Council questions reforms to Police Civilian Review Board

Kyanite

Found right here in Virginia, Kyanite is a useful stone for energetic and practical purposes. Kyanite is used in many industries including automotive parts, kilns and ovens and porcelain where heat-resistance is crucial. Keeping us cool and collected as well, Kyanite has a calming nature to help one go with the flow. It is soothing for the emotional body especially for empaths who struggle to cope with the emotions of others. Kyanite has a higher vibration that helps us to connect with our own spiritual gifts. Kyanite naturally forms in multiple colors including the most common color blue, as well as orange, green and black.

Find out more about Kyanite at Minerals & Mystics!

www.mineralsandmystics.com Facebook.com/MineralsMystics 345 Hillsdale Drive Charlottesville VA 22901 434-284-7709

Inching forward

CRB, community push council to adopt new state law granting board more power

By Brielle Entzminger

reporter@c-ville.com

Charlottesville’s Police Civilian Review Board continues to disagree with city officials over how much power it should wield.

Shortly after August 2017, in response to demands for increased oversight of law enforcement, City Council committed to the creation of a Police Civilian Review Board, a body that would give area residents some checks on the police’s power. In the years since, the board has been caught in bureaucratic limbo, as its members, elected officials, and law enforcement have quarreled over how much power the board should have. The drawn-out process has frustrated those hoping to see local criminal justice reform.

This summer could offer clarity, as a new law—passed by the state legislature in the wake of last summer’s racial justice demonstrations—explicitly grants broad power to police civilian review boards across Virginia. In an April 27 work session, Charlottesville CRB members proposed a new set of rules for the board, and city councilors expressed concerns.

Under the new law, the CRB is allowed to receive, investigate, and issue findings on complaints of serious misconduct and incidents involving use of force. It also has the power to subpoena documents and witnesses. If the accused party is found guilty of misconduct, the board can issue a binding disciplinary ruling for cases involving “serious breaches of departmental and professional standards” after consulting with the police chief, including demotion, suspension without pay, or termination.

The new law also gives the board power to review less serious internal affairs investigations, as well as evaluate department policies, practices, and procedures.

Since December, a group composed of current and former CRB members, as well as members of the activist group The People’s Coalition, has worked to align the current ordinance with the new state law, researching various police oversight models and consulting with the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement.

“I have real serious problems,” said Councilor Lloyd Snook of the proposed ordinance. “I have no problems with a good strong review board. But I don’t see this draft as creating a review board, [but] a substitute disciplinary board.”

Councilor Heather Hill and Police Chief RaShall Brackney claimed that the board had not collaborated enough with CPD on the ordinance. Brackney worried there would not be due process for officers under both the CRB and CPD’s disciplinary processes.

“We’ve been taking advice from the acting city attorney and our independent counsel. They both reviewed the draft ordinance and neither of them have raised

EZE AMOS