MORGANTOWN — Surprising. Frustrating.
Those were among the descriptions used Monday by members of the special committee on community policing and citizen review board in referencing recent comments made by Morgantown Interim Police Chief Eric Powell.
Powell told The Dominion Post last week that he feels as if the committee’s efforts to create a citizen review board have strayed beyond the idea of review and into a semi-judicial body able to gather evidence and conduct officer hearings based on citizen complaints.
Powell also said it’s difficult for officers to not question the motives behind the creation of such a body. The city’s efforts have received pushback from Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 87, which counts dozens of Morgantown officers among its members.
Morgantown City Councilor Zack Cruze chairs the special committee.
“There are a lot of media comments being made by people who are in these meetings and I’m struggling to understand why comments are being made to the media that seem to be in opposition of what’s being said in the meeting, or individuals making comment in the media who aren’t making public comment at all during these meetings,” Cruze said, noting Powell has been involved in each of the committee’s meetings but hasn’t raised those concerns.
Amy Bolyard said she was participating in her first meeting and found it “absurd” that any such review board would not have officer representation. Further, she said officers may not feel comfortable in speaking out in public meetings against something that is a stated goal of their employer.
“I think that’s specifically what I’m addressing,” Cruze said. “Anyone who wants to participate in this process, can. Those individuals are choosing not to. That’s kind of what I’m getting at.”
Morgantown Communications Manager Andrew Stacy said he believed there were four representatives of the MPD, including Powell, on Monday’s virtual meeting call.
Deputy Mayor Rachel Fetty, the committee’s vice chairperson, said the group isn’t anti-police, but wants to set up a citizen counterbalance to the Police Civil Service Commission process which, she believes, is weighted in an officers favor when reviewing potential wrongdoing.
Fetty reiterated that the city’s citizen board would not have the authority to discipline officers. That authority would remain with the police chief.
“The one thing we’re requesting is that this board have the ability to make a recommendation for discipline,” Fetty said, adding “The other thing that this board would do … is make recommendations about training.”
Morgantown/Kingwood NAACP President Jerry Carr said working with the MPD, not against it, is at the core of the entire process.
“The point of working on this review board is to make it so we have some kind of structure in place to address the ever-changing dynamics we see in this world right now,” Carr said. “Every time there’s an issue that comes on television or every time an issue appears, we’re able to be proactive about it and we already have a structure in place so we can say, ‘Alright, we can get ahead of this.’ ”
