Tag: Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board

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Officials Outline Steps Toward Police Reform

City officials laid out steps to reform the Memphis Police Department Thursday, June 25th, assuring the community that it is committed to change.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said his administration has been meeting with clergy and other community leaders over the past four weeks to discuss ways to improve the Memphis Police Department (MPD).

Alex Smith, chief human resource officer for the city, said the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of law enforcement have led city officials to “continue to push further to ensure that Black lives matter.”

“As we have met with clergy and concerned Memphians, we understand that there’s a strong desire for change to policing in Memphis,” Smith said. “And as an administration, we agree that change must happen.”

As a result of the meetings, Smith said the city has identified “swift and immediate action that we can take to improve outcomes for MPD and the citizens that we serve.”

Those actions include:

• MPD updated its policies to include the sentiment of “8 Can’t Wait”

• Made improvements to the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB), including enhancing communication with the public, providing training for CLERB members and staff, and reviewing the request for members to have subpoena powers

• Started posting board opportunities on the city website

• Began discussions with the Memphis Police Association to look for opportunities to strengthen language in the memoranda of understanding between the city and association to ensure that officers will be held accountable when using excessive force

• Looking to partner with community activists to improve implicit bias, cultural awareness, and cultural diversity training for MPD officers

“We know this is just the beginning,” Smith said. “It’s the beginning of a longer journey, but we are committed to change, committed to Memphis, and committed to seeing this through.”

MPD director Michael Rallings said he understands the frustration that citizens are feeling and realizes “the importance of transparency and accountability as we reform law enforcement nationwide.” He continued saying that he “believes in reimagining law enforcement.”

“We are committed to making changes that will aid in building trust among citizens and among law enforcement,” Rallings said. “We have been called upon to follow the ‘8 Can’t Wait.’ Many have heard about it and we actually started reviewing ‘8 Can’t Wait’ in 2016 long before this became an issue.”

Regarding the “8 Can’t Wait” policies, Rallings said the department already bans chokeholds, requires de-escalation, requires warning before shooting, follows a use-of-force continuum, does comprehensive reporting on its use of force, and exhausts all alternatives before shooting. Additionally, the department recently updated its policies to require officers to intervene and report if another officer is using excessive force.

MPD also bans shooting from vehicles, another “8 Can’t Wait” policy. However, Rallings said it is allowed when deadly force is authorized.

After requests from the community, Rallings said MPD has also banned no-knock warrants.

“I just want to assure and reassure Memphians that we are listening and we are moving forward,” Rallings said. “We cannot stand idle and we must continue to work together.”

Strickland said the discussion and work around police reform “is not over” and that the city will “continue to work every day to do better and to be better.”

“We’ve made an intentional decision to go through all our policies and procedures to see where we can improve,” Strickland said. “Second, we will create some means to broaden the discussion in terms of people and topics so that more people can contribute with their ideas and on the topics which they want to be heard.”

Strickland said the city will solidify plans for further discussion in the next week.

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UPDATE: CLERB Ordinance Passes; New Language Retains Subpoena Power

Worth Morgan

UPDATE (8/9/16, 7:33 p.m.): The Memphis City Council passed an ordinance retaining CLERB’s subpoena power, but board members must subpoena through their council liaison. And those subpoenaed will appear before the Memphis City Council.

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The issue of whether or not the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) should have the power to subpoena witnesses and documents in cases of police misconduct is up for its final vote today at Memphis City Council on Tuesday afternoon

But the ordinance’s wording has changed to retain the citizen board’s subpoena power through a city council liaison. An older revised version would have stripped the board of that indirect power completely, but Memphis United and the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center has put up a strong campaign against that change. According to the new language, which was introduced today by city council sponsor Worth Morgan, anyone subpoenaed would be compelled to attend a Memphis City Council meeting, which CLERB members would then attend. 

The original CLERB ordinance passed last year gave the board indirect subpoena power, but Morgan — also the CLERB council liaison — had recently introduced new language to remove that power, saying such power would violate the city charter. But Morgan has apparently worked out a compromise that retains the board’s subpoena power but changes the meeting at which those subpoenaed would be compelled to attend.

The new language up for vote today reads: “In order to carry out its functions, the board is authorized to request through its Council liaison, a subpoena to effectuate an investigation or compel attendance by an officer or witness for a hearing before the Memphis City Council. Upon investigation and fact finding, the Council liaison shall present a resolution to the full City Council to obtain the requested subpoena. Should the Council liaison fail to support the request of the board for the subpoena within the next two council meetings following the date of the request, the board Chairperson may make a recommendation to the City Council Chair. In the event the Council fails to issue the requested subpoena, the board reserves the right to file a complaint with the local and state ethics commissions, Tennessee Human Rights Commissions, or the Department of Justice to investigate the case before the CLERB board.”

The CLERB is a volunteer board tasked with hearing cases of police misconduct that were not sustained by the Memphis Police Department’s own Internal Affairs complaint process. The board can recommend punishment for officers to the police director, but it cannot enforce penalties.

The CLERB was active from 1994 to 2011 but eventually fizzled out. The original board lacked power to subpoena witnesses and documents. However, last fall, the Memphis City Council voted to allow the board to indirectly subpoena officers and paperwork through the board’s liaison on the council.

The Mid-South Peace & Justice Center sent out an email Monday night, thanking Morgan for his compromise.

“We would like to thank Councilman Worth Morgan for working with us to ensure that CLERB has the power and authority to provide accountable and transparent oversight of police to the people of Memphis, Tennessee,” read the email.  

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Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board Hears First Case

Memphian Larry Brown said Memphis Police officer Steven Brooks dragged him off his Whitehaven porch and slammed him onto the hood of a squad car on June 26th last year during a routine police visit regarding Brown’s son, who was in juvenile custody.

Brown recounted his story to the city’s Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) on Thursday afternoon at Memphis City Hall. It was the first case CLERB has heard since the Memphis City Council passed an ordinance last year that gave the previously dormant board more teeth. CLERB is an independent board with authority to investigate citizen complaints of police misconduct. The board doesn’t have the authority to punish officers, but it can make recommendations of action to the Memphis Police Department.

CLERB heard testimony from Brown and his daughter for more than an hour before members asked the public to leave so they could deliberate about the case in executive session. City attorney Allan Wade later told the Commercial Appeal that asking the public to leave for the deliberation portion of the meeting violated the open meetings law.

According to Brown, Brooks and another Memphis Police officer, Sean Blevins, arrived at his home at 4094 Grantham at 1:30 a.m. on Friday, June 26th. At the time, Brown said he was sitting in a car in his driveway with his 20-year-old daughter listening to music and watching YouTube videos. Brown’s son had been in trouble with the police earlier in the day and was in juvenile custody. 

Brown said his daughter noticed a police car had pulled up to the house, and Brown got out to greet them. His daughter stayed in the car. He said Brooks asked to speak with Brown’s wife. Brown told the officer that his wife was asleep and said he could talk with him instead. 

Brown said Brooks then “got irate” and grabbed him by the arms, twisted them behind his back, dragged him to the patrol car, and slammed him onto the hood. Brown said he couldn’t remember when back-up officer Blevins showed up to the scene, but he said he had no complaint with that officer, calling Blevins’ demeanor “cordial.” However, he said Brooks became combative as soon as Brown refused to wake his wife.

“He said if I said something else, he was going to take my black ass to jail,” Brown told the board. The officer in question — Brooks — is black. Blevins is white.

Brown said the officers were at his house to inform his wife that she needed to pick their son up from juvenile court in the morning, but he suspected that, since he and his son have different last names (his son and wife have the same last name), that they didn’t understand that he was the father. Eventually, Brown, while still being held against the hood of the police car, yelled for his daughter, who was still sitting in their car in the driveway, to wake up the wife.

Brown wasn’t charged with anything. CLERB members grilled Brown for nearly an hour, and they also interviewed his daughter, who witnessed the interaction from inside the car where they’d both been sitting before the police arrived. CLERB board chair Ralph White asked Brown if he’d been drinking that night, and Brown admitted that he’d had a beer earlier in the day, around 3 or 4 p.m. He said he wasn’t drunk during the police interaction. He did admit, however, that when he went to the police precinct to file a citizen complaint against Brooks later that week, he was sent home because his breath smelled like alcohol. Brown said he’d drank the night before he went to file, but he claimed he wasn’t still drunk that morning.

After hearing Brown’s story, the public was dismissed from the meeting so the CLERB could go into executive session to discuss the case. A conclusion had not been reached at the time of his posting.

CLERB, which has been in place since 1994 but inactive since 2011, investigates complaints of force, verbal abuse, harassment, arrest, illegal search or entry, intimidation, improper firearm use, or other issues with police.

Last November, the city council voted to give the board indirect subpoena power. The board was previously unable to require that police officers involved in a case appear before the board. They also could not require the city to hand over documents pertaining to a case. But the up-to-date CLERB ordinance gives the board the ability to subpoena officers and documents through a Memphis City Council liaison. 

The CLERB ordinance also allows for the hiring of an investigator and an administrator to oversee investigations into alleged police misconduct. Since CLERB is an all-volunteer board, its previous incarnation was unable to put enough time into investigations.

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CLERB Now Has Power to Investigate Police Misconduct

Right around the same time last week that Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich was announcing that a Memphis Police officer would not be criminally charged for shooting an unarmed black man, the Memphis City Council was taking up a vote on how much power a civilian board would have to investigate complaints of police misconduct.

While Connor Schilling, the officer who shot Darrius Stewart, got off without state charges, the council voted in favor of giving the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) more teeth to investigate complaints.

CLERB, which has been in place since 1994 but inactive since 2011, investigates complaints of force, verbal abuse, harassment, arrest, illegal search or entry, intimidation, improper firearm use, or other issues with police.

Perhaps the biggest change for CLERB came in giving the board indirect subpoena power. The board was previously unable to require that police officers involved in a case appear before the board. They also could not require the city to hand over documents pertaining to a case.

But the up-to-date CLERB ordinance gives the board the ability to subpoena officers and documents through a Memphis City Council liaison. Originally, when citizen group Memphis United began proposing the city give CLERB more power, they’d asked for the council to give the board the ability to directly subpoena officers and documents without going through a liaison. But council attorney Allan Wade said such a change would require a citywide referendum.

“What we have instead is the next best thing,” said Paul Garner, organizer for Memphis United. “The council will subpoena requested documents and records on behalf of the review board. If that’s the closest thing we can get without a referendum, we’ll take that over them not being able to issue subpoenas.”

The Rev. Ralph White of Bloomfield Full Gospel Baptist Church has served as the chair of CLERB since before it became inactive in 2011, and he said the subpoena power makes CLERB’s job much easier.

“[Before], we were not able to have contact or dialogue with the police officers who had been charged with offenses, so it was a little difficult for us to adequately represent those complaints,” White said.

The CLERB ordinance also allows for the hiring of an investigator and an administrator to oversee investigations into alleged police misconduct. Since CLERB is an all-volunteer board, its previous incarnation was unable to put enough time into investigations.

“The board members often have other responsibilities beyond the board, so having a dedicated staff is critical,” Garner said.

CLERB works somewhat like an appeals board, White said. First, a complainant must file a report with the Memphis Police Department’s Internal Affairs division. Internal Affairs has 45 days to complete the their investigation, another new addition to the CLERB ordinance. Previously, Internal Affairs cases could take much longer to complete.

“If the complainant isn’t satisfied [with Internal Affairs], they can come to us. We can take the information they have and allow our investigator to go through and make his or her decision and compare that to what’s already out there,” White said.

Once CLERB reaches a conclusion, the board can make a recommendation for a disciplinary action to the police director, but it’s up to the director whether or not the action will be enforced.

The CLERB ordinance passed in council with a 9-2 vote, with only councilmen Reid Hedgepeth and Kemp Conrad voting against it. Conrad said he didn’t have a problem with the idea of CLERB, but he felt that the group pushing for the changes — Memphis United — was anti-police. Memphis United has organized peaceful protests against police violence and supports the Black Lives Matter movement.

“I and others were concerned that the CLERB board allowed these openly anti-police people to hijack the whole communications process,” Conrad said. “What if those people have influence or end up on the [CLERB] board?”

But White said it’s never been the goal of CLERB to “bash police officers.” He said, in some cases where the board finds proof of police misconduct, they’ll suggest more training or a desk position over termination.

“The majority of the time, when we have investigated cases [on the old board], the citizens were found at fault. Often, things happen because citizens were ignorant of the law,” White said. “We’re going to educate citizens on what their rights are and what rights they do not have.

“Many times, when [police] are doing their jobs, they don’t know if a traffic stop will be their last action on this earth. We’re not just there to get the police. Most police are men and women who love our community, and some of them might be bad apples, just like you’ve got in every occupation.”

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City Council Discusses Adding Cateria Stokes to Homicide Reward List

Cateria Stokes, the 15-year-old girl who was killed during a drive-by shooting at her house on April 10th, may be the next name added to the city’s reward list for information on homicide suspects.

Cateria Stokes

The Memphis City Council’s Public Safety Committee discussed adding Stokes’ name to the list in their meeting Tuesday morning, and the resolution will be voted on in the full council meeting Tuesday night. If passed, tipsters with information on Stokes’ killer, who remains unknown at this time, could be given a $100,000 reward.

Other names on the city’s homicide reward list include former Memphis Grizzly Lorenzen Wright, Larry Joseph Larkin, Joey Lacy, Cora Gatewood, Calvin Riley, Napoleon Yates, Marco Antonio Calero, Jack Lassiter, and Deryck DeShaun Davenport.

The Public Safety Committee also heard the monthly rape kit update. A member of the rape kit task force told council members that the construction storage room for DNA evidence was moving along and “seeing lots of progress.” As of March, there were 5,246 rape kits that remained untested. That’s down from 5,246 untested in February.

Council members also discussed an ordinance to give the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) more teeth, including the power to subpoena officers and information. The CLERB, which is currently inactive, is designed to provide oversight for citizen complaints against police wrongdoing. Both Director Toney Armstrong and Memphis Police Association President Mike Williams took issue with the idea giving the board subpoena power, claiming that it could impact the officers’ Fifth Amendment rights.

But City Council member Shea Flinn, who once served on an earlier incarnation of the CLERB, urged the council to take action soon and give the CLERB more power.

“All politics aside, this board is about when things don’t go right. And the reason this board wasn’t taken seriously by the city council [in its past incarnation] is because the board wasn’t serious. It had no power,” Flinn said. “And in these economic times, when we’re paying staff [to serve on the board], we cannot do nothing.”

Flinn said a CLERB with more power could help build trust between citizens and law enforcement. The CLERB amendment will be heard in its first reading at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

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Memphis United Demands More Accountability for Police Officers

Driving under the influence, aggravated assault, rape, and murder are among the offenses law enforcement are paid to police. Ironically, these very crimes are amid the illegal acts some Memphis officers have been arrested for since last year.

In 2014, 18 officers from the Memphis Police Department (MPD) were arrested. As of April 2nd, there have been four officers apprehended this year for offenses such as sexual exploitation of a minor and driving under the influence.

“We are held to a higher standard because we took an oath to protect and serve, but, by the same token, our officers are treated just like any other citizen who breaks the law,” said MPD spokeswoman Alyssa Macon-Moore. “We’re no different. When we do things that are outside of the perimeters of the law, we must suffer the consequences.”

Memphis United, a coalition of local grassroots organizations and residents against structural and institutional racism, organized the “Bad Apples? FixTheBarrel” rally last Wednesday at the intersection of Lamar and Airways. People waved signs and protested in support of efforts to hold law enforcement more accountable.

The primary approach to help accomplish this goal would be through an amendment of the city’s Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) ordinance. The revision would provide CLERB with the power to subpoena documents and police witnesses, investigate complaints concurrently with the Memphis Police Internal Affairs department, and make disciplinary recommendations to the Memphis Police director, among other authoritative acts. The Memphis City Council’s Personnel Committee will discuss the amendment at its next meeting on April 21st.

Paul Garner led the rally at the intersection of Lamar and Airways. He spoke through a bullhorn at passersby about the importance of police accountability and the need to reinstate CLERB.

“There needs to be a system in place where when people file complaints, it’s tracked and available to the public, and we catch these things before something serious happens,” said Garner, organizing coordinator for the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center (MSPJC). “Some of these guys have multiple complaints filed against them, and if there was a civilian oversight body that had the power to gather that information at the time those complaints were filed, red flags would have gone up and something could have been done before we had a case of rape or sexual assault or domestic violence.”

Last Tuesday, a day before the “Bad Apples” rally, a panel was held at Christian Brothers University to inform the public of CLERB’s origin and how its modification would benefit the city. The panelists included members of CLERB and MSPJC.

During the event, an attendee asked if CLERB would have the ability to demand punishment of officers who unlawfully shoot and kill civilians.

Brad Watkins, executive director of the MSPJC, informed the questioner that CLERB would not investigate criminal matters and “is not the answer to our problems.”

For significant progress to be made, Watkins said, in addition to CLERB, there needs to be a confidential counseling program for Memphis Police officers as well as replacement of leadership in the MPD and at City Hall.

“We have to have a complete change in the culture of MPD,” Watkins said. “Not only the culture of MPD and how it relates to its citizens, but the institution of MPD and its relationship to the psychological health of the officers themselves. Without these things, we’ll only have further harassment and violence in our community. The MPD has to be accountable, open to the public, and [responsive] before there’s a murder and a protest — not constantly playing catch-up afterwards with token gestures that don’t change the reality of people’s lives.”

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Memphis United Wants Better Board to Police the Police

CREDIT: Saniphoto | Dreamstime.com

The Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB), the independent board that investigates complaints about police officers, was reinstated last June after years of being inactive. But an audit of the board by the Memphis United Coalition found that the board hasn’t reviewed a single case since then.

Part of the reason for the inactivity of the board is its lack of power, according to CLERB Chairman Rev. Ralph White. Now Memphis United has drawn up a list of demands for how CLERB should be operated and what sort of power it should have.

The group addressed those demands in the public comment period of last week’s Memphis City Council meeting, and they plan to work with council members soon to draft a full ordinance increasing CLERB’s power.

“An audit revealed several systemic flaws that limited the ability of the board to function efficiently,” said Paul Garner of Memphis United. “That includes CLERB not having the power to subpoena records or the power to require cooperation of witnesses from the Memphis Police Department.”

Saniphoto | Dreamstime.com

When a civilian has a complaint about excessive use of force by a police officer, illegal search, police harassment, poor customer service by police, property damage by police, or police following incorrect procedures, they’re supposed to first file a complaint with the Memphis Police Department’s (MPD) Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB). If they’re unhappy with the bureau’s findings, they can then appeal their complaint to CLERB.

Memphis United is suggesting that the Memphis City Council give CLERB subpoena power to gain access to police witnesses and documents, the ability to make policy recommendations to the MPD, the ability to investigate complaints concurrently with the IAB, and enough funding to conduct independent investigations into complaints of police misconduct.

“We had a private investigator at one time, and they cut that from the budget,” said White, who served on the last incarnation of the board as well.

CLERB was established in 1994 after 68-year-old Jesse Bogand was shot by police in Orange Mound. At the time, the board was intended to investigate, hear cases, and recommend action on findings of police misconduct. But since police officers were not required to cooperate and because the board didn’t have the power to subpoena documents, CLERB lacked teeth.

The board was eventually dismantled, but it was reinstated in 2014 after a few volunteers at the Manna House, a gathering place for the city’s homeless, attempted to appeal a complaint to CLERB, only to find the board had been inactive for years. The Memphis City Council voted to appoint new members to the board in June 2014, and they also voted to allow Memphis United to host public forums to gain input on how to improve the board.

White said the new board hasn’t heard cases yet because they simply don’t have much power. They’re hoping the council adopts the suggestions of Memphis United.

“We want to make sure we put some of those suggestions in place before we start hearing cases,” White said. “Right now, we simply don’t have enough power on the board to get police officers to come to hearings. We do need a bit more power and authority.”

White said, although the board wants more power, they also want the MPD to know that they’re not in place to oppose the lawful work of the department.

“We want to make sure they understand that we’re not working against them,” White said. “We just want to make sure we have a functional police department that is working for the betterment of the people.”

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Organization Looks to Improve Police Review Board

Memphis United Facebook

  • Memphis United Facebook

Memphis United has announced a campaign involving social media and town hall meetings to improve the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board, which has been reinstated by the Wharton administration after being inactive for four years, according to the organization. The Flyer covered Memphis United’s early work on this issue in February.

At a press conference Thursday evening, members of the group spoke about their experiences with the Memphis Police Department and the Internal Affairs Bureau. Speakers included Paul Garner, an organizer with the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, who was arrested while filming officers last year. His process took months to complete with Internal Affairs and went nowhere.

“[The review board] existed nowhere but on paper,” Garner said to reporters. “Now, it has no subpoena power and no punitive authority.”

The board was also only allowed to review investigations that were completed by Internal Affairs.

Deborah Robinson, a freelance journalist from Las Vegas, also spoke to reporters after having an incident with Memphis police last month, where she was allegedly questioned and assaulted while filming an arrest at a bus terminal.

In December, the Memphis Police Department released its formal policy on recording, instructing officers to refrain from asking for identification or reasons for recording as well as stopping those in the process of recording.

“The officers ignored the policy,” Robinson said.

For inspiration, Memphis United looked at Knoxville as a model for the proposed improvements to the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board.

The first town hall meeting for citizens to offer input into Memphis United’s work to “make [the board] more effective” is June 24th at 6 p.m. in the Lewis Davis CME Church, located in the Chickasaw Gardens neighborhood. The organization also has a hashtag for people to share experiences with Memphis police on social media, #CLERBspeakout2014.