TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – The Tallahassee Citizens Police Review Board (CPRB) has been closed.
The panel’s last meeting was in May, and the minutes show that the panel disbanded as a result of House Bill 601, which came into effect in April.
The law prohibits citizens’ committees from investigating allegations of misconduct by law enforcement officers and prohibits them from overseeing law enforcement agencies’ investigations of complaints of misconduct by police officers. However, it does not explicitly prohibit the establishment of police oversight committees.
Under its policies and procedures, the Tallahassee CPRB could make policy recommendations but did not have the authority to conduct independent investigations.
But legal experts and cities across the state have interpreted the law in countless ways.
In an email to WCTV in March, House Representative Wyman Duggan, who sponsored the House version of the bill, said the bill would not require “any committees to be disbanded.”
Senator Blaise Ingoglia, who sponsored the Senate version, told WCTV that the legislation would allow the establishment of investigative committees “on ‘policies and procedures’ of policing.”
However, around the same time, the agenda for a March City Commission meeting stated that the legislation “would force the City to disband the CPRB.”
The agenda item concerned a resolution introduced by Councilman Jack Porter and approved by the commission declaring the city’s opposition to HB 601.
In a phone conversation, Tallahassee City Inspector General Dennis Sutton told WCTV that the decision to dissolve the CPRB was made after consultation with City Attorney Amy Toman.
WCTV has repeatedly reached out to Sutton and Tallahassee’s communications director to arrange an on-camera interview with Sutton or Toman, but we have not heard back.
The ACLU speaks out
In April, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida (ACLU-FL) sent a memo to cities across the state urging them to continue operating their civilian oversight committees.
The memo states that “the bill, as enacted, has little or no practical impact on Florida’s existing citizen investigative committees” and does not require the committees to be disbanded.
ACLU attorney James Michael Shaw Jr. told WCTV that the memo was sent to Tallahassee City Attorney Amy Toman.
While some cities, including Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tallahassee, have quietly closed their oversight committees, Shaw points out that other cities, including St. Petersburg, Key West and Miami, have not.
“If you read the text of the bill, you’ll see that it simply prohibits investigations and ‘oversight,’ although there are differing opinions on what the term oversight means,” Shaw said. “Contrary to popular belief, it does not require the dissolution or dissolution of citizen review boards that existed at the time the bill was passed.”
“Not a good move”: reaction of former CPRB members
Former members of the CPRB were disappointed when it was dissolved. Rashad Mujahid had been a member of the body since its inception and served two terms as chairman.
Former member Frank Roycraft felt the board does an excellent job of considering police-related concerns and listening to all sides of every issue.
“I felt sorry for the community. I felt sorry for the people who came there and voiced their concerns because I was hearing concerns that I didn’t even know about,” he said. “That’s when I thought, ‘Hey, these people need to be listened to.'”
“We are doing a really good job of self-monitoring”
WCTV met with TPD Chief Lawrence Revell to get his perspective on the dissolution of the Citizens Police Review Board.
Over the past few years, Revell has accepted some of the CPRB’s recommendations for policy changes but rejected others.
He said he trusts his department to fulfill its responsibilities.
HB 601 gives police chiefs the option to establish their own panels to review police policies and procedures. When asked if he would do so, TPD Chief Lawrence Revell referred to his Citizens Advisory Council, which was created in 2020 alongside the CPRB.
“If I get asked now if I’m going to create something new now that the city’s Citizens Police Review Board has been eliminated, my answer is: I’ve had one for four and a half years,” Revell said.
WCTV attended the August meeting of the Citizens Advisory Council led by Vice Chairman Maurice Holmes.
Holmes told WCTV that the council cannot make policy recommendations to the TPD. The council also does not provide an opportunity for community members who are not part of the council to speak.
At the August Citizens Advisory Council meeting, members did not discuss TPD policies or procedures.
Instead, they discussed various events in the community and spoke about concerns that council members felt might warrant police involvement.
One member brought up the issue of homeless people camping outside the Community Co-op Market in Tallahassee. Another member talked about a group of people selling water on the street who could pose a safety hazard by approaching cars on the street.
The Citizens Advisory Council was established separately from the CPRB.
The Citizens Police Review Board was created by a city ordinance that has not been repealed.
According to the regulation, the board of directors technically still exists, but functionally it has been dissolved.
City commissioners comment
WCTV has reached out to city commissioners for comment on the dissolution of the CPRB.
Commissioner Jack Porter said that despite the panel’s inactivity, the city has not yet taken steps toward its official abolition.
“Communication has been limited, partly because we are waiting for a final decision on how to proceed,” she said.
City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow said city commissioners have not yet discussed the matter, but suggested there may be room to reinstate the CPRB or a modified version of it.
“If there are still citizens who want to get involved and take on this role, we should talk about it,” he said.
Matlow added that he does not believe the TPD Citizens Advisory Board is sufficient to fill the void left by the CPRB.
“This is something completely different,” he said. “This is a group appointed by the police chief to give him their ideas or to get information from him that he can pass on to the public. This is something completely different.”
The City Commission met for a regular session on Wednesday but did not discuss the CPRB.
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