Should local governments be allowed to created civilian review boards? Or should they be required to create them?
One of the age-old debates in the General Assembly is shall versus may. A requirement for somebody to do something or just allowing them to do it.
That’s what lawmakers are grappling with on civilian review of law enforcement. The Senate passed a version that allows civilian review boards. The House is taking a different approach.
“What I am here today to fight for is that mandate,” House Majority Leader Charniele Herring argued Tuesday. Herring introduced a bill to mandate civilian review of police departments and sheriff’s offices. “I would like for us to be bold and require it. To me, this is just as important as school boards in a locality. This is just as important as a community services board.”
Some criminal justice advocates aren’t sure that’s the right way to handle this issue. “I don’t think we want veneers of accountability to be set up," Kim Rolla of the Legal Aid Justice Center says. "I think that could be detrimental to efforts to meaningfully transform policing. Our goal is really to make sure that when these bodies are set up, they are reflective of and representative of community power.”
The differences between the House and Senate might ultimately get worked out behind closed doors in a conference committee that’s not open to the public or streamed online.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
