In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, police reform was all the rage.
Across the country, Civilian Review Boards were established with the idea that they would hold police accountable and champion transparency. But, most of these boards have limited power. Advocates seek to change that to give them real authority.
Emancipate NC’s Dawn Blagrove weighed in on the topic for Governing magazine.
“Solving the problems caused by a lack of access to data or boards not having investigatory power is up to legislators, according to Dawn Blagrove… Blagrove advocates for the General Assembly to draft and pass legislation that would give oversight boards power to investigate complaints.
Blagrove stands by her belief that these boards are often toothless. However, she’s also unwilling to write off civilian oversight, especially if these boards are given both independence and authority.
“What I’m finding is that in order to create accountability, there has to be an external source that is doing independent investigations of complaints from the community,” she says.