{"id":28297,"date":"2020-07-31T16:27:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T22:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=28297"},"modified":"2020-07-31T21:36:54","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T03:36:54","slug":"police-oversight-boards-considered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=28297","title":{"rendered":"Police oversight boards considered"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Urban Affairs Committee heard testimony July 31 on a bill that would require certain Nebraska cities to establish citizen police oversight boards.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Justin Wayne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LB1222, introduced by Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, would adopt the Municipal Police Oversight Act. Under the act, any city that employs full-time police officers would be required to create a seven-member citizen oversight board. Each city\u2019s mayor would appoint board members, with approval of the city council. No law enforcement officer, past or present, would be allowed to serve.<\/p>\n

The bill would require each board to:
\n\u2022 investigate all police shootings;
\n\u2022 investigate complaints filed by members of the public against the local police department;
\n\u2022 independently investigate all cases of alleged misconduct by police officers;
\n\u2022 identify all instances of police misconduct and report findings and recommendations to the police department, mayor, city council and all state and federal registries of police misconduct;
\n\u2022 when appropriate, provide law enforcement agencies with evidence in support of any criminal proceedings, disciplinary proceedings or other management actions;
\n\u2022 provide the police department with feedback from members of the public who have direct experience with police practices; and
\n\u2022 monitor, investigate and evaluate policing standards, patterns and practices.<\/p>\n

If an investigation reveals apparent criminal wrongdoing by a police officer, the board would present that evidence to the local county attorney.<\/p>\n

Wayne said LB1222 would provide meaningful external oversight of police departments across Nebraska, while acknowledging that the proposal is a work in process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis may turn into a broader bill, or bills, going into next year, but while this is a hot topic, I thought it was important to have this hearing,\u201d Wayne said.<\/p>\n

Several proponents of the bill testified that they were harassed or injured during recent racial justice protests in Lincoln and Omaha.<\/p>\n

Michaela Chambers of Omaha said she was arrested July 25 while protesting peacefully and was subsequently detained in a jail cell. She supported the bill, but said it didn\u2019t go far enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe this [bill] is the tip of the iceberg,\u201d she said. \u201cYou, as our elected officials, can do and should do more for us. To protect us as your citizens. To allow us to have our right to freedom of speech and for that right not to be taken away by the brutality and the aggression shown by sworn officers who made an oath to protect us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kieran Wilson, also testifying in support, said numerous barriers prevent police from being held accountable in Nebraska.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have counties in Nebraska in which there isn\u2019t a means to send a complaint to the police department; there isn\u2019t a means to send a compliment to the police department. In the state of Nebraska, police disciplinary actions are not publicly accessible documents,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

Also testifying in support was Maggie Ballard. She said LB1222 would provide oversight of police but that it would not end police misconduct.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake no mistake, the unacceptable actions of police officers didn\u2019t stop once the [federal] Civil Rights Act was passed or once stop-and-frisk practices were outlawed,\u201d Ballard said. \u201cIn 2014 we thought that putting cameras on police officers or in cruisers would prevent the use of excessive force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert testified against the bill. She said she recently issued an executive order that expanded police training and strengthened Omaha\u2019s process for citizen complaints. Stothert said the city already has a review board to examine alleged police misconduct and that further oversight would be an overreach.<\/p>\n

\u201cLB1222 creates a citizen board that is accountable to no one,\u201d she said. \u201cIt threatens the privacy of citizens who have been victims of crime and diminishes the authority of mayors and city councils.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also testifying against the bill was Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer. He said the proposal would amount to an unfunded mandate that would cost Omaha $1 million. Civilian oversight is important, he said, but police leaders need to be able to levy discipline and direct the culture of an organization.<\/p>\n

\u201c[LB1222] undermines the authority of the chief of police. We\u2019re not even mentioned in the bill,\u201d Schmaderer said. \u201cThere needs to be a singular, dedicated leader to set a tone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also testifying in opposition was Lincoln Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister. He said the bill was well-intentioned but could adversely affect ongoing investigations and potential civil lawsuits that could arise from a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public release of information as described in this bill may not only jeopardize an individual\u2019s constitutional right to a fair trial but also disincentivize\u2014which we\u2019re not trying to do\u2014the cooperation of complainants and witnesses and undermine the public trust,\u201d Bliemeister said.<\/p>\n

After approximately three hours of testimony, Wayne announced that he had been notified that someone in the hearing room had been exposed to COVID-19. As a result, he said, the hearing on LB1222 would cease \u201cout of an abundance of caution\u201d but written testimony would be accepted via email until Aug. 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Urban Affairs Committee heard testimony July 31 on a bill that would require certain Nebraska cities to establish citizen police oversight boards. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23],"tags":[191],"class_list":["post-28297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-urban-affairs","tag-sen-justin-wayne"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/UrbAffairs7-31-20c.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28297"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28335,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28297\/revisions\/28335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}