The Boston police, community ombudsman oversight panel has been stripped of most of it's powers.

Reports that Mayor Thomas Menino has once again tried to eliminate effective civilian oversight over the Boston police department makes you wonder – do the Mayor and Boston Police have something to hide?

If not, why does the Mayor keep resisting efforts to create a strong independent oversight panel for the Boston police?

After years of resisting efforts at any civilian review process whatsoever, Mayor Menino finally agreed in 2007 to set up a panel called the Community Ombudsman Oversight Panel – or COOP. The Mayor didn’t do so willingly. Rather, he was forced to contemplate an independent police review panel when an Emerson College student, Victoria Snelgrove, was shot and killed by an officer who fired a pepper-pellet gun he was not trained to use during a Red Sox celebration.

Even then, it took three years and the Mayor tried to deep-six a report by Northeastern Unviersity researchers on what a strong oversight panel should entail. Only after the Northeastern University report was leaked to the Globe did the Mayor reluctantly agree to set up the COOP.

Moreover, the Mayor’s executive order stripped the board of basic powers of subpoena and ability to call witnesses – two key elements of effective oversight for any civilian review board.

Two years later, researchers at Harvard released a study showing that the civilian review process was failing: only seven of 116 people whose complaints were dismissed by police had sought appeals to the COOP. Apparently, the police failed to tell citizens who believed their rights were violated that appeal was an option.


Link: http://boston.com/community/blogs/on_liberty/2011/06/what_are_mayor_menino_and_the.html?s_campaign=8315