By David Cruz
Correspondent
It was introduced with great fanfare in January of 2015 but had been almost 50 years in the making. A civilian complaint review board that would give residents an impartial venue before which they could air grievances against police, a board with powers to investigate those grievances with subpoena power to get at the truth. But that’s all on hold now after a state court issued an injunction barring the city from moving forward with the CCRB as presently envisioned. Activist Larry Hamm says the injunction — while not permanent — threatens the board’s effectiveness.
“The civilian review board cannot effectively process citizens’ complaints if it does not have subpoena power or investigatory power, so we’ve been pressing for that from the beginning and we continue to demand that,” he said.
Newark police/community relations have had a troubled history dating back to before the civil unrest of 1967, which set the city ablaze. In 2014, the Justice Department issued a scathing report, condemning decades of Newark Police Department abuse and recommending corrective action, including a federal monitor and a CCRB-type body to give residents an outlet for their complaints. Mayor Ras Baraka employed dramatic language when he introduced the CCRB last year.
“We’re here because people can get shot in the back eight times while running away unarmed,” he said in April. “We’re here because people can be choked to death on the streets while saying they can’t breathe.”
The suit filed by the city’s Fraternal Order of Police claims the CCRB is, in fact, not mandated by the Department of Justice and that the investigative and disciplinary authority the city wants to give the CCRB are items that need to be hammered out at the bargaining table and included in a new collective bargaining agreement. The president of the Superior Officers Union, which was not a party to the suit, says the state attorney general — not the city — sets disciplinary and investigative guidelines.
“All departments are supposed to adopt policies that are consistent with the attorney general guidelines on internal affairs and, among other things in that policy, is the investigation of police misconduct, the confidentiality of files, the right to a hearing and to confront witnesses, among other things,” said Capt. John Chrystal. “Procedural due process rights, not only police officers but all members of the public are entitled to due process.”
Hamm dismissed that as the union simply taking a position. “That’s more of a political position rather than an objective position,” he said. “The review board could sometimes make a decision that benefits the police, sometimes it will make a decision that benefits the civilians. The problem now is is that when people go into court or when people go to internal affairs, it never benefits the civilian.”
The mayor had no comment today but a spokesman said the city had filed a response to the injunction last week. Both sides are expected to appear before a judge next month.