FURTHER REVIEW More than 15 years after its creation, police review board may finally get some respect {BY ALEX ZIMMERMAN} FOR MUCH of its 17-year history, the
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Citizen Police Review Board has been the red-headed stepchild of city government. And despite new leadership in the mayor’s ofďŹ ce and on Pittsburgh City Council, that hasn’t changed quite yet. Mayor Bill Peduto and City Council President Bruce Kraus have not taken action on the board’s three vacancies. As a result, when one current member was absent for the board’s scheduled Feb. 25 meeting, the agency was unable to meet a quorum or conduct business. But Elizabeth Pittinger, the board’s longtime executive director, is unfazed. For one thing, she says, “We’ve been through this kind of neglect before and we’re still here.â€? Elected ofďŹ cials have, in fact, routinely ignored the responsibility to appoint members to the CPRB. Since its inception, attendance records show, the seven-member review board has had at least one vacancy for roughly 40 percent of its meetings. The board has operated with as few as two members. But with Peduto and Kraus in power, supporters of the board say it may ďŹ nally be able to address criticisms from activists who say it’s toothless ‌ and from union ofďŹ cials who say its public hearings are purely for show. University of Pittsburgh law professor and law-enforcement expert David Harris, for one, says a sea change may be about to take place. Former Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s approach to the board was “hostileâ€? and “sometimes ferocious,â€? Harris says. Relations became especially strained following allegations of police misconduct during the G-20 economic summit, which Pittsburgh hosted in 2009. But now, Harris says, “You’ve got people leading [city] agencies who understand what the CPRB is really about — and [who] understand what good it can do for the city.â€?
Former City Councilor Sala Udin, who authored the law that established the CPRB, says public support for the agency stemmed from poor community-police relations, stoked by the 1995 death of Jonny Gammage, a black motorist who died at the hands of suburban police inside city limits. “Those were the things that were the impetus behind a civilian-controlled alternative,â€? Udin says. But since then, the review board has done little to assuage the concerns of activists like Brandi Fisher, the president of the Alliance for Police Accountability. In an interview before a March 8 rally for Leon Ford Jr., who was paralyzed from the waist down after being shot by police during a 2012 trafďŹ c stop gone awry, Fisher rattled off a list of alleged cases of police abuse. A m o ng t h e m we re former Pittsburgh CAPA high school student Jordan Miles, who was beaten in 2010 after police say they saw a bulge in his jacket they thought might be a gun, and Dennis Henderson, a teacher who was arrested outside a community meeting after commenting loudly on a police ofďŹ cer Jonathan Gromek’s driving. “A lot of these situations escalate to a point they don’t need to,â€? Fisher says. “No doubt it happens more [to] AfricanAmerican males. There’s no way we can say these are isolated incidents.â€? Attorney Bryan Campbell, who frequently represents the Fraternal Order of Police in disciplinary matters, says Gromek was simply responding to a quickly escalating situation. (As for the Miles case, a federal civil lawsuit involving the incident is going to trial this week.) And the review board, Campbell argues, would be better served reviewing larger policy issues, rather than investigating speciďŹ c allegations. The review board’s recommendations are non-binding. When taking disciplinary action, city ofďŹ cials take their cues from the OfďŹ ce of Municipal Investigations, which conducts internal reviews
“YOU’VE GOT PEOPLE LEADING THOSE AGENCIES WHO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE REVIEW BOARD IS REALLY ABOUT.�
THE REVIEW board’s creation was mandated by a public referendum in 1997.
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 03.12/03.19.2014