While our attention was focused elsewhere, the supposed utopia otherwise known as Charlottesville quietly decided to hamstring its police force.
The development comes despite the reality that violent crime is rising in almost every jurisdiction across the country.
Bacon’s Rebellion explains:
Earlier this year Charlottesville police officer Joseph Wood stopped a vehicle driven by a local musician, LaQuinn Gilmore. Gilmore proved uncooperative and, according to local media reports, the encounter ended with Wood throwing Gilmore to the ground. A subsequent internal affairs investigation found that Wood had unlawfully detained Gilmore, but rejected other claims, including the use of excessive force and racial bias.
Was the internal police review too lenient? Was it a case of police officers looking out for their own?
Beginning in March a newly-renamed Charlottesville Police Civilian Oversight Board will assume expanded powers to investigate complaints against the police. The civilian review board has no parallel in Virginia. “If you look around at the other ordinances that have been passed by other places in Virginia,” said Councilor Lloyd Snook, as quoted by The Daily Progress, “we have given to our PCRB — soon to be the PCOB — more authority to do more things than any other place in the state.”
A key feature of the ordinance approved by City Council yesterday was an expansion of who could file a complaint. Previously, someone had to be an aggrieved party or a witness to an incident. That is no longer the case. There will be no restrictions on who can file a complaint. To minimize frivolous filings, however, the ordinance also gives the review board discretion not to pursue a complaint.
Continue reading at Bacon’s Rebellion.