COLUMBUS (WCMH) — The Columbus branch of the NAACP held a news conference Friday to demand a citizen’s review board for police reform.
“The NAACP Columbus Branch emphatically demands the formation of a Citizens Review Board with sweeping powers and sweeping police reform, including legislation mandating a zero-tolerance approach in penalizing and/or prosecuting police officers who kill unarmed, nonviolent, and non-resisting individuals in an arrest procedure,” a press release from the NAACP states.
Among the demands:
- Creating a Citizens Review Board for fatal and excessive force police incidents with subpoena powers
- Increasing and recurring mandatory training around racial bias, mental health, and de-escalation tactics.
- A ban on the use of knee holds, and choke holds, as an acceptable practice for police officers
- The Use of Force Continuum for Columbus Police must ensure that there are at least 6 levels of steps, with clear rules on escalation.
- Eliminating the loopholes that allow police officers involved in fatal and excessive force incidents to move to a different department.
- Police Departments should be reflective of the communities they serve. More minorities hired.
- Ensure transparency, accountability, and safety of our communities by requiring front-facing cameras to be actively recording for all police officers who are on duty.
- Review the State’s Open Records Act to determine if officer misconduct information and disciplinary histories are shielded from the public.
- Review of the Police Department record of disciplining or changing officers charged with misconduct.
