by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Following the recent deaths of two men in Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office custody, the mayor’s office is scanning the country looking for a workable model of a citizen police review board.
Creating a citizen panel charged with reviewing police abuse complaints was one of the top priorities announced by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People during a recent meeting between the group’s local chapter president, Isaiah Rumlin, and Mayor John Peyton.
Top Peyton aide Susie Wiles said the mayor was “very receptive” to the idea of such a panel. Peyton’s staff is reviewing citizen panels at work in other cities in search of a model that might be put in place locally, she said.
“The mayor is very interested in finding successful models (in other cities),” said Wiles. “During a long meeting with the mayor, it was very clearly an important issue to the group (NAACP), and the mayor is very receptive to looking at prominent citizen’s groups in use in other cities.”
If an acceptable model can be found, it could be imported whole. More likely though, the City would tweak an existing structure to ensure it fits locally, said Wiles. She said it’s too early to predict what kind of form Jacksonville’s panel might take, but she said Baltimore’s Civilian Review Board is getting a close look.
The board is one of three prongs in the city’s review of use-of-force complaints against its police.
Each qualifying complaint spurs a review from the police department’s internal affairs division, the State Attorney’s Office and the 12-person citizen panel. The CRB essentially reviews the internal affairs investigation.
Following its own review, which could include public hearings and public presentation of the police investigation, the CRB issues its own findings and recommendations.
It’s up to the police commissioner how to use the panel’s work when deciding punishment. The panel also issues to the public an annual report on the frequency of complaints and how they were handled by the department.
The board members are appointed to three-year terms by the mayor with the City Council’s approval. The 12-person committee joins nine civilians with a representative from the Fraternal Order of Police, the Baltimore City Police Commissioner and a representative from a black police officers’ advocacy group.
The NAACP has requested a local equivalent for the panel in person and, in writing. Rumlin followed his meeting with Peyton with a December 15 letter which decried the lack of local civilian oversight of the JSO. The deaths of two unarmed men in JSO custody within a week’s span in early December revealed the need locally for such a panel, said Rumlin.
“The NAACP request that you support and help initiate efforts to establish a permanent civilian police review board,” wrote Rumlin. “To my immediate dismay, I am appalled that one doesn’t exist with us hosting numerous individuals from other states in approximately 50 days.”
About a week following Rumlin’s letter, State Sen. Tony Hill announced the creation of his own citizen commission to review JSO policies regarding use of force. That panel will be charged with making recommendations to Hill for possible legislative answers.
Sheriff John Rutherford attempted to dissuade Hill from creating the commission prior to the conclusion of an ongoing Justice Department investigation into the deaths. In a letter sent days before Hill went public with his announcement, Rutherford said the commission could interfere with the investigation.
The mayor’s office also believes its search for a citizen panel model can proceed alongside the federal investigation.
“They’re unrelated,” said Wiles.
While the mayor’s office continues its search, the City’s General Counsel’s Office is scouring the language of the City’s open container ordinance in response to another NAACP complaint: that the law is selectively enforced.
Referring to the death of 49-year-old Sammie Evans, who died Dec. 3 during an arrest for public drinking, Rumlin told the mayor, “An open container should never result in police brutality or the death of a citizen.”
The police routinely permit public drinking around the downtown Sports Complex during football games, said Rumlin. He questioned why force was necessary in Evans’ case.
“There are other ways to enforce the open container ordinance without force for an arrest when the person being arrested does not provoke violence,” said Rumlin. “The police could give out citations... or in the case of an intoxicated person, the police could simply empty the container.”
Police said both men who died resisted authorities.
The General Counsel review of the ordinance is to ensure the law is written “with as little subjectivity as possible,” said Wiles. If the language is judged to be too ambiguous, changes might be made to “tighten up” the ordinance, she said.