By: Diane Benjamin
It isn’t an accident the Bloomington City Council had relatively short meetings before the April election and now two-hour or more regular meetings will be the norm. Renner hid his agenda with talking points and now he’s ready to activate the plans he had safely tucked out of sight.
Bike lanes of course. Subsidized housing – the complex on Greenwood won’t be the last. It’s also not for current residents, he wants to import them.
Monday night the Council will discuss library expansion plans, but they will also discuss this:
Black Lives Matter, the YWCA, ACLU, NAACP, and Not In Our Town are behind creating a Civilian Review Board.
It doesn’t matter the City already has a Police and Fire Commission with citizens: http://www.cityblm.org/government/boards-commissions/fire-and-police-commissioners
It doesn’t matter the union contract with the Police could be violated if the City tries to panel this board.
Establishing a review board tells the police department the citizens don’t trust them. It tells the police the Bloomington City Council doesn’t trust them.
Every police officer will be forced to second guess decisions they make because a review board will be looking at their actions. Officers have to make split second decisions. This board, with no practical experience to do so, will be evaluating those decisions.
Do BLUE Lives matter in Bloomington?
The above named organizations want to control local policing.
Are you going to let them?
The race to the bottom continues.
I hope the groups who want the civilian review board don’t start rioting when they find out the Committee of the Whole meeting in not at City Hall as their announcement says. The meeting will be held at the police station.
Smell a setup?
Maybe the BLM announcement was posted before the item was put on the agenda and before the location was announced. I thought it was strange to have a Committee of the Whole at the Police Station when the new library was topic. There will be no transparency regarding either discussion because there is no video capability in the Osborn Room. The packet indicates the Library Board is not pleased with the current proposals drawn up by Farnsworth. Maybe, the library will have to be moved to suit their vision.
renner won’t allow them to leave downtown!
Amelia wants it near the BCPA–closer to her home and away from the west side??!!??
Racism!
Ha! Concentrated Culture in the Cultural District–closer to the bar scene.
Review boards are the future of community policing.
Increased trust a win-win situation for all.
The police department is a government agency. I thought this site is all about increasing transparency and accountability of government?? Even if you were to take small government to the extreme- privatizing the police- you would have to have an independent review board that is being proposed here.
You might dislike who brought the idea to the table, but ultimately it is at the core an effort towards keeping the government accountable.
If you have a job, how about your boss grab people off the street to access you? The police will have uneducated people looking over their shoulder. They either will quit policing or end up dead because they second-guessed themselves a second too long. Besides, however is in power gets to pick the members. Democrats will pick anti-police representation. See the past 8 years.
Review boards exist in hundreds of cities across the US and what you are describing hasn’t happened.
Research further. Chicago cops are always assaulted, murders go up because they can’t get involved.
If everything goes private can we quit paying taxes?
Great minds think alike…lol
Who will appoint the people on the review board? Renner? Enter the big joke, the big scam on we the people.
@ Kelby – “Review boards exist in hundreds of cities across the US and what you are describing hasn’t happened.” Wow! Not once?!? Really? Hey we weren’t born yesterday as generalized claims aren’t going to work here. Although valid debate is appreciated, either polish up your game or prepare to lose.
Sorry Sticky Bean, but the fact that no one has brought factual evidence that backs the statement lead me to believe that it’s likely untrue. You are right though, I did not read results of every single review board across the country. I have read countless success stories however, the negative articles usually refer to expense (not proposed).
Sometimes the ability to think logically preceeds the need for factual evidence to discover truth. Evidently that’s why you seem to feel left out.
Local police officers will be forced to do what NYPD and Baltimore are doing. Slow response, wait till the crime is over & clean the mess up afterwards. I would not blame the them if the entire police force resigns over this.
How the PSCRB would work
Citizens could file complaints about police either directly with the police department, the PSCRB or the city’s legal department.
Anyone not satisfied with the police chief’s determination at the conclusion of an internal investigation can request a review by the PSCRB.
The PSCRB would have access to any documents provided voluntarily by the complainant or otherwise subject to release under the Freedom of Information Act.
The police chief would be authorized to discuss the case in a confidential setting with the PSCRB or its chairman, but police union contracts bar the board from being able to compel any officer to testify.
The board could recommend non-binding policy changes based on its review.
The board could provide further oversight by holding meetings to gather community input and publish recommendations and reports relating to public safety and police procedures.
All PSCRB meetings would be subject to the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
More bureaucracy always works, especially when however is in charge appoints the members. Yes, that was sarcastic. Renner doesn’t believe in the OMA. he has been found guilty twice – more only because the minutes of their secret meetings are never published.