Second training session held for Columbia Citizens Police Review Board

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia's Citizens Police Review Board held its second training session on Wednesday.

The CPRB held its first training session Feb. 1. The training sessions come months after the board was temporarily suspended in August.

The first training session focused on discussions on the form of government, Sunshine Law, conflicts of interest, and the board's operations and procedures.

Wednesday's training session explained the history of the board and the structure of the Columbia Police Department, as well as its policies and reviews..

According to its mission statement, the CPRB was created to provide an independent process to review perceived misconduct by Columbia Police Officers with the goal of "increasing police accountability to the community and community trust in the police."

The meeting comes just days after now-former Boardmember Laura Gutiérrez Pérez announced her resignation during Monday's City Council Meeting.

"I will not sit on a board that has no power to do what its ordinance claims it can do," Pérez said. "By sitting on there, I feel like I am complicit and lying to the public."

Pérez is one of a number of members who have resigned since the summer.

"They never contacted myself or I don't know if they contacted any other board members," Pérez said. "But they didn't contact us to sit down with us to see what we were or what we would like to see. And so I just felt it wasn't a very transparent process."

Boardmember Rhonda Carlson said she is excited for the board to return to its monthly meetings.

Carlson said she believes the board will have one more training session in March, but it is unclear when that meeting will be held. It also has not been stated when regular monthly meetings will resume.