A
City Employee Is Only Citizen Review If You Allow It To Be …
The
Mayor and City Manager have announced they are interested in a form of CitizenReview for instances where there may be police misconduct and/or use of force.
The
idea itself is controversial, but worth community discussion. Most communities
that have review boards have independent citizens that review these matters and
report to their respective government bodies. Some do the review while the
matter is under investigation, others review after the investigation is
completed. There are multiple models.
But
this type of model is not the one being considered by Topeka officials.
Instead, they are proposing hiring a city employee to serve as “citizen layer”.
The
pressing question from many then becomes: “Can a paid employee of the City be an
impartial citizen layer?
This
model has positives and negatives.
Among
the positives:
- Provides a somewhat-independent watchdog that can serve a role in working with our police and citizens.
- Provides a conduit for information and oversight that assists citizens in getting information in a timely manner.
- Helps the police department put in place policies that are effective in building community trust and ensuring they can continue to do their job effectively.
Among
the negatives:
- The individual in the job is at the mercy of the City Manager and elected officials in charge. They can only be effective if they are allowed to be.
- If the role is not well defined, it cannot be effective.
- If the position is not accepted by the Police Department or Community, it cannot be effective and can create more problems.
This
may be just the step our community needs. However, as with many instances in
our city, so far the idea has been put forth with minimal information and explanation.
I
encourage you to read this article about the similar position in Denver. It does
a great job of highlighting the pros and cons of the position.
I
appreciate the Mayor and City Manager wanting to take steps to address recent
concerns from the community, while also being respectful of the work our police
officers put forth each day.
But
before creating this position City officials must make sure the job is
protected when solutions are put forth that some may not like; ensure the role
of the position is well defined; make sure the individual has the resources
they need to be effective; and let them do the job they are hired to do.
We
don’t need a position created for public relations purposes that simply makes
people feel as if they City is working to solve a problem. We need real people,
put in real positions that can make real differences in our community.
