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The Greensboro City Council adopted the following changes to the complaint review committee last week. Vote, and then leave us a comment telling us why.
From the city:
“The committee’s recommendations, adopted by City Council, include:
· Each City Council member will make a direct appointment to the PCRB*;
· Expand the board from a seven to nine member panel*;
· Change the name to Police Citizens Review Board (PCRB);
· Remove the PCRB from the direction of the Human Relations Commission*;
· Change the meeting times to weekday evenings;
· Host meetings at locations throughout the City;
· Allow complaints against the Greensboro Police Department to be accepted by the PCRB in-person at board meetings, via mail, online, and by phone call;
· Enhanced training will be required of all board members;
· Use of independent facilitators will be recommended;
· Greater marketing and outreach of PCRB processes and services will be implemented.
*-Changes to the appointment and structure of the PCRB require an ordinance change and will be brought to future City Council meetings for public discussion and adoption.”
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Any review board that lacks subpoena power is, in essence, toothless and the City knows it. Moreover, there should be a better and more equitable selection process for who sits on the review board than the whims of City Council members themselves. For a Citizen’s Review Board of the police to have real value to our city it must be independent of political pressure and have fully vested subpoena power – outside of that this move by the City is little more than window dressing.
You got that right, III–delay, delay, delay, while the rich and government play.