New Raleigh police board forming, but with little power

Raleigh's new Police Advisory Board should be up and running within a few months after years of discussion and a false start in recent months, when only a handful of people put in for the board.

But this won't be a group of citizens empowered to investigate complaints against police officers, as some had hoped. It will only advise on department policy, and work to bridge gaps between the department, and the community.

The board's website is explicit about what the new body won't be.

"The board will not conduct investigations, hear testimony, or contribute to disciplinary action," the city's website states. "The board will not respond to citizen complaints. The board will not collect data. Any complaints received by the city will be shared with this board to drive their work prioritization."

Initially only 10 people applied for an appointment, but city leaders say the issue may simply have been drowned out by COVID-19. When the city extended the application period and put out the call again, 152 people applied, according to a city spokeswoman.

Durham has a board that does hear complaints, focusing on whether the department's internal affairs inquiries are fair and their conclusions reasonable, then making recommendations to the city manager and police chief. But that process was authorized by state legislation in the 1990s, and attempts to broaden the mandate for other cities have not gotten traction in the N.C. General Assembly.

At least two bills along these lines are before the legislature now, but they've been sitting without action for more than a year. Former state Rep. Rick Glazier, who now directs the left-leaning N.C. Justice Center, tried to establish a review board for Fayetteville in about 2014 and said Monday that it "floundered on the shoals of opposition" from police groups.

Raleigh's more limited advisory board was hard fought. Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown was among the opposition, and the board passed only after a change in the City Council's power balance following last year's elections.

"It's a start," said Diana Powell, executive director of Justice Served NC. "It's not going to answer and solve all our problems, but it's a start."

Councilman Jonathan Melton, who pushed for the board, said it's not everything he wanted, but it's "moving at least a step in this direction."

For some the board's limitations are one more source of deep frustration.

"It doesn't have any teeth," said Kimberly Muktarian, president of Save our Sons.

“We ended up getting a watered down version that was turned into what the city wanted," said Rolanda Byrd, the executive director of Raleigh PACT.

A Raleigh policeman shot and killed Byrd's son, Akiel Denkins, in 2016, in an encountered that was ruled self defense. Byrd said people are tired, and that the protests and riots sparked this weekend in North Carolina by George Floyd's death in Minnesota reflect that.

"It’s not the fact that one happened here or one happened there," she said. "It’s the fact that it keeps happening.”

Powell said there's value in the board working to improve communication between police and minority communities. She said that has fallen off over the last several years. She said eople feel over policed and racially profiled, especially in southeast Raleigh.

"At one point it was building a good relationship," she said. "About 4 years ago. But now there is no communication. A lot of communities feel like they're disenfranchised."

The problems, she said, often boil down to "not understanding each others cultures."

Rick Armstrong, vice president of the local police union, said officers feel misunderstood as well, and that he'd like to see more people on the new board with law enforcement experience.

The appointments haven't been finalized, but board rules require an attorney with experience or interest in civil rights, a mental health provider, a member of the LGBT community, a victim advocate, an appointee from the Raleigh police chief and two at-large members.

"I think some police officers feel like it's a one way dialogue," Armstrong said of police-community relations in Raleigh. "They're not listening to the police officers."