CITY ONCE HAD OVERSIGHT PANELS

Groups Handled Public Safety Personnel Gripes

Addressing tensions stemming from the shooting of Kenneth B. Walker by
a Muscogee County sheriff's deputy, a group of local elected officials
called Friday for the formation of an independent "Citizens' Review
Commission" to scrutinize operations of the city's law
enforcement.

This is nothing new to Columbus. There have been variations of law
enforcement oversight committees in the city's recent history.

In the late 1960s, at a time of racial upheaval and corruption within
the Columbus Police Department, the Board of Public Safety handled all
grievances associated with hiring, firing and promotion of police
officers and firefighters. It was marred by political in-fighting and
complaints by city officials that it usurped the authority of the
city's mayor and police chief. The Board of Public Safety was
dissolved following the city-county consolidation in 1971.

The Police Hearing Board took its place. Made up of four police
officers, the city's public safety director and two civilians from
outside the police department, its powers were significantly reduced
from its predecessor's. Basically limited to reviewing only appeals of
disciplinary actions, the new board lacked subpoena power and was
therefore unable to coerce witnesses to testify at its hearings.

At the urging of a Muscogee County grand jury, the city's chamber of
commerce, and the U.S. Department of Justice, the Columbus Council
voted to close the racially polarized Police Hearing Board only eight
months after it held its first hearing.

"The history will show that the toughest suspensions have gone out to
black officers," board member Leonard Leavell said at the time,
complaining about racially-motivated decisions by the board.

The police chief assumed authority to discipline the department's
officers, who had the right to appeal those decisions to a newly
created Personnel Review Board. That system more or less exists to
this day.

However, another independent police oversight committee did exist
briefly in the early 1980s, formed after an African-American man was
shot to death by police under questionable circumstances.

Eli Gardner, who served on the Community Relations Board, said it
"petered out" because it lacked authority to enforce its decisions.

"It never did anything," said Gardner, a retired Army colonel with 27
years military police experience. "The board didn't have any teeth and
people just stopped attending."

The Muscogee County Coalition did not provide details of the kind of
review commission it wanted.

Mayor Bob Poydasheff reacted coolly to the idea of a citizens' review
commission, saying the city council already serves that role.

"I'd like to read what their recommendations are," Poydasheff said,
"but insofar as I'm concerned, as director of public safety over the
police department, you already have a civilian review board in the
form of the mayor, working closely with the city manager and city
council. But more importantly, any citizen that feels aggrieved has
the right to come before council."

Gardner supports the proposal of an independent commission, but said
it needs sweeping powers -- including the power to subpoena -- and it
must not limit itself to law enforcement issues.

"You need a review board to look at not only police, but unfair hiring
practices and poor housing," Gardner said. "You have to go in
considering that this is a divided community. We should be considering
how to un -divide it."