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just a few more meetings of the police civilian review board before they turn in the final draft of their bylaws to council... i know we’re all on the edge of our seats!
we are, predictably, not starting on time. only two board members have even arrived.
we are, predictably, not starting on time. only two board members have even arrived.
starting things off with public comment. walt is up talking about 2015-2019 arrest statistics. 55% were african american. “it’s clear to me that there’s a problem,” he says. (19% of the population in cville is african american) “there’s something not right there.”
walt says he hears skepticism from the community about the work of the CRB - people aren’t sure they can trust the city to do this work well, so they’re not interested. “they might be right,” but if people don’t show up, advocate, and participate, they definitely will be.
board member guillermo says after the board submits their bylaws to council, they’ll need people to show up & apply public pressure to get council to approve them.
talking about community engagement, joyce says she doesn’t blame affected communities for not wanting to participate in this process. people who have suffered injustice at the hands of our police department have good reason not to trust the process.
the next speaker encourages folks to attend a series of public meetings in the next few days to gather community feedback about race & our criminal justice system. i’m going to try to attend a couple of these. 
now on to discussion of the bylaws. the people’s coalition had requested that the CRB put in their bylaws that some board seats would be reserved for members of specific community organizations. the board is talking about being less specific in the bylaws.
one issue with specificity is that community organizations aren’t static. the concern with being overbroad, though, is that it would leave room for council to pack the board with people who aren’t from affected communities. they have to find a middle ground.
an added complication is that board member selection criteria in the bylaws also have to be codified as a city ordinance - it wouldn’t just be a simple matter of revising the bylaws later.
all this talk about how board members will be selected... former board member reverend don gathers says the city council is going to do whatever it is they want to do regardless
don reminds us that council put out a survey re: the original board and did not seat the person who got the most community support.
the board has had a couple meetings with the police chief, but none have been public (as such, only two members of the board can meet with her at any given time, otherwise it would have to be public). they want to have a public meeting.
board member josh says he sent dates for eleven possible meeting times in june to discuss a memorandum of understanding between the board & the police dept. he says the response he got from the chief was “extremely disappointing” and is going to read it into the record.
jessica, the chief’s scheduler, wrote back:
“chief brackney does not have availability” on any evening in the month of june. not one moment of time for a public meeting.
josh wrote back this afternoon saying they would be open to a daytime meeting. no response since then.
“chief brackney does not have availability” on any evening in the month of june. not one moment of time for a public meeting.
josh wrote back this afternoon saying they would be open to a daytime meeting. no response since then.
“meetings with the chief have been extremely hard to schedule and sometimes not all that productive when they happen.”
josh says he has no interest in having a private meeting to discuss an MOU that she won’t discuss publicly.
josh says he has no interest in having a private meeting to discuss an MOU that she won’t discuss publicly.
(i am literally on the edge of my seat. i love this shit. hell yes. public business must take place in public!)
board member sarah says “if we don’t have an MOU, she wins.”
josh says if brackney won’t do it publicly with the board, it would have to take place via the city attorney’s office.
josh says if brackney won’t do it publicly with the board, it would have to take place via the city attorney’s office.
josh said they have two private meetings scheduled for may. they could just notice those & make them public. “clearly she has time for those meetings.”
don asks them to remember who the police chief reports to & says they should contact the city manager.
don asks them to remember who the police chief reports to & says they should contact the city manager.
“she does not want to get in public and act the way she acts behind closed doors,” says ms katrina. apparently police chief brackney walked out on josh & gloria during one of their private meetings.
“she’s not for this CRB, i can tell you that,” says ms katrina of the police chief.
sarah says they’re in the lurch here with the transition to a new city manager in 3 weeks.
sarah says they’re in the lurch here with the transition to a new city manager in 3 weeks.
josh is describing some serious difficulties they’ve had scheduling even the private meetings with the police chief. it’s shifted the board’s entire schedule significantly.
ms katrina recalls the chief promising the community she would meet with anyone, anytime - why won’t she meet with the CRB?
josh says he will email the chief & her scheduler (with city council, the city attorney, and the city manager copied) that they intend to publicly notice the two meetings in may that she agreed to have in private.
“i strongly believe that there is space for a collaborative relationship” between the civilian review board & the police chief, says josh. sarah agrees. channels of communication have to be open for this to work in a healthy way.
ms rosia is disappointed in the chief being personally disrespectful to her & ms katrina. “if you have a personal vendetta against us, it means you’re not doing your job right.” she makes a good point - brackney was thrown way off her game by these two community members.
“everybody thinks it’s the mayor. it’s not the mayor that runs the city, it’s the city manager,” ms rosia reminds the room. no one is entirely sure what to expect from the new city manager starting next month.
5/6 of the board members’ terms expire in june. even though the bylaws are written (which was their charge) they are anxious about the expiration... there’s no way a new board will be selected by then. sarah is concerned about there being any period of time where no board exists.
meeting adjourned.
a lot of what’s left for this board isn’t up to them. there will be some waiting. some negotiating. more waiting. and a need for a lot of community advocacy. tell council this is important. tell them we need civilian oversight of our police force. show up.
a lot of what’s left for this board isn’t up to them. there will be some waiting. some negotiating. more waiting. and a need for a lot of community advocacy. tell council this is important. tell them we need civilian oversight of our police force. show up.
my column this week is about the nascent CRB. we need civilian oversight of our police. the process of forming a new board takes time & the board needs community input & support.
c-ville.com/worth-the-wait…
c-ville.com/worth-the-wait…
