After much fanfare and celebration, St. Louis now has a Civilian Oversight Board. A question still remains: Is the legislation signed into law truly effective? And does this legislation provide St. Louis with the Civilian Oversight Board (COB) that citizens requested?
The best way to evaluate whether this 2015 COB legislation is effective is to go back to 2006 when the Board of Aldermen passed the very first Civilian Review Board legislation.
Back in 2006, Aldermen Terry Kennedy, Dionne Flowers, Charles Quincy Troupe, Freeman Bosley Sr., O.L. Shelton, April Ford Griffin, Lewis Reed, Mike McMillan, Bennice Jones King, Jeffery Boyd, Frank Williamson and Gregory Carter fought for the creation of legislation establishing a Civilian Review Board. As a result of their tenacious efforts, in March 2006 they were able to pass, despite filibuster attempts and Slay opposition, remarkable legislation.
Looking back at this 2006 aldermanic victory through the lens of the Mike Brown killing and the subsequent worldwide uprising, these African-American aldermen and alderwomen look almost prophet. In 2006 the St. Louis Board of Aldermen insisted upon including these words in their legislation:
“WHEREAS, the question of police… use of deadly force and racial profiling, remains an ongoing source of controversy between the Saint Louis Police Department and the citizens of Saint Louis, and
“WHEREAS, complaint procedures established by police Internal Affairs Departments to detect and enforce standards of conduct have proved significantly inadequate in ending police abuses, ending the appearance of impropriety or engendering public confidence in a fair and unbiased process…”
Sadly, none of that specific language made it to the 2015 COB legislation.
In fact, the entire Civilian Review Board (CRB) law was killed by a Francis Slay veto. At the time, Mayor Slay justified his veto by claiming that he didn’t like the straight-talk language pertaining to the police and he was concerned that there was no legal authority for CRB subpoena power. As grandma used to say: “Mayhaps that’s the truth and mayhaps it ain’t.”
Nevertheless, by comparing and contrasting the 2006 CRB and the Slay-supported 2015 COB, we know it is not a complete list of things Slay opposed in that first CRB legislation.
In 2006 the CRB had the authority to:
• Conduct Independent, meaningful investigations
• Conduct joint investigations with IAD PRIOR to an IAD finding
• Use subpoena power to compel testimony
• Make recommendations about discipline and confer about discipline
• Select their OWN executive director
• Create internal policies independently
• Hire independent staff
• Raise monies to supplement their costs
• Hire independent attorneys
• Conduct audits regarding implementation of previous policy recommendations
• Issue reports/make analysis based upon collected data from the year’s complaints
• Make policy recommendations.
In 2015, the Slay-supported COB legislation bore little resemblance to 2006 CRB. All of the powerful elements were gutted. They even defanged the name, changing it from Civilian Review to Civilian Oversight.
To get a sense of the powerlessness of this 2015, COB one simply has to understand the meaning the adage “you dance with the one who brung you.”
Every member of the 2015 COB is selected by the mayor. In addition, all staff for the COB comes from St. Louis City’s Department of Public Safety. In fact, the director of Public Safety selects office space and must be conferred with before the COB: drafts/adopts internal rules, drafts/adopts office protocol, and selects employees or an executive director. Any legal questions are directed to the City Counselor’s office.
Who appoints the director of Public Safety and the City Counselor? Mayor Francis Slay. So whose tune will the director of Public Safety and his staff be dancing to – the COB or the one “who brung ‘em,” Mayor Slay?
It’s really quite sad actually. After this region became the birthplace for a worldwide movement that is centered on police brutality, we answered the call to action with fearful, feckless, Slay-dominated legislation.
Rev. Dinah L. Tatman is CEO & founder of Greater New Vision Ministries, Inc.
