The Citizens Police Review Board has recommended that Columbia hire a mediator coordinator to oversee appealed complaints.
The Mediation Task Force proposed the full-time position. Board member Betty Wilson said the mediator would decrease the amount of time between when a complaint is filed and when mediation occurs.
Board member Stephen Alexander said the mediation coordinator would work with the police department’s internal affairs unit.
“They would simply get the two parties (police officers and citizens) across the table from each other,” Alexander said.
Assistant City Counselor Rose Wibbenmeyer said the 2012 budget allowed for the spending of $3,950 to hire non-governmental employees, usually with short-term contracts. But board members said they thought a full-time mediator would be better able to lighten their caseload.
The board did not discuss how much the mediator would earn in salary or where the mediator’s office would be, but Wilson said finding space shouldn’t be a problem.
“(City Council) has a nice new building,” she said. “They can find space.”
The board voted unanimously to recommend a full-time mediator.
The board also made an initial review of a case in which Demetrius Tatum filed a complaint saying racism was involved in his false arrest for attempted robbery. The appeal was originally filed Dec. 27 but was postponed for a full hearing at both the Jan. 11 and Feb. 8 meetings.
Attorney Dan Viets, who represented Tatum, said police also used excessive force when arresting Tatum by breaking his car window and using a submachine gun to make him cooperate.
“(This case) shows that anyone can call the police, tell them that they have been robbed and have a police officer come out and use excessive force on innocent people,” Viets said. “What I want to know is, why isn’t the man who made the false report not prosecuted?”
Board member Mitch Richards said it would be more beneficial to look into why Jarone Smith, who was responsible for calling police in the first place, wasn’t arrested for making a false report.
“It seems to me like this situation could have ended a lot worse and, if a false report is to blame for that, we need to take a look into it,” he said.
But the board members decided there was not yet enough information regarding the racism claim in the original complaint to have a full hearing. They requested that Sgt. Roger Schlude, Tatum and his two cousins, who were arrested with him, be at the board’s next meeting scheduled for March 14.
The board also discussed the Columbia Police Department’s progress in complying with a city ordinance requiring all police policies to be posted on the city’s website. Wibbenmeyer relayed Police Chief Ken Burton’s report from Monday’s City Council meeting that said all publishable policies would be uploaded and available on the police department’s homepage by March 1.
Currently there are eight of an undisclosed number of total policies available online. Because some of the policies reveal police tactics that could possibly endanger a policeman’s life, those will not be published on the website.
