Raleigh leaders to NC: Give city’s new police advisory board more power, authority
Raleigh leaders want the state to give the city’s new police advisory board more authority and oversight powers.
The Raleigh City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to send a letter to all three branches of state government.
“The City of Raleigh recognizes that transparency and accountability are needed to engender positive relationships between our community and the police,” according to the letter. “The City of Raleigh supports and would welcome authority to provide more transparency, oversight and power to our community.”
Council member Jonathan Melton wrote the letter and brought it up during Tuesday’s meeting.
“The police advisory board is limited in its current authority,” he said. “It certainly falls short of what some members of the community have asked for, and it falls short of what I campaigned on.”
The City Council created the board in February after years of debate and appointed its first nine members two weeks ago.
Activists wanted a police oversight board with subpoena power, the ability to call witnesses. They didn’t get it.
Instead, the board will review Police Department procedures only. It can’t investigate, hear testimony or listen to citizen complaints.
“There is a reason why the authority of the board is limited right now, and it has to do with existing state law,” said Melton, who then asked City Attorney Robin Currin to elaborate.
In North Carolina, cities are “creatures of the General Assembly,” Currin said.
“Everything that we, as a city, are allowed to do is because the General Assembly has delegated that power,” she explained.
“Right now the way that the general statutes are written and any local acts or charter we may have do not include the powers to create a board with the authority requested, she said,
For that to change, Currin said the General Assembly would have to grant the city that authority.
Now is the time to ask for this power, Melton said, because the state is looking “at issues of social justice.”
“Our current police advisory board is tasked with reviewing policy and contributing to fair policy development, which is important,” Melton said in an interview after the meeting. “But it lacks the ability to provide transparency and oversight, and notably it lacks subpoena power.
“Our ability to grant additional authority is limited by state law,” he said. “I feel it’s important in this moment to indicate that Raleigh will work toward a true community oversight board if granted the authority.”
The council also added this issue to the city’s legislative priority agenda for 2021.
This story was originally published July 7, 2020 at 3:46 PM with the headline "Raleigh leaders to NC: Give city’s new police advisory board more power, authority."
