St. Louis considers increased powers for police review board

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis elected official active in the Ferguson, Missouri, protests wants to give more investigative power to a planned city police oversight board -- a change an aide to Mayor Francis Slay said would scuttle a compromise agreement nearly a decade in the making.

A committee of the city's board of aldermen met Thursday to discuss an amendment granting subpoena authority to the proposed civilian review panel. Alderman Antonio French, the amendment's sponsor, called it essential to restore public trust in police after Michael Brown's death in north St. Louis County and several subsequent fatal police shootings in the city.

"The days of leaving it up to police to police themselves ... are over," he said. "Without subpoena power, all you're doing is creating something in name only."

The Public Safety Committee did not vote on the change or take public testimony from a small group of observers.

The hearing followed a public meeting on civilian oversight last week that had to be cut short after audience outbursts led to pushing and shoving among some participants. The St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office is investigating that incident to determine if any participants should face criminal charges.

The police oversight panel would investigate citizen complaints of police misconduct and review police policy and practices. Its members could make recommendations but not mete out discipline.

Before French submitted his amendment, the measure had the support of a majority of the 28-member governing board as well as Slay, who rejected a similar 2006 measure over details he considered anti-police.

Slay's chief of staff Jeff Rainford said he expects the mayor would veto a bill that gives the seven-member panel the authority to compel witness testimony. He criticized French for "taking that compromise" between Slay and committee chairman Terry Kennedy and "throwing it in the trash can."

Rainford, who leaves Slay's office Friday for the private sector, suggested that law enforcement officers would be less likely to fully fight crime knowing their actions could be subject to subpoena. City police officers and union leaders who testified against the measure at the Jan. 28 public hearing shared similar concerns.

French defended his efforts to be "responsive to the calls for change" while suggesting that "faith and trust in police in our communities is at an all-time low" -- and public confidence in local elected officials "at an equal low."

"I don't think any officer should be threatened by any version of civilian oversight," he said.

Brown, 18, was unarmed when he was fatally shot by Ferguson officer Darren Wilson in August, leading to widespread protests. The protests resumed after the November announcement that a St. Louis County grand jury would not indict Wilson on criminal charges.