By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – A standing-room-only crowd gathered at Bloomington City Hall Monday night as aldermen continued to deliberate whether to create a civilian advisory board to review allegations of police misconduct.
The city council had been scheduled to vote Monday on the so-called Public Safety and Community Relations Board, but Alderman David Sage submitted a petition signed by four other council members to hear a further explanation from Police Chief Brendan Heffner about the current procedure for handling complaints.
The vote is now scheduled for July 24, and Sage seemed to be the only alderman strongly opposed to the idea, noting only a handful of complaints compared to tens of thousands of interactions between Bloomington officers and citizens.
“I find this to be a solution looking for a problem,” said Sage.
However, Ky Ajayi, a leader of the local Black Lives Matter group told the council people won’t file complaints because they fear the system is rigged against them.
“It’s not where do you go and get a piece of paper. It’s about what happens when you submit the piece of paper, and the police investigate themselves,” said Ajayi.
“People don’t have trust in that,” Ajayi added.
Chief Heffner said he is opposed to convicted felons serving on the seven-member board, even those who committed non-violent offenses, but the CEO of the local YWCA said these people are human beings, not felons.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
