The 11 commissioners on the Community Police Review Commission will review “critical incidents” – like police shootings – and issue disciplinary recommendations (photo by John Anderson)
City of Austin leaders have finally identified the 11 individuals who will serve on the all-volunteer Community Police Review Commission – a key milestone in standing up the civilian police oversight board – which is one of the mandated provisions included in the voter-approved Austin Police Oversight Act.
The CPRC is a key police oversight tool that can provide insight into the Austin Police Department’s investigations into officers accused of misconduct, and it can serve as an accountability body for the Office of Police Oversight, which is the city department tasked with overseeing APD’s internal investigations process.
The 11 commissioners are tasked with reviewing “critical incidents” – like police shootings – and issuing disciplinary recommendations to the chief of police (i.e., the subject officer should be suspended or fired). Commissioners have direct access to all APD records relating to investigations into critical incidents (body-worn camera footage, incident reports, and 911 calls), all of which they can use to write their recommendations, which are posted for the public to read. The chief has no obligation to act on the recommendation or even respond to it.
Cameron McEllhiney, executive director of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, told the Chronicle in August that civilian review boards such as the CPRC play a vital role in holding police departments accountable and building trust within communities that may have fraught relationships with law enforcement. “One of the superpowers of a community review board lies in their ability to communicate with the community at large,” McEllhiney said. “In Austin where there is such mistrust and there are us-versus-them sides, it will be a vital part to begin rebuilding trust in the accountability and oversight process.”
“One of the superpowers of a community review board lies in their ability to communicate with the community at large.” – Cameron McEllhiney, National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement
But getting the CPRC up and running continues to fall behind schedule. Commissioners were named three months after they were supposed to be selected, according to a memo issued by the Office of Police Oversight in April laying out next steps to launching the CPRC. The delay will have a ripple effect – the APOA mandates that commissioners complete 20 hours of training, so that process is likely to be delayed (the APOA requires the training to be completed within 90 days of commission member selection).
The commission can begin meeting before all members complete the required training, but they may be less effective in their work because of unfamiliarity with Austin Police Department policies. At this point, it’s unclear when the first CPRC meeting will occur.
The 11 commissioners were selected out of a pool of 79 eligible applications in a lottery conducted by the Office of Police Oversight at City Hall on Nov. 18 (four alternates were also selected).
One commissioner, DeMarris Jackson, has lived in Austin for 30 years and has advocated for police reform off and on during that period. He’s also had his own negative interactions with Austin police officers. Once in 1992, he told us, he was a victim of a kind of 911 prank call. Someone called 911 to say a Black man in a blue van had kidnapped a child – and the man was armed and dangerous. Jackson is a Black man and he happened to drive a blue van at the time. He also carried a firearm with him for his job as a federal defense contractor. He had just dropped the firearm off at home when he was stopped by a dozen officers in marked and unmarked vehicles. Several guns were pointed at him, he said.
Eventually, the misunderstanding was cleared up without incident. But it was still a chilling episode for Jackson.
“It felt like racial profiling,” Jackson told us. “They just acted on bad information and pointed their guns at me without properly assessing the situation.” As a CPRC member, Jackson said he hopes to address this kind of behavior and help improve APD training so it doesn’t happen to someone else.
