Mar 6, 2021 4 min read

Washington city officials plan to distribute an application for residents interested in sitting on a proposed police oversight committee.

Mayor Scott Putnam said during a virtual meeting Thursday that he, police Chief Robert Wilson and NAACP chapter President Andrew Goudy have been discussing an oversight committee since last summer, when Goudy first presented the proposal to council.

According to the proposal, the board would consist of seven Washington residents, who would serve a four-year, unpaid term. Putnam said the rest of the board would be made up of Wilson, Goudy, the police union president and himself.

“We’ve had some really productive meetings to get where we’re at now,” Putnam said.

He said they have a resolution ready to be voted upon but first wanted to circulate an application in the community, to gauge residents’ interest in serving on the board.

Board members will need to attend training in a civilian academy operated through the Pittsburgh Police Academy that educates the public on police training and tactics. Putnam said the training would educate committee members on how police are trained to conduct arrests, and thus could assist the committee should they receive related complaints.

“All the board members need to be trained in arrest procedures so that there are not any false claims and so they know what they’re doing,” Putnam said during the meeting.

Training will be held in Pittsburgh and require one evening a week for 15 weeks.

“The concern is can we find enough people willing to make that trek each week to serve on the board,” Putnam said. “We want seven good applicants. If this board is going to be successful and have the confidence of the community, it’s going to be due to the quality of the board members.”

Putnam said the Pittsburgh program is the only one to offer this type of training in the region. Goudy said it’s likely training may be available online, especially in light of the pandemic creating the need for virtual opportunities.

“That was my initial concern, but then I spoke to someone over in Pittsburgh, and she said that training may be available virtually,” Goudy said. “They may go back to in-person, and that could be a problem. It’s just easier right now if it’s virtual.”

Putnam said there’s no money in the city budget for the training, so it would need to be fund-raised or possibly placed on the ballot as a referendum. However, council would first like to “see what our interest is,” he said, by circulating the application.

The application is expected to be approved by council and distributed next week. It will also be made available on the city’s website. Those interested in applying must live within the city limits, have a high school diploma or equivalent, and have no felonies on their record. Putnam said every potential applicant would need to have council approval.

Goudy said the NAACP would be involved in the vetting process for candidates and would be making recommendations to council.

“I plan to put the word out in the community, so we’ll have a good pool to select from,” he said. “Right now, I have no way of knowing for sure, but I think we’ll get a decent number of applicants.”

Goudy hopes to get at least 10 or 12 applicants.

“We’re going to have to really network within the city,” he said. “Now we’re going to have to make a real effort.”

If the city doesn’t get enough applicants to fill the seven-member board, Putnam said “the city of Washington, the NAACP, and the (Fraternal Order of Police) will have to sit back down and reevaluate the discussions that we’ve had.”