Councilman reacts to public’s vote on the Police Advisory and Review Committee

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Last week voters chose to put the Police Advisory and Review Committee into the city’s charter.

“I’m glad that it was put in the charter, because now any future council, it will be kind of difficult to change or get rid of it,” Councilman Russell Gilbert said.

Councilman Gilbert proposed the Police Advisory and Review Committee over a year ago.

The board, he said, came about after a video surfaced of a Chattanooga police officer punching a man multiple times after a traffic stop.

“There was some negativity going on during that time and that kind of got us to start thinking where our current board that we had had a lot of police and not enough citizens,” Councilman Gilbert said.

The citizens on the board are selected by council members.

The committee reviews police complaints.

But, some folks have wanted more than the committee.

One organization has been pushing for the creation of a Citizens Oversight Board that’s different from the committee.

News 12 asked Councilman Gilbert if he feels the committee is enough or if more needs to be done.

“I think that the people that are trying to get more teeth, just like we got restrictions and I believe that’s the same restrictions they going to have, far as what they can, and cannot do dictated from the state. So, yes, if I could put more teeth in it, I would like to put more teeth in it, but based off the guidelines that I have to follow or the city has to follow, this is what we can do at the moment,” Councilman Gilbert said.

Councilman Gilbert said that on Tuesday, November 17th Police Advisory and Review Committee members will join council members during one of their meetings. T

They’re expected to discuss what kind of cases they’ve been looking at and outcomes as well.