Columbia Citizens Review board selected Monday

The board will be under public scrutiny.

By Lyndsie Manusos

Published Nov. 3, 2009

The Citizens Police Review Board will be able to begin meeting after Monday night's City Council meeting in which the board's eight members were announced.

The council selected Steven Alexander, Caroll Highbarger, Ellen LoCurto-Martinez, James Martin, John McClure, Susan Smith, Steve Weinberg and Betty Wilson.

According to the language of the ordinance creating the board, it will review appeals from the police chief's decisions on alleged police misconduct, host public meetings and education programs and make recommendations on police policies and procedures.

Mayor Darwin Hindman said being on the review board is a challenging position.

"It's possibly going to require a lot of time, there are going to have to be some tough decisions and of course there will be a lot of public scrutiny," he said.

To serve on the board, members must be residents of Columbia and registered voters. The length of time members will serve will vary for the first set of appointees. But in the future, terms will last three years.

First Ward Councilman Paul Sturtz said the board would help increase public trust in the justice process.

"I think being able to look at these controversial cases head on and having it done by a well-respected impartial group can and it has to help making citizens feel like this is a good process and that we live in a community about pursing justice," he said.

The selection process began in September when the council began sorting through 49 applications for the nine-person review board. The ninth spot will belong to a representative from the Columbia Human Rights Commission.

On Saturday, the council held a work session to interview 17 of the 18 remaining applicants.

Interviews ran from 8 a.m. to about 12:15 p.m. in the Mezzanine Conference Room at City Hall. The final applicant was interviewed before the start of Monday night's council meeting.

Fourth Ward Councilman Jerry Wade said during the session the interviews were going exceptionally well.

"Sometimes you have trouble making decisions because you wish you had more applicants and they had better qualifications," he said. "This is just the opposite."

Although applicants for the board must be private citizens, they have included some people who have experience related to law enforcement policies and procedures. This includes an former officer, a forensic scientist and a prosecuting attorney.

Members of the board will now elect a chairperson and vice chairperson and will begin to meet monthly. During the interview process, several members of the council said details of how the board will ultimately work are still up in the air, but Wade said the board would not create policy.

"This is a board that will have a unique set of experiences, data and insight, but this in not a policy-making board," he said.

The board will meet monthly, providing an opportunity for public comment at each meeting. The ordinance also stated the board will follow the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement Code of Ethics.

— News Editor Will Guldin contributed to this story.