NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A bill to abolish community oversight boards in Tennessee is now just two votes away from going to the governor's desk.
Rep. Elaine Davis, R-Knoxville, and Sen. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, are pushing a billto abolish community oversight boards, or COBs, and instead give local government the power to create a police advisory and review committees to make recommendations for complaints against officers. While Pody primarily covers Lebanon, a piece of his new district covers Davidson County, where one of the few oversight boards in the state exists.
Unlike community oversight board members, this bill says members will not independently review citizen complaints and instead hand them over to an internal affairs police unit. This is a stark difference to how the boards are set up now in Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga and Nashville. While the boards were created in the last five years in Chattanooga and Nashville, Memphis has had a board since 1994, with Knoxville having one since 1994.
"It allows for a municipal governing body to create a police advisory committee that is adopted upon an ordinance of two-thirds vote of that city council or municipality," said Davis.
Jill Fitcheard is the executive director of the Metro Nashville Community Oversight Board. She testified in opposition of the bill during the House Criminal Justice Committee, saying Nashville already had a board in place that they wanted.
"Well, I think it's unconstitutional really. I mean,134,000 voters of our city said that this is what they want for them. I think it just sets a dangerous precedent that if they come in and can change it the will of the people, what's next? I don't know what they might do."
Fitcheard says this means a police advisory committee wouldn’t independently investigate a police misconduct complaint, but instead they have three days from receiving the complaint to hand it over to internal affairs units to make the proper recommendations.
"It changed our charter. It amended our charter, and now it's included in our charter. That's what the citizens of this city wanted," said Fitcheard.
Back in February, Pody told NewsChannel 5 community oversight boards in general are a great concept. But he also said there have been instances in Tennessee of board members overstepping their bounds and behaving in ways that hindered, rather than enhanced certain investigations.
Fitcheard says the state is misinformed.
"Police accountability is not a one-stop shop. Every city has different needs for communities. Every size is different. And so what may work well and effectively in Knoxville is probably not gonna work well in Nashville."
Fitcheard says if this bill becomes law, she doesn't know what the next steps will be. However, they will get with legal departments and attorneys to see what's next.
The bill now heads to the House Finance Committee, which is one step away from a floor vote.
