Dayton takes concrete steps in police reform effort

Dayton’s elected leaders this week created two of the six new committees that are expected to monitor police reform activities, make policy recommendations and provide police oversight.

The new Community Appeals Board and Use of Force Committee will play important roles to ensure long-term accountability for some of the recommended police reforms, city staff and officials said.

City Commission also created a new police auditor role, and Dayton’s city manager in the near future is expected to convene and appoint the members of the four other reform committees.

“This is the beginning of the work,” said Dayton City Commissioner Chris Shaw. “We’re going to make mistakes ... but the hope is, through our engagement, that we make corrections to those mistakes and move forward to make the process stronger and more effective for our community.”

Dayton’s police reform process began 18 months ago, and five working groups issued 142 recommendations to improve policing in the city before disbanding earlier this year.

The reform recommendations are in various stages of consideration and implementation.

Dayton will create half a dozen permanent new committees focused on many of the same topic areas as the disbanded working groups.

These are use of force, community engagement, training, policy, recruitment and community appeals of police complaints.

The Dayton City Commission on Wednesday approved legislation creating the Community Appeals Board, Use of Force Committee and a new independent accountability auditor position.

The Use of Force Committee and Community Appeals Board are appointed by the city commission; the other four committees will be appointed by the city manager — which could happen soon, said Torey Hollingsworth, director of the Dayton City Commission Office.

The new use-of-force committee will study use-of-force data and trends and will look at best practices around the country and will produce an annual report, Hollingsworth said.

The seven-member committee will meet quarterly. The commission appointed its members on Wednesday.

The Community Appeals Board replaces the Citizens’ Appeals Board and provides community members with a way to challenge decisions they disagree with regarding internal police investigations into officers’ conduct, city staff said.

The new board will hear appeals, receive status updates on investigations from the police department, review policies and procedures and make recommendations to the Dayton City Commission, said Erica Fields, director of Dayton’s Human Relations Council.

The Citizens’ Appeals Board met infrequently. Few people were aware of its existence and function, and many community members did not know how to file a police complaint or appeal, Fields said.

Credit: JIM NOELKER

The Human Relations Council plans to step up marketing efforts to educate people and raise awareness about the complaint and appeal process, Fields said.

The Human Relations Council changed the police complaint intake process to allow people to file complaints against officers outside the police department, with the mediation center, said Jacob Davis, the HRC’s justice and inclusion administrator.

The new Community Appeals Board will have seven members — its predecessor had five — and by statute it must have representatives from the legal community and minority-rights and immigrant-rights organizations, Davis said.

Credit: MARSHALL GORBY/STAFF

The new board will meet every month, which is a big change from the Citizens’ Appeals Board, which often went very long stretches without meetings when there were no appeals, Davis said.

“Months when there are no pending appeals we’re going to conduct training,” he said. “We’ll also use that time to do marketing for the board as well.”

The new independent auditor’s responsibilities include reviewing and making recommendations about the police complaint process and auditing investigative records to look for patterns of misconduct or areas of concern.

Legislation passed Wednesday says the new auditor will be an independent contractor, and the city manager “shall assure operational independence” of the job. The auditor reports to the city manager and city commission.

Members of new Community Appeals Board

Shannon Isom

Stanley Hirtle

Howard Johnson

Terrilynn Griffith

Cornell Trammel

Cathy Hall

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Members of new Use of Force Committee

Rev. Dr. David Fox

Angelina Jackson

Donald Domineck