There’s
a new plan on the table to address the ongoing question of who polices the
police in Omaha. A Citizen Review Board will be tasked with sorting through
complaints.
Mayor
Jean Stothert, police management and the police union have worked for months to
structure the board that will serve as the go-to location for citizen
complaints against police.
The
board itself will consist of five members, one from each precinct plus one
at-large member. There will also be an alternate. Then there will be three
non-voting advisers to the board: someone from Omaha Police command; someone
from the Human Rights and Relations Department and someone from the City Law
Department.
The
board members will not be paid. They will not have subpoena powers and they
will not conduct their own investigations. They will review only what police
investigate after the complaint is made.
The
mayor said, “We've had a Citizens Review Board in the past. We had an auditor
in the past. In my opinion, neither worked extremely well. This is a different
approach. Like I said, got a lot of input. Basically I feel there is the
ability with a board for broader citizen oversight.”
The
mayor's executive order is not playing well in some parts of North Omaha. While
some see it as a step in the right direction, others see it as political
sideshow.
The
intent is to build trust between police and the citizens of Omaha.
Robert
Wagner reviews the mayor's executive order that creates the board. Wagner has
filed a complaint against the police for a rough arrest in the past and he said
Friday action doesn't go far enough. He said the board will have no power to
create change in a police force that needs change.
"This
is just a patchwork,” he said. “Just put together almost like a campaign
promise. She just threw something out here and I don't believe it has any merit
at all. As far as being a help in terms of that trust between the community and
police, it's not going to do anything for that."
Community
leader Willie Hamilton actually laughed at the mayor's proposal. He said people
in the minority community are outraged at the idea of the weak panel with no
power.
Hamilton
said, “Not all police officers are bad but history speaks for itself. We can go
back to Robert Ammons, George Bibbins, just recently Robert Wagner. You got the
Johnson family, then the filing of an ACLU lawsuit and the best we can do is a
citizen review board with a bunch of volunteers with no subpoena power? That's
ridiculous."
Stothert
unveiled the plan at a news conference where she was joined by Omaha Police
Chief Todd Schmaderer and Omaha Police Union President John Wells. Stothert
said she wants to have the board operating within a matter of weeks.
