Below is my article On Police Accountability that was published by Newsday today. Below it is a constructive contribution by Paul Surovell that advances consideration of these issues.
The state grants the police the exceptional power of life and death for the purpose of providing for the safety and security of the community. Being granted this exceptional power, the police are responsible to the community for its exercise. They cannot clam immunity from responsible community oversight in the exercise of this power. But it has long been clear that the community’s elected political representatives are incapable of exercising the effective oversight needed to guarantee the fair, and impartial exercise of police power. That is in large part due to the power of police unions to create unjustified fear that creating such accountability would render society less safe. It has thus become patently clear the only way a community can adequately and systematically address issues of police accountability is if it creates an independent civilian complaint review board with effective subpoena power. That is the one necessary and inescapable requirement for the systemic rehabilitation of the relation between the police and the communities they have the responsibility to serve with equity and justice. Short of that, there will be no fundamental solution to the inequities in policing that have been, and are continuing to tear our communities apart, thus rendering us all less safe.
For a little perspective, Newark NJ created a Civilian Review Board that goes beyond the power to subpoena, but also includes the powers to recommend disciplinary action and to review decisions by the Police Chief. And equally important, 7 of the 11 members of the Board are appointed by community organizations that are concerned about police abuse, including the ACLU, NAACP and the People’s Organization for Progress, whose leader, Larry Hamm, who we’ve known for years (as has anyone in NJ involved in anti-racist, anti-war, pro-labor, pro-environment struggles). He’s absolutely incorruptible and indefatigable.
The Review Board is under challenge by the police union, but was restored by the appellate court after being gutted by the lower court. The NJ Supreme Court heard oral arguments in April. Hopefully part of George Floyd’s legacy will be to set the stage for a positive court decision.
If anyone is interested at looking in more detail at these issues, as well as the status of Civilian Review Boards across the country, here’s a great article by Udi Offer, former head of the NJ ACLU, now assistant political director of national ACLU.
https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1572&context=shlr