Opinion: On the Need for a Civilian Review Board

Submitted by Diana Martinez. 
Martinez asked that the following disclosures be included:
*I am decidedly biased in that I have a favorite candidate (Florsheim). I am the Florsheim campaign Treasurer, and hope he can win your support on Tuesday. 
*I am also decidedly unsure what I’m going to do with myself if another candidate wins on Tuesday. 
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I remember learning in high school history that our federal system of checks and balances is what makes our form of government fair and effective.Theoretically, in our local government, our Council checks the Mayor, and vice-versa. In theory, we have some systems to protect employees reporting harassment; a process for assessing department goals and triaging department needs; and some enforceable policies around unacceptable behavior in the workplace. We can debate the efficacy of these processes, we can argue how well they’re communicated, or how easy they are to find--but they theoretically exist to ensure that no one employee, official, department, or area of local government abuses their power, or unfairly or unnecessarily has access to or control over resources. That’s a function of good government. Folks I know have been wondering though, who polices the police?

Our Police Department is one of the few city departments that is empowered to interact with any resident anywhere in our town and yet, we have no system to independently check their power or to hold them publicly accountable. If you wish to file a complaint against an Officer, you can fill out a Civilian Complaint Form that’s available in English and Spanish. However, the Form Policy--the document that defines misconduct, explains the process, and details your rights--is only available in English. Your complaint is received and processed internally, by an MPD Officer, who then transfers it to either a Supervisor, an Internal Affairs officer, and/or the Chief of Police for review or investigation. Officers within the same department take your complaint, review it, and decide whether to act on it. The power to refer your complaint to an outside agency lies at the discretion of the Chief. As far as I can tell from our city website, there is no MPD report produced for the public that can provide information on the number or types of complaints that are submitted annually, on how many complaints are substantiated, on how many are referred out, or on how many officers are reprimanded based on those complaints. Where are the checks? Where is the balance?

Over the course of the months leading up to Tuesdays’ Democratic Primary, candidates have had the chance to answer these questions a few times. They are important questions. We are living in a national climate where police violence, particularly violence done to Black folks, is making the news more than ever before. Almost everyone has a camera phone they can quickly pull out to share negative interactions with police officers. And this ease of connectivity means people across the country are quickly noticing, confirming, and tracking trends. One trend is clear: police departments nationwide are rarely equipped with the kind of training and support they need to deescalate conflict, or to work with people of color, disabled folks, young people, queer people, or immigrants. The intersectionality of race and ability, age, gender, sexuality, and/or immigration status often compounds negative outcomes, proving fatal for too many, and heightening the fear of police amongst marginalized communities. Another disturbing nationwide trend is an uptick in the number of officers caught sharing vile, derogatory content amongst other officers, on social media, or in private groups. Every time a story like that goes viral, public trust in our officers decays. It’s our responsibility to be proactive (and not reactive) about community policing and police accountability.

Three of the four Democratic candidates on the ballot on Tuesday have expressed interest in supporting the creation of a Civilian Review Board. None of these candidates can claim credit for the idea, though. From my understanding, community residents and organizers in Middletown have long been pushing for the creation of a CRB, with no luck to date. Here’s what I’ve learned from the forums I’ve attended and what I could dig up on our city website (if you have more info to offer, please share):

• Bill Russo has declared, at the two public forums he attended, that he would not support the creation of a Civilian Review Board. He believes our existing internal complaint system is sufficient. Perhaps he has some insight into MPD complaint reports and outcomes that we don’t? He’s also made mention of the Public Safety Commission as an avenue by which to air complaints. Our Public Safety Commission is made up of 5 Common Council Members. The charge or powers of the Commission are not detailed on their website, but their agendas and notes indicate they hear reports from the PD and Fire Department. Agendas occasionally make mention of purchase considerations, or public ordinances, and it is well within the scope of a Council Member to act to vote on expenditures or ordinances as they come up at Council Meetings. Council Members, I guess, could perhaps consult with the Chief of Police about a complaint, but they do not have the power, as far as I understand MPD policy, to intervene or make recommendations in the Civilian Complaint Process. Russo has not said he would modify this Commission in any way that would give it any additional authority, he is simply saying the status quo is fine for him. 
• Geen Thazhampallath has pledged to create a CRB and to fund additional training on de-escalation tactics and cultural sensitivity for police officers--trainings he says have been a long time coming. As the Parking Director, Thazhampallath has no role in the current state of our police force. However, in his time as Chief of Staff for Mayor Seb Giuliano, he had the visibility and connectivity necessary to get some of those conversations started. To my knowledge, the creation of a CRB was not a priority or goal of Mayor Giuliano’s administration. Perhaps his recent change in party affiliation, or the growing notability of police violence videos has triggered the desire to get the ball rolling on this for Thazhampallath. I’m thankful he’s willing to start a conversation now, but I also can’t help but wonder how much further along to getting there we might be if conversations on the handling of complaints were started back when he had more direct access to decision makers.
• Mary Bartolotta has also committed to creating a CRB. At the one public forum she attended, she indicated interest in additional mental health support for officers in addition to increased cultural training. She also mentioned having worked on introducing the concept of a CRB during her time on Council. Although our Council notes are admittedly difficult to search, I have found no mention of the creation of a Civilian Review Board by Council Member Bartolotta in any notes dating back to at least 2015. Bartolotta is a member of the Public Safety Commission. A search of all the agendas and minutes for that Commission dating back to 2015 also does not bring up any mention on her part on the creation of a CRB. In fact, our City website indicates the Public Safety Commission has met 4 times in 2019--they’ve held meetings both while she was presumably deliberating a run for Mayor and after she declared. Bartolotta has missed all but 1 of those meetings. The notes for the one meeting she did attend this year indicate no mention of what is now a key talking point of her campaign. I wish she was more specific about where, when, and to who she introduced the idea of a CRB or provided some documentation to back her claims up. A general month or year would help to narrow down a search. As a long standing Council member and now Deputy Majority Leader, I imagine it’s not incredibly difficult to get items added to a Council or Commission agenda, but it is possible I’m looking in the wrong places or missing some information.     
• Ben Florsheim has also affirmed that the creation of a CRB is well past due. As the only candidate on the ballot on Tuesday with no experience working in Middletown City Hall, it’s a little difficult to judge him in relation to the others. I can say that Florsheim is the only White candidate who has acknowledged publicly at any forum that his experiences with police and that of a Black resident are vastly different. As a woman of color, that acknowledgement for me equates a certain consciousness--an understanding that his worldview is not the only one there is, and that it is not just possible, but absolutely certain in a town as racially diverse as Middletown, that multiple truths and perspectives exist at once. He has expressed knowledge about how other cities and municipalities are working to create similar boards and how we might look to them or to other states to share best practices or modify techniques to suit our needs. And he has committed to making sure any board we create has real teeth in the form of subpoena power and other investigative/decision making powers. I trust him to keep his commitment to this more than I trust any other candidate. That doesn’t mean you have to, though, you should draw your own conclusions. For me, the fact that he’s the candidate least entrenched in City Hall politics means that his default is not the old way of doing things. His experience with community outreach across the state for Senator Murphy tells me he’s more inclined than most to seek input from constituent bases and to be held accountable to them. I think that’s the kind of leadership we need on this issue, and in general, in the Mayor’s Office.  

I welcome an opportunity to receive information from any of you on any candidates’ history with police accountability. I recognize I have only been living in Middletown for 13 years, have not been engaged politically for very long, and I know I’m missing an Encyclopedia set worth of Middletown political history. My email is diana.martinez0225@gmail.com, feel free to inbox me and make sure you get to the polls on Tuesday!