Allegheny County Council to revisit civilian police review board proposal

Allegheny County Council once again will review an ordinance to create a county-wide civilian police review board.

DeWitt Walton, a Democrat from the Hill District representing District 10, reintroduced the ordinance at Tuesday’s council meeting.

“The obligation of council is to provide equity, and justice, for all residents of the county,” Walton told council upon reintroducing the ordinance. “I hope during this legislative session, that many of the half truths and outright lies are not used in an attempt to discredit the legislation. I respect the rights of individuals to disagree, but if we operate with integrity, we’ll engage in honest, forthright discussion and not half-truths and lies. The people of Allegheny County deserve no less.”

The unpaid, nine-member board would be responsible for reviewing complaints of alleged misconduct by Allegheny County law enforcement. Any municipality or municipal authority in the county would be allowed to opt in.

Walton’s bill, which was co-sponsored by new District 5 representative Tom Duerr, D-Bethel Park, is identical to a version considered by council in 2019.

That ordinance, which was co-sponsored by Walton and Paul Klein, D-Point Breeze, was voted down in a 9-6 vote in August.

Critics of that ordinance said it would have been too costly and questioned whether civilians have the expertise to oversee law enforcement. Others argued that a county review board is redundant, because county council and municipal councils already offer oversight, and lacks teeth because it does not allow for cross examination of witnesses.

Walton rebuffed that criticism, saying that he does not think it needs to be changed or amended.

“The legislation establishes the independent police review board as an investigatory body,” Walton said. “You can’t prosecute. The role of prosecuting clearly lies within the purview of the district attorney, or the attorney general, or their designees. So there is no need to cross-examine witnesses. When you cross-examine witnesses is during a trial, or during a judicial procedure.”

Walton’s most recent version of the ordinance will now go to the Public Safety Committee, chaired by Olivia Bennett, D-Northview Heights, who was sworn in as a new member of council earlier this month.

Walton's police review board ordinance has moved to the public safety committee. Futules' ordinances regarding council terms and resignations moved to committee on government reform, which he chairs. Committee chairs were announced Jan. 16. https://t.co/Dm1IXzDoZG

— Jamie Martines (@Jamie_Martines) January 21, 2020

The committee will review the legislation and will decide when it returns to the full council for a vote.

Bennett and at-large representative Bethany Hallam, D-Ross, renewed their calls for establishing a countywide police review board in a statement Friday.

“We cannot have police patrolling our streets that are abusive to young black girls and to our communities at large,” the statement said, referring to a December incident in which West Mifflin police officers detained a 15-year-old girl on a school bus, as reported by Trib news partner WPXI. “We will continue to fight to form a Civilian Police Review Board so abusive police officers are held accountable.”