CAPITAL COVERAGE NEWS SERVICE
media in the public interest
Council Okays Police Review Board, but......
by John Zeh
Capital Coverage News Service
CINCINNATI (1-26-99)- Council approved the city's first Citizens' Police Review Panel Jan. 21 without giving gays and nine other groups preferential treatment in nominating members as expected. But pro-gay activists say they feel that a seat on the unique oversight board will be likely anyway.
After complaints of police mistreatment by gays and excessive use of force against people of color that in one case was lethal, Council authorized the CPRP to handle new charges against police officers brought by citizens.
The city manager will appoint seven paid members to three-year terms after receiving nominations from the public at large. The panel will not have disciplinary powers, but after a preliminary internal investigation through existing channels and an open hearing if requested, it's findings of police misconduct will be made public and summarized in annual reports.
"This is a very important precedent, to have citizen monitoring," said attorney Alphonse Gerhardstein. He is member of the group that originally urged the panel's establishment after the February 1997 death of Lorenzo Collins, an African-American mental patient who had wielded a brick against city and University of Cincinnati police officers.
Originally, Stonewall Cincinnati was to be among 10 community groups that would nominate six CPRP members because gays are among those people who would be most likely to have trouble with police, said Gerhardstein. But other organizations upset at being omitted wanted a wider appointment process. "So now no one organization will have a leg up," Gerhardstein said.
Councilman Tyrone Yates, who sponsored the ordinance authorizing CPRP, did not want the pool of nominees watered down, so he let city manager John Shirey appoint the panel after soliciting names from groups and individuals. "In politics," said Gerhardstein, "compromise is necessary."
"I'm not as happy with this narrowed discretion of the city manager, but Mr. Shirey is mandated by federal mediation to consider diversity of all types in appointing the panel, and I feel he will be responsive," he said.
Said Yates, "The city manager shall consider the diversity of interests and the balance of such interests necessary for an effective panel membership."
Stonewall executive director Lycette Nelson, who testified at the first hearing on the need for CPRP, said she always knew gay representation on the CPRP was not guaranteed. "Even though that's gone, there certainly was recognition that this is an issue that affected the community and that gay organizations should play some part of the process," she said.
"It showed that the greater community recognizes the need to include gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered representation in this overall community effort."
Although Stonewall was not invited to participate in the formal mediation, a diverse array of groups who were at the table backed the LGBT human rights group's role in the nomination process. They included the Baptist Ministers Conference, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Urban League, Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition, Rainbow PUSH, Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Jewish Community Relations Council, Urban Appalachian Council, Women Helping Women, and Hamilton County Community Mental Health Board.
Nelson applauded Yates, his Law and Public Safety Committee, and others involved in getting CPRP passed into law - especially NAACP president Milton Hinton, who called passage an "historic" vote of "unprecedented significance (and) unprecedented opportunity -a very positive step."
Passage was not without opposition, however. The council vote was 8-1, with Republican Phil Heimlich dissenting. And Fraternal Order of Police president Keith Fangman said the panel's formation is unnecessary and will hurt police morale. The Sentinels Police Association of African-American officers, however, approved the review board.
Stonewall's Nelson also singled out Gerhardstein, a veteran civil rights attorney who participated in several months of discussion between the city and local citizen leaders headed up by U.S. Department of Justice Mediator Jesse Taylor.
Gerhardstein was the lead attorney in court challenges to Charter Amendment Issue 3, which specifically bans civil rights protections based on sexual orientation. He won reinstatement of a teacher fired for his homosexuality, proving that civil protections do exist here for gays despite Issue 3 and is also a key player in Ohio prisoners' rights cases.
CPRP's establishment is just the start of a larger process to insure police accountability, both Gerhardstein and Nelson agreed. Just how the panel should operate and define citizens' rights need serious consideration. "The work is just beginning," sighed Gerhardstein.
Nelson noted that many gays who encounter police fail to file official complaints because they don't want to be "further victimized by going through another battle" in a system seen as unresponsive. She cited a recent case involving a man who told Stonewall he had been beaten up by police, but was plea-bargained a lesser penalty for not demanding an investigation.
And men arrested in a city park a year ago who said they were entrapped under Ohio's importuning law declined to challenge their convictions. That statute, which applies to men only, makes mere asking for otherwise legal sodomy a major, first-degree misdemeanor with a penalty of up to six months in jail and a $1000 fine. With legal representation, most receive only a small fine.
'The challenge now," said Nelson, "is to make sure the board is not a mere concession on paper, but that it can be a real remedy when needed."
John Zeh writes for Gay People's Chronicle (Ohio's weeky based in Cleveland) and Rainbow Cincinnati (www.gaycincinnati.com). E-mail JohnZeh@aol.com.
