COLUMBUS CAN STUDY OTHER CITIES' CITIZEN REVIEW MODELS

Commissions In 2 Cities Started After Fatal Shootings

Incidents similar to the shooting of Kenneth B. Walker have led other
cities to form police watchdog commissions.

So if Columbus decides to move forward in bringing back a citizens
review commission -- it has had several incarnations of such a body
over the years -- it has templates it can follow. Variations of police
oversight boards exist in Houston, Dallas, Missoula, Mont.; Portland,
Ore.; Las Vegas, Buffalo, N.Y.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Albuquerque, N.M.;
and Milwaukee.

Police review commissions in Louisville, Ky., and Richmond, Calif.,
both were formed in the aftermath of fatal shootings of
African-Americans by white police officers. Both commissions are
appointed by their mayors and approved by the majority of their city
councils.

Each, however, represent different ends of the oversight
spectrum.

Following the 2002 shooting death of a black man by a white officer,
Louisville city officials put together a Citizens Police
Accountability Commission. Composed of a diversity of age, race,
profession and political affiliation, the commission reviews police
investigation files after a police-related shooting has been tried in
court.

The Louisville commission does not have subpoena power.

"We do not do bottom-up investigations of police shootings," said
Laura Douglas, chairwoman of the 11-member Louisville commission. The
Louisville commission studies those cases after they have been tried.
The board then issues recommendations to the mayor and police chief.

The Richmond Police Commission, meanwhile, has subpoena power and
employs a fulltime investigator.

In 1984, Richmond -- a San Francisco suburb of about 100,000 people --
put together the nine-member civilian board following seven fatal law
enforcement-related shootings in three years in Sonoma County. The
shootings eventually cost the city $10 million in wrongful death
suits, along with a blistering expose on CBS' "60 minutes."

Commission officials from both cities say the commissions have
instilled a sense of trust that had been eroding between police and
community. But, they said, politics always comes into play.

"You have a lot of political infighting anytime you have civilian
oversight," said Joan Kubota, an investigator with the Richmond Police
Commission.

Douglas said Louisville's diverse commission spent time "getting to
know each other," seeking common ground -- beyond political
affiliation -- on the direction they wanted the city to go.

The Louisville commission formed last year following a December 2002
incident in which a white Louisville police detective shot and killed
a handcuffed African-American man wielding a box-cutter. The shooting
led to a wave of public safety reforms in Louisville.

In Richmond, Kubota submits the findings of her investigations,
usually 13-15 annually, to the commission. The board provides a
recommendation to the city's police chief -- the only city official
empowered to discipline police officers.

Louisville's situation bears some similaritiesto Richmond's.

Recently the Louisville commission issued its first annual report.
Among its recommendations were that Louisville's police officers be
required to carry a non-lethal weapon -- like mace or a night-stick --
in addition to firearms.

Douglas said the commission's status as an independent oversight board
has served to defuse tension in Louisville. Even so, the new
commission is currently facing its biggest challenge to date.

Last week, a fleeing 19-year-old black man was shot in the back three
times by a white police officer following an undercover drug buy. The
19-year-old was handcuffed after being shot and may have been deprived
of medical care, Douglas said. The man died.

"People in the community need to feel as if they have recourse,"
Douglas said. "If they don't, they take to the streets. And that's not
a benefit to anybody."