Police citizen review boards always fail and take leaders off the hook
My name is William Moulder and I served as the police chief of Des Moines from 1984 to 2003. Prior to that I was a police officer and police commander in Kansas City, Missouri’s Police Department for 25 years.
The Register reported that the Iowa Legislature considered a bill to ban citizen police review boards. The idea of a citizen review panel for police has been around for decades. Many cities have adopted them. All of them fail.
They do not get the result of an investigation completed faster; they do not remove officers from the force that should not be there. If they find the officer acted properly, they are declared to be mere puppets of the organization. The only real benefit is they provide more employment venues for lawyers.
Another View: Iowa should leave police review boards intact and respect local control
Typically, when a board is created, the organization adopts protocols that impede the investigative process. They structure the process to emulate the criminal investigation procedures. The objective is to protect the rights of all involved; the result is delay. The legislature creates statutes that limit the information that can be made public. This is not people intentionally hobbling the process, it is just trying to be fair.
The actions of the board affect the operation of the city, the governing body. A finding of improper conduct creates a financial vulnerability. The city’s attorneys do their job of shielding their client and find ways to control public disclosure. The police officer union or fraternal organization engages law firms to find ways to shield their clients, the officers.
But this is not the only reason I oppose citizen review boards. I oppose them because they relieve the police chief, city manager, and City Council of responsibility of leadership! In Des Moines the city manager hires and fires the police chief. The City Council appoints and removes the city manager. The members of the City Council are hired by the voters of the city. If the police chief does not manage the department well, the city manager has the responsibility to remove him.
A citizen review board becomes the scapegoat for leaders not doing their job.
However, I oppose this bill, because I am mystified as to why the Republican Party, the party of limited government, decides it must address issues that belong to city councils, school boards, and county supervisors. I would think state issues would be challenging enough.
William Moulder is a former Des Moines police chief.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Police citizen review boards always fail, take leaders off the hook
