Columbia working on changes to city code amid new law impacting Citizens Police Review Board

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia is working on updating its city code to comply with a new law that officially went into effect on Wednesday, that will limit the power of the Citizens Police Review Board. 

Senate Bill 754, which was signed into law by Gov. Mike Parson in July, focuses on modifying some of Missouri’s public safety laws. This includes increasing the minimum age a juvenile can be tried as an adult, establishing a “Stop Cyberstalking and Harassment Task Force” and tougher penalties on a variety of crimes. 

Section 590.653 of the bill focuses on Civilian Review Boards. The law states that “civilian review boards established by political subdivisions shall solely be limited to reviewing, investigating, making findings and recommending disciplinary action against law enforcement officers.” 

Columbia CPRB chair Doug Hunt believes this will make it unlawful for the CPRB to perform most of its present functions. City staff is now working on amending the city code to comply with the law. According to an Aug. 19 council memo proposed changes, which will be voted on during a Sept. 3 City Council meeting would limit the powers of a civilian oversight board to the following:

" ...receiving, investigating, making findings and recommending disciplinary action upon complaints by members of the public against members of the police department that allege misconduct involving excessive use of force, abuse of authority, discourtesy, or use of offensive language...The law expressly preempts any additional powers being granted to the CPRB."

“I think the current draft ordinance is appropriate for everything going on to make sure the city is in compliance with state law.  The best thing about the draft ordinance is that it retains 100%  of the mission of the  Columbia Citizens Police Review Board,  which is set in the ordinance as basically hearing appeals from citizen complaints of misconduct,”  Donald Weaver, General Counsel of the Columbia Police Officers Association, said. 

Weaver wrote a pair of letters to Mayor Barbra Buffalo and the City Council on Aug. 4 and Aug. 8, asking them not to expand the mission of the CPRB. 

“The more radical fringes of our community have really been vocal in asking for a fully autonomous unit of city government that would intake complaints, investigate complaints and adjudicate complaints against police officers,” Weaver said when asked about the letter. “That same faction continues to exist in Columbia and that same perspective still exists by a small group of, we'll say, agenda-driven activists. I'd be on the lookout for them to try to influence the council, to use this as an excuse to kind of push the needle a little further to the radical side and adopt some civilian oversight and forums like you might see in Chicago or St. Louis.” 

Hunt argues the bill intended to protect individual officers in the state from potentially unfair treatment by citizen boards. However, he believes that Columbia City attorney Nancy Thompson is interpreting the law much more broadly, which limits the CPRB from from soliciting public input on policy and for making recommendations on policy. 

“I don't think that's the only possible interpretation of that statute. In fact, I think it's contrary to the intention of the statute,” Hunt said.  “I got no problem with protecting individual officers and am eager to do that. We don't want them to be unfairly treated.  At any rate, we do disagree. She has suggested changes to the city code that would limit our ability to comment on policies and procedures and training.” 

Under the revised city code that was drafted, the CPRB will no longer be able to: 

• Host public meetings and educational programs for Columbia residents and the police department.
• Review and make recommendations to the police chief and city manager on police policies, procedures and training [except to the extent such recommendations may be related to findings on complaints of alleged misconduct "involving excessive use of force, abuse of authority, discourtesy, or use of offensive language." for which the Board has authority to review records].
• Conduct audits or reviews of the records of the Police Department for compliance with the requirements of this article [except to the extent such review Executive Summary Discussion City of Columbia 701 East Broadway, Columbia, Missouri 65201 may be related to complaints of alleged misconduct "involving excessive use of force, abuse of authority, discourtesy, or use of offensive language." for which the Board has authority to review records]
• Make reports to the Council on any matter not related to authorized activities of the Board involving the "receiving, investigating, making findings and recommending disciplinary action upon complaints by members of the public against members of the police department that allege misconduct involving excessive use of force, abuse of authority, discourtesy, or use of offensive language.”

The CPRB responded with a letter to the city explaining its interpretation of the law and what it would like to see happen in response. This included updating compliant forms so residents can easily check boxes to indicate if the complaint involves issues like excessive force, abuse of authority, discourtesy, offensive language or other concerns. 

“While it (the city attorney's interpretation of the law) would restrict us a lot more than our interpretation, (it) gives us some latitude to continue to operate,” Hunt said. “It's in my mind, a little bit like operating in the shadows. We can do less and less in public, and therefore can be less and less effective in representing the public's views of what they'd like to see done in terms of police policy.”

Hunt also believes there is a gray area in the amended city code. During the CPRB’s 2023 annual report, the board said it conducted three audits focusing on complaints over allegations related to search and seizures, use of force and discourtesy. 

“If you look at the recommendations that are being brought to the council, you're not going to find the word 'audit' in there. I think this is going to be one of the struggles ahead if these changes in the city code get made,” Hunt said. 

Weaver disagrees. 

“It really clearly communicates the role of the CPRB, which is, by the way, the same mission it's had since its inception as to hear appeals  It removes what I would say is some collateral duties from the CPRB, which they have kind of morphed into overtime that was never intended to and never actually part of its stated mission. “ 

According to the city, since January 2022, there have been 15 complaints appealed to the board. Weaver also says that in the last 12 years, only 81 people have sought review from the CPRB. 

However, Hunt argues that while citizen oversight can be “an explosive issue" for police officers and the community, it is still important. 

“It's easy for people in these situations to break this down as anti-police forces and pro-police forces fighting it out. Well, in fact, policing works better when the police officers and the citizens share the same view of what's going on,” Hunt said. “We’re doing everything we can to communicate with everyone involved."