\n| A September 2010 protest oustide the Justice Center calls for accountability for the deaths of Raul Pinet and Chuniece Patterson in police custody. The CRB was created to address such complaints of police misconduct. Photo: Kimberly Mccoy<\/em><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n In 1993, Syracuse passed an
\nordinance establishing a Citizen Review Board (CRB) to hear complaints against
\nthe police. <\/span>The CRB came out of Common
\nCouncilor Charles Anderson\u2019s Task Force on Community and Police Relations,
\nwhich began meeting a year and a half before the 1991 Rodney King incident, and
\nfeedback from Syracusans that an independent process was needed. Last spring,
\nCouncilor Pam Hunter formed a committee of community members to revise the CRB,
\nwhich included myself and attorney Alan Rosenthal, also part of the original
\ntask force. This work culminated on December 29, <\/sup>2011 when the
\nCommon Council unanimously passed the new version. The Council has made their
\neight new appointments to the CRB, which has begun meeting. At this writing,
\nthe Mayor is expected to announce her three appointments shortly.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cFrom the
\nbeginning,\u201d I wrote in the August 1995 PNL<\/em>, \u201cSyracuse\u2019s CRB has
\npresented long-haul lessons on compromise and independence.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\nThen, as more
\nrecently, the issue of subpoena power often hogged the limelight. In fact, for
\nmuch of its existence, Syracuse\u2019s CRB and many of its fans and enemies alike
\nhave remained fixated on this idea of \u201cmaking them talk,\u201d locked in the embrace
\nof that long-ago legal stand-off. <\/span><\/p>\nA Second
\nChance<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nLife doesn\u2019t offer
\nmany such do-overs and, from that vantage point, I have some observations. <\/span><\/p>\nIn 1993, we created
\na CRB with too much \u201cindependence\u201d and its own surprising potential to go
\nrogue. If this phrase seems provocative, think about it. We were so worried
\nabout needing to protect the CRB from outside influence that we neglected\u2014in
\nways that now seem breath-taking to me\u2014to insure its own integrity. By
\n\u201cintegrity\u201d I mean the several senses of that word: its capacity to remain true
\nto its purpose and to operate smoothly as intended, as well as <\/span>its capacity to engender respect because of
\ncorrect behavior. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\nMost accounts of
\nthe CRB\u2019s revamping begin with Mayor Stephanie Miner\u2019s firing last February of
\nits one and only administrator\u2014ironically, for failing to answer a subpoena.
\nBut apparently that was merely the last straw in a long decline marked by years
\nof inaction, undelivered reports, unheld hearings and meetings, and unavailable
\noffice hours. Stung by Miner\u2019s move, the Council accused her of overstepping.
\nBut who else was going to break that particular log-jam? A year ago, the CRB
\nhad just one member whose appointment was current and no mechanism in the
\noriginal ordinance for regular evaluation. In many ways, the CRB had come to
\nmirror the very entity it was created to check and balance\u2014to the point that if
\nyou were a progressive person in favor of the checks and balances that should
\njust be normal in a democracy, you somehow couldn\u2019t criticize the CRB. <\/span>I don\u2019t know about you, but I felt betrayed
\nlast February\u2014and not by Stephanie Miner. <\/span><\/p>\nThe New Model<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\nMuch of what the
\nnew CRB does is to clarify and sharpen everyone\u2019s job and what should occur in
\nthe CRB\u2019s overall workings\u2014and then provide a time-sensitive Plan B if it
\ndoesn\u2019t. So Council and Mayor alike must use their power to fill a vacancy\u2014or
\nsomeone else will. The next CRB Administrator has a clearer job description and
\nmore on-going oversight. There is also more direction about keeping CRB
\nactivity transparent.<\/span><\/p>\nThe new law also
\nclearly departs from the 1993 version. Mostly obviously, the new CRB law specifically
\nrequires that the police and the CRB share information and conduct parallel,
\nsimultaneous, time-limited investigations. This is one feature of other
\nCRBs\u2014New York City and Albany, for example\u2014that has stood the test of time and
\ngreatly diminishes the importance of subpoena power, which is no longer the
\nsole means of getting information for hearings. That is, the CRB can go around
\nthat fight now. We can\u2019t guarantee a future mayor and a different chief won\u2019t
\nresist this, but right now it has a chance to establish itself as workable. <\/span><\/p>\nWe
\nshould note that this \u201cmake them talk\u201d mentality is symptomatic of something
\nmore pervasive than dissatisfaction with police. In 1992, the Washington
\nPost<\/em> columnist E.J. Dionne published Why Americans Hate Politics<\/em>, in
\nwhich he explores the decline in voting and other forms of participation. He
\nconcluded that the national discussion had become so polarized that most people
\nfelt there was nothing there for them. Are we surprised that Dionne\u2019s book was
\nre-issued in 2004, a national boiling point of \u201cfor us or against us\u201d? If we
\ncan avoid that old impasse, we can step back and look at the whole more
\nclearly. And perhaps the police can too.<\/span> <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n
\nNancy
\nKeefe Rhodes lives in the Hawley-Green neighborhood, where many have noticed
\nOfficer Ed forging a different kind of relationship on his beat than has
\nsometimes been the case. Go to the Peace Council\u2019s website to see the newly
\namended CRB ordinance for yourself.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [img_assist|nid=201|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=245|height=167] A September 2010 protest oustide the Justice Center calls for accountability for the deaths of Raul Pinet and Chuniece Patterson in police custody. The CRB was created to address such complaints of police misconduct. Photo: Kimberly Mccoy In 1993, Syracuse passed an ordinance establishing a Citizen Review Board (CRB)…<\/p>\n Learn More<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":7,"template":"","class_list":["post-10209","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clients.elainemichele.com\/SPC2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/10209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clients.elainemichele.com\/SPC2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clients.elainemichele.com\/SPC2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clients.elainemichele.com\/SPC2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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