Great Lakes Wire

City of Grand Rapids issued the following announcement on Nov 15.

Following an in-depth examination of the policy and general operations of the City’s Civilian Appeal Board (CAB), City staff presented a re-imagination of that nine-member civilian oversight board of law enforcement to the City Commission.

At last week’s Committee of the Whole, Brandon Davis, oversight and public accountability director, outlined the Public Safety Alignment and Governance Report: Update and Implementation Plans study his office undertook over the past year. The review included recommendations for future operations of the Civilian Appeal Board, Community Relations Commission, Public Safety Committee and SAFE Taskforce. CLICK HERE to review Davis’ PowerPoint presentation.

The update on feedback received from the City's public safety groups and proposed implementation, included an extensive review of City Commission policy 800-02 “Grand Rapids Police Dept. Civilian Appeal Board.” That review included engagement with the community and city staff.

City Commission Policy 800-02 encourages compliance with rules and regulations concerning the conduct of police officers during interactions with citizens. It was created in July 1996 (amended in 2003) to review the findings of the Grand Rapids Police Department Internal Affairs Unit. The policy established CAB and its review of complaints of use of excessive force, falsification and lying, civil rights violations, hostility, discourtesy, racial animosity or prejudice, and other conduct unbecoming of an officer.

As a result of this analysis, the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability (OPA) suggested five recommendations. Those transformative suggestions include:

1. Implement mandatory onboarding and training for all CAB members
2. Improve written reports to promote fairness and enhance the quality of board decisions
3. Increase jurisdictional authority to align with best practices and to promote increased accountability
4. Empower CAB to make formal recommendations to elevate community voice in public safety operations
5. Reimagine City Commission Policy 800-02 to be actionable, increase procedural justice, and to reflect and ensure transparency

Davis said that CAB board members have the authority to implement some of the recommendations through existing policy; additionally, these will be incorporated in the reimagining recommendation. He outlined a process for re-imaging CAB. That process includes an 11-member OPA-led workgroup comprised of a representative from OPA, the City Attorney’s office, Grand Rapids Police Department, American Civil Liberties Union, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, CAB, Urban Core Collective and four community members (one per ward appointed by commissioners and one appointed by the mayor).

The tentative timeline begins immediately with the creation of the workgroup to reimagine civilian oversight of law enforcement. The members of the group will be selected in December, create an engagement strategy to ensure community is heard throughout the process and meet over a four-month period to research best practices and procedures, draft policy, and create engagement strategy for civilian oversight in the City of Grand Rapids. During that period, the workgroup will host a public meeting to gather feedback from stakeholders. At the completion of its work – expected in April – the workgroup will provide a final policy recommendation to the City Manager and City Commission that will fully reimagine civilian oversight of law enforcement in the City of Grand Rapids.

Original source can be found here.

Source: City of Grand Rapids