Mayor Bub Buckhorn pulled a fast one last Friday when he signed an executive order - after being assured by city attorneys that he was well within the law - to create Tampa's first Independent
Civilian Review Board, an entity which will recommend to the mayor and to the Tampa police department ways in which they can improve police relations with the community they serve.
Black residents, civil rights groups, the City Council, the local chapters of the NAACP the ACLU , religious groups and other concerned citizens had been clamoring for a Civilian Review Board to oversee the police department since the revelation by the Tampa Bay Times report back in April which revealed that the Tampa Police were writing more tickets for bicycle infractions -80 percent - to black people.
While denying any wrongdoing, the city still asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the issue, and since then, according to The Tampa Bay Times the city of Tampa has written fewer tickets for bicycle infractions than any summer in the last decade.
While the special interest groups and concerned citizens pressed for the idea of a Civilian Review Board, and activists were scouring the city for petitions to present to the City Council, and a meeting had been set for the City Council to take all of this into account, Mayor Buckhorn, along with Tampa Police Chief Eric Ward met during a series of confabs last week and hammered out their version of the Civilian Review Board which the mayor and the chief presented as a fait accompli during a press conference on last Friday.
You wanted a Civilian Review Board? There, You got a Civilian Review Board.
Mayor Buckhorn consulted with other cities around the country who have had Civilian Review Boards for, oh, centuries, and he came up with using the St. Pete model.
A model which has been described by many as a "Useless inneffective Civilian Review Board."
Something even Chief Eric Ward said he did not want.
The duties of this board will be to review cases involving use of force and pursuits, and others resulting in internal investigations and hot button social issues, and then they will make recommendations to the Police Department, and one assumes, the mayor.
The same mayor who could issue that executive order because Tampa is governed by the so called "Strong Mayor - Weak Council" form of municipal government arrangement, as are only ten other cities in the nation.
In this case, you might want to call it Strong Arm government, as in it's my way or the highway.
It will be interesting to see if this new Civilian Review Board can actually work given that it has no subpoena power -like the St. Pete model - and cannot force officers who have been accused of wrong doing to actually appear before them to explain.
Tampa has not had the problems of, say Ferguson, Baltimore or Cleveland, and in all respects they 1000 man sworn officers appear to be above average performers- the crime rate in this city has been reduced by 60 percent - compared to the dismal and oft times outrageous acts perpetrated by many police officers around the country.
However, in the event of the need for any serious investigation into police activities in the pursuit of their duties as law enforcers, we will be woefully underserved if the admijistration of any justice is going to be served up by an 11 member committee who have been mostly handpicked by one man - Mayor Buckhorn, (The City Council will have the honor of choosing two of the members of the Board. Big Whup.)
Now, in order to maintain at least the appearance of 'transparency as a core value of government', which all in the city government maintain they are seeking to do, they are, according to Chief Eric Ward, developing an application process so that anybody who wishes to, can apply.
There are rules.
You must be 18 years of age, and able to make a four-year commitment to the Board, you must be employed in the city of Tampa or own a business, you may not be involved in law enforcement, or be a politician or running to be a politician, you must go through a thorough background check, and you may not be a felon.
You must attend a citizen's police academy, and go for several 'ride-alongs' with real policeman. (we are going to assume here that those ride-alongs to not include with the horse or bike police.)
And, according to the mayor, you cannot hate policemen.
The Civilian Review Board will be up and running by December.
And good luck to all you applicants, we hope the city will give each and every one of you a code ring and a T-Shirt which reads, "Beer is your Friend."
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