HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-25-2001 Articles The Daily lowan - Iowa City, Ii~wa lhur,,day. June 21, 2001
Police panel wants policy review
· The City Council may pieces of it [through the tion from the board, which is
not grant the board that course ofthe work session].' currently filled by city
Board members want the employee Sandy Bauer.
power next week. power of policy review because The five-member board,
sometimes complaints about was originally established for
By Mike Dhar police behav-
a four-year
The Daily lowan ior occur while It looks like the majority [of term after
Members of the Police Citi- the officer was
police shot
zens Review Board said acting in the councilors] want no unarmed local
Wednesday they want to keep accordance sunset c~use. resident Eric
their ability to review official with official
police policy, not just the policy, Watson --J0hnWats0n, Shaw in
behavior of individual offi- said. PoHce Citizens August 1996.
cers. "It may be Review Board chairman The City
The Iowa City City Council that the law Council will
decide June
says an officer can do [some- 26 whether to grant a two-
is in the process of deciding
thing],~ said board member year sunset clause, disband
what powers it will grant the Leah Cohen. "But we have the board, or extend its exis-
board after this year, as well
as how long, and under what concerns about policy."
Policy review is also neces- tence under different terms.
provisions, the board will con- sary in order for board mere- "It looks like the majority
tinue to exist.
bers to understand the [of the councilors] want no
At a work session last week, actions of the officers they sunset clause,~ Watson said.
a majority of the councilors oversee, said board member Instead, a majority of the
said they did not want the John Stratton. He said it was councilors are in favor of con-
board to review police policies not an "adversarial review." tinuing the board but subject-
on its own initiative, said Cohen said she believes the ing it to a formal review every
board Chairman John Wat- council is going to take that two years during which its
son.
power away from the board. future existence would be
"I'm not sure they'll end up Watson also said councilors ruled on again, he said.
[taking away that power]," he have decided to eliminate the E-malt OlreporterMIks Dbarat:
said. "They restored bits and administrative-assistant posi- mlchaeFdhar~Oiowa.edu