and have been advised by other cities, and we know what is necessary to ensure that a proposed board is both independent and effective. To have true accountability, without any conflict of interest, a Civilian Oversight Board (COB) should have the following characteristics:

• It cannot have any members of law enforcement, or family members of law enforcement, serving on the board.
• Neither the Chief of Police or the Police Department at large may have any facilitative or participatory role within the COB.
• Board members of the COB must be selected by the community, and not merely appointed by the city council or the mayor.
• It must have the ability to subpoena information and officers as a part of it’s investigatory powers.
• It must have the ability to amend the policies, procedures, and the priorities of the police department.
• Resources for the board member’s salary, staff, operational expenses, and training of the COB, must be reallocated from the existing police budget.

Any model without these elements will fail to provide meaningful change to the systems of policing in our city, and ultimately be rejected by the community.

CCJ hopes to unite around pushing back the State legislature’s latest attempt to undermine the democratic rights of communities throughout Tennessee. Many Republican legislators are continuing their pattern of pre-empting progressive legislation by attempting to outlaw critical pieces of community-led reforms. Right now, Tennessee legislators are pursuing ways to strip community oversight boards of subpoena power and the ability to ensure the representation of community members directly impacted by police abuse. (Read more here)

It is hypocrisy that Republican legislators who cry foul about federal interventions at the state level prioritize their own political agendas at the local level to undermine the self-determination of communities within their constituency. Representative Yusuf Hakeem proposes more police diversity training from his position in the state legislature, as if more than a decade of the same old tired reform has not clearly failed to bring real results during his many years as a Councilmember. CCJ calls upon the Chattanooga City Council to publicly oppose the despicable efforts of Tennessee legislators to strip COBs across the state of the elements that make them effective. If state legislators like Rep. Hakeem are serious about fighting back against police brutality, they will publicly pledge to vote “no” on House Bill 658.

Follow the community’s lead: commit to effective independent oversight and fight back against anti-democratic state preemption.

-CCJ

CCJ says the proposed board is being attacked by House Bill 6-58. One of it’s big goals is to remove subpoena power from existing citizen oversight boards. For now, city councilmen Anthony Byrd is hoping they will join in on the current efforts, because he believes they should work together to attain the same goal.

Byrd says, “The people that are saying that these things are unjust I can’t get them to sit on the board because they don’t want to be a part of a board that is run by the police. But, I was always taught that if you infiltrate something or you can change things up. So we have to infiltrate it so that we can figure out the change.”

“I was thinking that we can get more work done when we work together then when we work separately. I think Martin Luther King found that out. You have to have allies in and out of the system,” Byrd says.

Byrd also said, “Just like these groups are fighting for a certain group of people you have other people that are fighting for other groups of people, now how do we fix that how do we do that? I think Martin Luther King showed us how to do that by reaching across the aisle and talking to people who don’t look like you, by compromising, by saying how can we create a better situation without beating people up in the process.”

He says, “If we get the activities, if we get the constituents, if we get Everybody at the table sitting on the board to say ‘hey this is the change we want collectively’, not just different pockets of people saying this is what we want to control the entire city.”

This is the full press release on House Bill 658.

Representative Michael Curcio Introduces Legislation To Create Balance Within Community Oversight Boards 

(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — State Representative Michael Curcio (R-Dickson) has introduced legislation aimed at creating balance within community oversight boards across Tennessee.

Backed by Republican leadership, this legislation balances both the interests of our citizens to voice their opinion while also protecting the fundamental rights of officers and their families from malicious or politically focused persecution.

Community oversight boards have existed since the 1950s, and there are presently no guidelines outlined in Tennessee state law that defines how they are created, who can serve on them, and what their specific function is. This measure provides much needed structure to all current and future community oversight boards in Tennessee, which is critical to their overall success, as well as overall safety in Tennessee.

“I am pleased to introduce this legislation that creates an all-inclusive approach to enhance transparency within our police departments, while also ensuring everyone is treated respectfully and justly during any review of misconduct involving our law enforcement members,” said Representative Curcio. “This legislation mirrors best practices observed by the National Institute for Justice and will help create a balanced solution that benefits all involved.”

“As Republican leaders, we support our brave men and women in uniform who risk their lives and make tremendous sacrifices as they serve their communities,” said members of House Republican Leadership. “We also remain committed to protecting the voice of our citizens and understand the importance of holding law enforcement to a higher standard of conduct. Not only does this legislation address the critical need for transparency, but it is a fair solution to all.”

BACKGROUND:

• This legislation places guardrails on community oversight boards statewide in three significant ways:
  • Removes subpoena power.
  • Requires reporting to the General Assembly.
  • Limits the board to registered voters from the jurisdiction for which it serves.
• This measure also promotes diversity among board members by ensuring membership is not restrict or limited based upon demographics, economic status, or employment history.
• Any document provided to the board by agencies shall be treated as confidential and shall not be released to the public.
• There are mechanisms currently in place to provide oversight of our law enforcement (e.g., TBI, DA, and Comptroller), but this bill acknowledges support of citizen boards while implementing best practices.