TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Citizens Review Board meant to look into police disciplinary cases, or cases of community interest, will soon be dissolved.
City Council members say their hands are tied when it comes to protecting the review board’s existence.
“The Citizens Review Board was an opportunity to start mending and healing a long pattern of distrust,” said Connie Burton of the Hillsborough County NAACP.
The city attorney says the law will go into effect on July 1st.
“We really have no choice in this matter, the legislature has given us no choice,” she said.
Some have speculated that there may be other ways to keep the board intact, but co-sponsor of the bill, Representative Danny Alvarez, addressed that idea directly.
“If you were to find some sort of way that you were going to keep it going, then we’d just have to go back to the dais and tighten it up with whatever loophole you might have found,” he said.
The law does allow for a new type of citizens review board, but it must be made up of members appointed by the police chief. Burton says she doesn't have any confidence that a board made up of members chosen by law enforcement will work to ensure police accountability.
For now, city leaders have started the process of disbanding the citizens review board, but Burton says, whether it exists or not, the NAACP will be around to fight for transparency and justice.
“We will continue to sound the alarm,” Burton said.
And the city attorney presented a statement from Chief Bercaw that said “The Tampa Police Department is committed to transparency and working in partnership with our community to make Tampa safer, together.”
In that statement the chief welcomed the input and participation of current members of the citizens review board when the law goes into effect.