NAACP president presses Washington council on police review board
The president of the local branch of the NAACP last week pushed Washington City Council to move forward with a civilian police review board.
Council voted in June to table an ordinance that would have established the board, out of concern it could lead to litigation from Washington’s Fraternal Order of Police union.
“(Mayor Scott Putnam) agreed to schedule a meeting with the NAACP and the FOP to continue the conversation about how to move forward with the review board,” NAACP President Andrew Goudy said at Thursday’s meeting. “Well, it’s been two months since the ordinance was tabled. If any meetings have occurred, the NAACP has certainly not been involved in any of them.”
At the time the ordinance was tabled, council pointed to ongoing litigation in Morgantown, W.Va., over a similar review board. Putnam indicated that lawsuit remains a concern for council.
“I have not scheduled a meeting,” Putnam said. “We’re still waiting on the Morgantown litigation.”
Under the current proposal, Goudy and Putnam would both sit on the board, along with police Chief Robert Wilson and seven Washington residents. The FOP expressed concerns that the board’s access to personnel files would need to be negotiated into the union contract.
Councilman Joe Manning suggested that it would be better to have a review of police complaints at the county level rather than the municipal level, and said the district attorney’s office could conduct independent investigations of alleged misconduct of any police department in Washington County.