First recommendations for a citizen's review board approved - KCRG

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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Four months after the Cedar Rapids city council committed to establishing an independent citizen’s police review board on June 19th, the council approved a resolution advancing its creation.

The council heard the city staff’s official recommendation for how that board should look at Tuesday’s meeting. City staff recommended what it called a review model. The recommended review model gives the board three key focuses: public engagement, recommending training, policy, and procedure for the Cedar Rapids Police Department, and reviewing complaints.

“The national movement is regarding systematic racism, and that is a societal issue. Establishing a citizen review board is another proactive step the C.R.P.D. is taking to demonstrate their commitment and ongoing improvement," Jennifer Pratt, community development director, said, at the meeting.

The current proposal does fall short of the original demands from the Advocates for Social Justice. Some powers are consistent with ASJ’s requests, like the board getting reports, every quarter, with data on police stops and arrests. Stacey Walker, Linn County supervisor and a member of the Advocates for Social Justice, said he thinks the board will be able to provide meaningful accountability, but that the group didn’t get everything it asked for.

“ASJ wanted the citizen’s review board to have a more active role in the hiring and firing of the police chief, which is the case for some citizen review boards across the country,” Walker said. The current proposal does include putting a member of the CRB on the Chief of Police Candidate Selection Committee.

The recommendation also doesn’t allow the board to give any disciplinary action or start its own investigation. The board would also have to rely on the report the police chief gives it, as well as relevant body camera footage and audio, to reach recommendations on police policies and practices. The board wouldn’t have subpoena power to demand testimonies from officers or information in other records, something Walker says ASJ would have liked it to have.

Walker and several city council members both said the approval is an important first step.

“We are close to having a citizen’s review board that will have more power than any other citizen’s review board that has been formed in the state of Iowa,” Walker said.

The recommendation also discussed the structure of the board. It advised for a nine-member board, all residents of Cedar Rapids that is gender-balanced and at least 50% people of color. It also recommended one member be a lawyer. The members would serve staggered 3-year terms with a 2-term maximum. Some seats on the board would be reserved for local agencies that are not determined yet, such as NAACP and LULAC.

The council didn’t take a final vote on the citizen’s review board’s structure. Approving the recommendation allows city staff to move ahead and draft an ordinance for the board, which will then go through a public hearing and the process of passing an ordinance. City staff said that’s expected to come over the next few months.

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