Columbia’s Citizens Police Review Board airs disagreements at meeting

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Citizens Police Review Board met Wednesday amid confusion about its mission and disagreements about outreach to the community.

The session is the latest in a series of contentious board meetings, with much of Wednesday's discussion centering on the board's outreach subcommittee. Two members of the committee have resigned since the board's June 16 meeting.

The subcommittee is meant to be a more publicly visible arm of the board, informing community members about the board's processes and purpose. That includes lodging complaints and reviewing training and policies.

Board members on Wednesday voted on December Harmon's request to disband the outreach subcommittee.

"Outreach is acting as an independent board," Harmon said. "I don't think we should have an outreach, a lot of conflict with the board stems from outreach acting as an independent board, outreach is creating its own agenda items."

Cheryl Miller disagreed and said, "I guarantee ya, things we do discuss in outreach come to this floor so that we can discuss it and get your input on it."

Only two of the board's eight members voted to disband the group.

Harmon argued that the outreach program is not working in harmony with the police review board. Board members say they aren't sure if they are meant to be advocates for the community or the police.