Councilors call for civilian review board

Existing board seen as ineffective, inactive

Morgan C. Mullings

Staff reporter covering state and local politics. Report for America Corps Member. VIEW BIO

City Councilors Andrea Campbell, Julia Mejia and Ricardo Arroyo have proposed the city form an independent civilian review board to investigate complaints against the Boston Police Department, and regularly publish data on its work. The ordinance, filed last Monday, is an effort to replace the Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel (CO-OP) which has not met in a year nor published a report since 2017.

Campbell says she has been doing extensive work on police accountability, before the current calls for police reform, including recently subpoenaing the BPD for its stop-and-frisk data, which revealed disproportionate stops of African Americans.

“We know that even if we don’t have incidents that involve a George Floyd, we still have residents complain about unfortunate interactions with our police department,” she told the Banner. “I think many have long seen [CO-OP] as an entity that is ineffective in creating accountability for the department and creating the level of trust where a resident who files a complaint against an officer feels as though not only will they be heard, but that the officer will be held accountable,” she said.

The CO-OP does not have the power to conduct its own investigations into allegations of police misconduct. The panel reviews investigations that have already been conducted by the department’s Internal Affairs Division, then issues a finding of whether the investigation was fair and thorough. The police commissioner has the sole authority to determine whether an IAD investigation will be re-opened.

The councilors’ proposed review board, Campbell says, will follow a disciplinary matrix that is more specific than the current panel’s method, and if the recommendation is not adopted, the superintendent must reply to the board and present evidence on why his rejection is valid. 

If approved, the board will consist of 11 members, five appointed by the mayor to serve for two-year terms and six appointed by the City Council to serve for three-year terms. It will investigate several kinds of misconduct by the BPD, including excessive use of force, unlawful stops, perjury, abuse of authority and unlawful searches, when complaints are made by civilians or other police officers. In addition to investigating these instances, the board can also review Internal Affairs investigations if they are referred to the board by the police commissioner, the city council, or at the conclusion of certain investigations.

Even more important than holding the BPD accountable, Campbell says, is keeping it transparent.

“It is so difficult to collect data and information from our police department, which is just unacceptable. So I’m hoping, coupled with this conversation around the civilian review board and accountability, we will continue to push for transparency,” she said. “Stop-and-frisk data only offers one perspective of what’s going on with respect to the police departments or communities in the city of Boston.”

The board would collect and publish data on the number of complaints it receives, facts of the complaints, use-of-force incidents and more information surrounding arrests made.

State legislators are currently pushing for a committee on police certification, along with other reforms, and Campbell said the proposed Boston board may act as a complement to that committee on the municipal level. But most importantly, it must have an “adequate budget,” she said, and maintain its independence to have power when dealing with the BPD.

The ordinance is subject to approval by the rest of the city council, and Mayor Martin Walsh would then have the option to sign it into law. Prior to this ordinance, former District 4 City Councilor Charles Yancey proposed a similar civilian review board in 2015. At the time, the CO-OP had reviewed 31 out of 324 civilian complaints and did not have the power to conduct its own investigations.

Mejia, in a press release, said, “’Accountability’ can’t be a term we just throw around and pat ourselves on the back for using. We need to create pathways for the people and to make our voices heard when it comes to injustices in our system. It’s time for Boston to join cities across the country in creating a Civilian Review Board.”