Police oversight committee appointed

By Juana Summers

Published Nov. 9, 2007

The Columbia City Council on Monday approved former MU Faculty Council Chairman Rex Campbell as chairman of the Committee for Review of Citizen Oversight of the Columbia Police Department.

Jeffery Williams, MU director of access and urban outreach; MU economics professor Jeffrey Milyo; and MU sophomore Todd Wait were also appointed to the committee. Wait will serve as an ex-officio member of the committee.

The formation of the committee stemmed from a recommendation by members of the Minority Men's Network at a council meeting on June 4. At that point, Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman authorized the creation of an exploratory committee to look at the possibility of oversight for Columbia's police force.

Hindman said the purpose of the committee is to look at police oversight by civilians as a possibility.

"I sense that there is enough citizen concern about the amount of oversight that we need to address it," Hindman said.

Hindman said the need for increased police oversight, as stated by multiple members of the community, does not stem from one specific event.

Following the initiative to establish an exploratory committee, Campbell said Hindman approached him to lead the committee. Campbell was the only member of the 15-person committee who did not directly apply and was instead appointed by the mayor.

Hindman said he chose to appoint Campbell because of his prior service on the council and his leadership role within the university.

"This issue has been around Columbia for decades," Campbell said. "This way, everyone who has an opinion on it has a chance to speak out on it."

The members of the Columbia City Council, in addition to Hindman and Campbell, recommended members of the committee said Third Ward City Councilman Karl Skala, although the initial proposition was for Hindman to appoint the entire committee.

"I think there was enough interest citywide," Skala said. "I think that the process developed properly, and we wound up with a better group than if we started out on a different path."

One of the first actions of the exploratory committee would be to engage in a discussion with Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm about current police practices, Campbell said.

When the idea of citizen oversight for the Columbia Police Department was originally proposed, Boehm said he thought that the committee was unnecessary because of the department's internal review system.

But Boehm said he will work with the appointed board.

"What I've said all along, and what I would still say, is that I and the staff here at the department look forward to working with the committee in any fashion they request," Boehm said.

Boehm said, ideally, the review process will allow members of the appointed board to see the high standards that the police department has for reviewing the officers' conduct.

Following the recommendations of outside consultant Aaron Thompson, the Columbia Police Department is reviewing and rewriting the internal affairs process. Boehm said the basic structure of the review process will stay the same. The process of reviewing the conduct of Columbia's police officers allows citizens to submit complaints through writing, e-mail, in person or by phone, Boehm said. That complaint would be submitted to the officer's supervisor, who would conduct interviews. The supervisory officer would make a recommendation as to whether or not the officer's conduct was proper or not.

"That recommendation would then be sent up the chain of command, ultimately to my desk," Boehm said.

Members of the oversight committee were to be officially notified by the City Clerk's office, but Hindman said they would likely read of their appointment in the media.

Professor Milyo declined to comment and said he had not been contacted in relation to the oversight committee.