Holly Richardson is keeping a close, if skeptical eye, on Springfield's new citizens police review board.
As a member of the peace and anti-violence committee at the activist group Arise for Social Justice, Richardson works with her colleagues to find new ways of addressing old problems like violence, poverty and injustice. "What we're trying to do is move forward and think about transformative justice: what local communities can do to solve problems on their own without relying on the police, DSS—all the major institutions," she explains. "How can we right our wrongs, when these institutions aren't really set up to help us in any case? Righting our wrongs in more humane ways that don't depend on the state."
The city's long-delayed, limited-power review board is shaping up to be another one of those institutions, Richardson suspects. "This thing is just really a stacked deck for the police," she says. "Look at the people who are on it—they all have city or police ties. It's not a true civilian review board. Who are the civilians on it?"
And, she asks, where are the young people—a population likely to have run-ins with police? Richardson also works with Out Now, a queer youth group. "All the young people who come to Out Now have a story to tell about police harassment," she says. But on the board "there's no youth representation."
While Mayor Domenic Sarno insists he considers the review board a priority, Richardson's is among the many voices questioning his level of commitment. Sarno sacked the board's full-time administrator, reducing the job to one of the many responsibilities of his chief of staff; similarly sized cities with these kinds of boards all dedicate a full-time position to them, Richardson notes.
And, she adds, while City Hall has shown no apparent urgency to get the board up and running, the very problems it's meant to address continue: Earlier this summer, for instance, an 18-year-old city man named Louis Jiles was shot in the wrist by police who pursued him after he failed to heed a traffic stop. Police say the officer, Stephen Hill, shot because he thought Jiles had a gun; in the end, it turned out Jiles was holding a beer bottle. While the DA declined to press charges against Hill or Jiles, Jiles' attorney has requested a review by the U.S. Department of Justice.
"There's all these complaints stacking up, but this board has apparently done nothing. They're still being oriented," Richardson says. "The moral of the story, I think, is they don't have a lot of power. They've had a few meetings which have apparently been closed-door. How discouraging for our community, when people feel this thing's just another extension of the state."
Richardson points to an example of how the board is failing the very people it's supposed to represent: At a July press conference, Sarno announced that the board will host a workshop called "Keeping Your Cool," to teach young people how to behave in interactions with police. "We would flip that coin around and teach people to know their rights," she says. "Why is it, 'Hey, kids, keep your mouths shut'?"
As the board begins to hold public meetings, Arise members plan to attend, Richardson says. "We'll hold folks accountable, and we'll push the envelope when we can and need to."
mturner@valleyadvocate.com
