A group in Richmond is recommending their city council set up a new office to overview police with strong investigatory powers.
Police oversight boards have been around for years in Virginia. They didn’t have the power to subpoena or discipline officers until earlier this summer, when a law allowed localities to set up boards with that power.
Richmond City Council set up a task force to explore setting up a Civilian Review Board, in the wake of racial justice protests last summer. Police conduct was the focus of much of the protests.
CRBs are meant to be an independent body to oversee police, an alternative to the system of police investigating themselves.
The task force has recommended a new city office with strong powers to investigate and discipline misconduct. They also want it to help analyze and recommend police policy.
"Don't just think of it as only a set of citizen members who are going to review cases, but as really a larger office that is supposed to help strengthen and rebuild trust between the community and the police," said Eli Coston, a co-chair of the task force.
Coston said they want the office to have support staff to provide capacity for the board’s oversight functions as well: city employees that could to perform audits of police data and policy analysts.
The ambitious proposal will have to be approved and funded by Richmond’s City Council.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
