Rock Hill creates ‘historic’ citizen review board for police. Here’s what that means.
Rock Hill City Council voted earlier this week to establish a citizen review board for the city’s police department.
The board, which will be the first in York County, will give residents more of a voice in how the department interacts with the public and will provide greater transparency in reviewing citizen complaints and police activities.
Review boards have been established in Charlotte and Columbia. And the push to create one in Rock Hill gained momentum in May following the death of George Floyd, an African American man who died after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Since then, a 100-plus member group, spearheaded by Norma Gray of the Rock Hill NAACP, has met several times a month, putting together the review board proposal.
“As it relates to the mistreatment, specifically of Blacks in our country by the police, it’s important that our city be proactive to have a measure in place, like the CRB,” Gray told The Herald. “Then, in case an incident does happen here, you already have a functioning board that has a responsibility to make sure that the policies and procedures that officers operate by are followed and to get ahead of any instances so that our city can remain the peaceful city that it is.”
The proposal was presented to city council in July. And on Monday, the proposal turned into a resolution, which passed in a 5-1 vote.
“When I go home and tell my children tonight that there is going to be an historic citizen’s review board of Rock Hill, they’re going to say, ‘OK mom it was worth it, you skipping the this, that and the other,’” Gray told The Herald. “I’m really proud of my city council....”
Council member Kevin Sutton, who voted against the resolution, said he was concerned the board would have too much power over the department.
“I appreciate the job that our men and women in the police department do and I’m concerned that — in some way — moving forward or voting for this looks like I’m not supportive of them in the job they do,” Sutton said.
How will the board work?
The seven city council members each will appoint one board member. Then, city council together will pick an at-large member as the eighth review board member.
“Tonight, we’re, sort of, trying to birth the baby, if you will, but it’ll be up to the committee to raise it, to figure out what the rules are and figure out how it operates,” Mayor John Gettys said. “I’m hopeful that we’ll put a lot of good people on this board and it’ll do a really good job.”
The city suggested a member of the Rock Hill police department serve as the at-large member for the board’s first year. Council member Nikita Jackson, who has been a vocal proponent of the review board, said it would be helpful to have a police official on the board.
“Just to make sure that we have the correct information, there will be a point of contact, so that the board members can have someone to go to directly,” she said. “You guys won’t have to wait for somebody to get back with you with correct information.”
“This is something new,” she said.
Several more details will need to be hashed out in the coming months, officials said, but Monday marked the first step.
“I certainly see at this time in our national life, I understand why this is being requested and I just see it as something, like so many other issues that we encourage our citizens to be involved with,” council member Kathy Pender said. “A lot of times the buck stops here and we do feel responsible, but we also know that we don’t have all the answers and that we need our citizens to be involved.”
The new board will create its bylaws, which will then go back to be reviewed by city council.
“That’s going to be interesting because I’m going to be sitting right out to make sure whatever they come up with is in line with what the citizens want,” Gray told The Herald. “So, I’m planning to stay engaged.”
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 9:55 AM.
