The wheels of bureaucracy have been a-turnin’ within the Columbia Police Department and the Citizens Police Review Board, and, as usual, nothing seems to be moving.
In the review board’s latest case, the board ruled in favor of Derek Billups and his claim that excessive force was used against him by a police officer. The case was brought to CPRB after being addressed by CPD (who ruled in favor of the officer), and again we get to see how ineffective the system is.
The process goes like this: a complaint is filed to CPD, who conducts an internal investigation. If the complainant is not satisfied with CPD’s ruling, they can take their case to the review board. If the board rules in favor of the complainant, they send a letter back to CPD, who promptly ignores it. If the complainant is still not satisfied (which they probably aren’t), they can appeal their case to the City Manager — Bill Watkins, presently — who then is forced to make an awkward decision between siding with a prominent city employee or a review board composed of citizens.
Anybody with a basic sense of logic will notice that there’s something wrong with the process designed to give the citizens the power to monitor the police department. Clearly, the police department essentially gets to veto any decision against them made by the review board. What’s the point of having an organization to check the power if they have no power themselves?
Every time review board tries to do something, they get shot down. It’s almost like the system is designed to make the citizen run around for their voice to be heard, when in the end it doesn’t even matter. Without real power, the review board just becomes a group of people bitching about the police under the façade of a legitimate organization. The only thing that has changed since before the review board’s formation is the creation of its name.
Angry letters going back and forth between the police and the review board get nothing done. If the city wants to have a legitimate check on CPD, which there should be, then the review board needs to have legitimate powers, because all its decisions continue to fall on deaf ears.
If anything, the police department and review board could at least start a legitimate discussion on police matters in Columbia. That would be better than the ineffectiveness that the current system continues to radiate. But in the long run, the review board needs real power to have a real check on the Columbia Police Department.
