Citizens Police Review Board Presents Annual Report to City Commission

Citizens Police Review Board Presents Annual Report to City Commission

During the October 12th Tallahassee City Commission, Edward Gaines – the Chairman of the Citizens Police Review Board (CPRB) – presented the 2021 CPRB Annual Report.

The annual report included recommendations and commitments for the upcoming year.

Full CPRB Report

The CPRB is a nine-member volunteer board of Tallahassee citizens. Five of the members are appointed by the five members of the City Commission, and the remaining four members are appointed by the full City Commission. The members serve staggered terms of one, two and three years.

The board serves to strengthening trust between TPD and Tallahassee citizens, reviewing TPD closed/cleared internal affairs cases, looking into issues regarding law enforcement and addressing other concerns of the city to increase police accountability.

During 2021, CPRB made two recommendations to TPD’s Police Chief.

Chief Revell declined to implement the CPRB recommendation that requested TPD notify the City Commission before using the Rook, an armored vehicle that can be used for crowd control. 

The Chief responded, “TPD does not report to the City Commission on day-to-day operations and interference by the City Commission is expressly prohibited.”

The CPRB also made a recommendation to amend ‘TPD General Order 60 – Response to Resistance’ for circumstances when it is permissible for officers to discharge firearms at, into, or from moving vehicles.

The current TPD Policy stated that shooting at or from moving vehicles “is discouraged.”

Under the CPRB recommendation, “Firearms are not to be discharged into a moving vehicle unless, 1) a person in the vehicle is threatening the officer or another person with deadly force by means other than the vehicle, or 2) the vehicle is operated in a manner deliberately intended to strike an officer or another person, and 3) all reasonable means of defense have been exhausted (or are not present or practical) which includes moving out of the path of the vehicle.”

Chief Revell agreed with the Board’s recommendations to strengthen and clarify General Order 60 in reference to discharging a firearm at or from a moving vehicle. The recommended changes were re-written to follow TPD’s standardized policy format and structure while keeping the prohibitions as recommended by the CPRB

The report also noted that the CPRB made several recommendations to CPRB policies The following statements are changes recommended by the board to the city commission in regards to CPRB policies.

  1. Require annual attestation by board members that they 1) are free from bias when reviewing cases and recommending policy changes, and 2) will maintain neutrality towards the community and police officers.
  2. Require one, two-hour TPD ride-along in any section of the city annually.
  3. Request authorization to explore the ability to expand CPRB authority without violating the Police Officer’s Bill of Rights.
  4. Request a small level of funding to, 1) support community outreach efforts, 2) engage with other boards (at both a state and nationwide level) to better understand best practices related to community-driven police oversight boards, 3) provide relevant and continuous education to the board, and 4) other issues of importance to the board.

The board made several commitments for 2022 including having various CPRB members join The National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE).

According to CPRB, “NACOLE is a not-profit organization that brings together individuals and agencies working to establish or improve oversight of police officers in the United States.” 

Further, the CPRB says they will, “continue to listen to the public and solicit feedback from the community.”  The board will continue to review closed investigations involving use of force and other cases of concern to Tallahassee citizens, assuring all investigations follow TPD’s guidelines.

23 Responses to "Citizens Police Review Board Presents Annual Report to City Commission"

  1. Tallahassee Reports was given credit today in the Tallahassee Democrat for FIRST REPORTING, by a comment from the grandmother, of the victim in the shooting in front of the liquor store prior to the shooting Days Later where someone was killed.

    Steve,

    Was an additional patrol set up at this location after the first incident?

  2. “A bird in the hand and three eggs in the nest means… you can have some chicken wings and scrambled eggs for dinner”

    ~ Feckless Thoughts with HOPE

  3. Mayor Dailey is not responsible for TPD any more than any other commissioner. The “mayor” title is ceremonial. Therefore its not right to blame Dailey only for their failure to deal with crime. All the commissioners are responsible. But hey, at least we have nice parks.

  4. Mr Whiplash

    I don’t know about being inappropriate, but I do know about being factual. I can assure you I am not Matlow nor have I ever spoken with Matlow.

    Regarding your characterization of the two candidates, now that might be a better argument for appropriateness and advocating for breathalyzers on keyboards.

  5. It would likely be inappropriate to say weed and matlow are either the same person or really good friends. So I’m not going to say it.
    Here is what the local voters do know about their selection in the Mayor’s race:
    Daily = same amount of B on B crime ocasionally spilling over to a Democrat voting virtue signaling white voter.
    Dozier = rapidly rising B on B crime often spilling over to a Democrat voting virtue signaling white voter.
    The conservative voting minority normal citizens will appropriatly arm up with legal concealed carry as the only logical reaction to whichever of the feces vs vomit selections our Democrat voting virtue signaling white voters choose.
    Feces vs Vomit vote carefully Democratic voting virtue signaling white voters. It’s totally in your unreliable illogical hands.

  6. “Should we ALL have review boards filled with non experts double-checking our work and making recommendations?”

    Good point, @Edward.

  7. @ Average… you’re wasting your time with Weed. Weed will never present facts to back accusations. Weed will not answer a direct question. Weed’s function is to toss out the slander and HOPE it sticks with the malleable.

    As for the CPRB… it’s existence is based on a lie and a false presumption of a systemic problem, based on the hysteria perpetrated by those who sought to – and have – exploited it and profited from it. Of course there are bad LEOs… and bad Teachers, bad Administrators, bad Judges, bad Attorneys, bad Fry Cooks, bad Prison Guards, bad TV News Reporters, bad writers, and certainly bad Politicians… where are the review boards for them? Should we ALL have review boards filled with non experts double-checking our work and making recommendations?

    Research the crimes – specifically murders – that have happened here in Tallahassee over the past two years. Then list the ones perpetrated by LEOs versus the ones perpetrated by non LEOs. Then explain to me again who the “bad guys” are. The bad cop who started all of this was caught and dealt with… as it should be. What say we get off their backs now and let them do their damn job.

  8. Mr Average Joe

    The mayor is a leadership role and clearly there is no leadership by him regarding the high crime rate. I believe TPD is doing an awesome job. I also believe the mayor has dropped the ball regarding crime.

    Thank you for your input, however, what is missing:
    no answers to the questions that are perfectly logical questions that need to be answered.

    There is no political motivation, but there is a right and a wrong motivation and when you see something that is wrong you should step up and say something and or do something, and that’s what I’m doing.

    Your retort begs even more questions, but no one is answering them. Is there a cover-up in play here?

  9. Mr. Weed,
    Why are you saying any of this is the Mayor’s responsibility? The Mayor has no more authority over the City budget or City operations than the other four City Commissioners.

    It very much appears you are:
    1) playing politics and distorting the truth to influence people that don’t know any better, or
    2) ignorant of how your City’s government works and spewing nonsense.

    Unrelated to Mr. Weed:
    I know this is going to run contrary to what many people think, but it seems the City has a good idea with the Citizen Police Review Board.
    1) The board looks at police policies
    2) The board, makes recommendations to improve and help make sure the policies (rules) that guide police actions are going to get the police to do what the citizens want from their police department.
    3) The Chief reviews those recommendations to make sure they aren’t crazy or going to put his officers in danger
    4) The Chief accepts the ones he thinks are good ideas and rejects the ones he doesn’t…he’s the one with the final decision.

    Look, we all know there are good and bad cops…the term “bully with a badge” didn’t come about for no reason. There are way more good cops than bad ones. Good cops are not going to do bad things, the bad ones are going to ignore the rules or push the limits of what they can get away with within the rules. It never hurts to have someone double-checking the rules cops work by as long as they can’t dictate things because they aren’t experts in law enforcement.

  10. This insipid “Police review board” is an artifact of the left, and their stupid “defund the police” movement. It needs to be recognized for what it is… a bunch of cop hating bleeding hearts that need attention.

  11. #2, A Required two-hour TPD ride-along in ANY section of the city annually?, They will all be choosing the Northeast section. How about a 2 Hour Ride Along in EACH Section Annually, at Night?

    #4 A Flat out NO, there are already Groups that support community outreach efforts, as far as engaging with other boards (at both a state and nationwide level), you can do that On Line as well continuous education to the board can also be done On Line.

  12. Steve,

    First of all, my condolences to Felicia Williams on the loss of her grandson. This has to stop.

    The ball is in the mayor’s court. Side skirt, omit, delay, deflect, but the mayor should answer these questions and your running interference only highlights the need for questions to be answered.

    I stand by what I’ve said and if you can refute that or if the mayor can refute that it would be most welcome.

    Through this conversation we have learned of another person being shot that was not reported. Again, this is on the mayor’s watch.

    I am certainly not opposed to a fact check and in 2 weeks there have been no denials.

  13. I would just like to know how many on the board have studied, trained, volunteered or work/ed in the Criminal Justice System? I feel that they should all learn about Community Policing and Juvenile Delinquency to gain further insight on how policing and the juvenile justice system work. A Citizen Review Board should not just monitor policing, It should also monitor the communities and know which crimes are prevalent in each community, while evaluating officers response to those areas. I know that police can’t police themselves, and a review board is great but if they have no knowledge about laws and procedures it can’t truly be a productive body.

  14. I was not a fan of his idea when it was first proposed – primarily because its creation was based on a lie and the false presumption of guilt – and I remain opposed to it as it stands today. Furthermore, based on the section of the report titled “CONCLUSION AND LOOKING FORWARD”, I am completely opposed to the expansion of this concept.

    *Major Red Flag*… the use of the term “best practices”

  15. I can understand why I wasn’t interviewed or selected for the CPRB. IMO, the CPRB is a waste of time as is Royle King’s Men and Boys Club. The problem is being a gangster is very popular. Or as they say in the 32304, “being in the life.” Google Darrell Brooks trial and Ronnie O’neal III trial. Just two black men, living “the life” until they finally crossed the line.

  16. My grandson was shot on Wednesday night in front of Halftime liquor store 3 days before the second shooting. There no mention of the Wednesday night shooting to the media. No one has reached out to us regarding said shooting. The Saturday night shooting could have been avoided had they released information about Wednesday night shooting. We believe both shooting were related. My grandson was standing talking to his girlfriend when they ended up in a crossfire. The young person who lost their life and were injured may have been spared had the first shooting been released to the media

  17. Also, important to note is that this information was revealed in the mayoral debate and the mayor did not refute it.

    I believe this was the most revealing information exposed by an opponent against an incumbent for inaction that not only revealed him not being proactive, but exacerbating the problem of crime rate rising due to his inaction.

  18. Steve S,

    What you call a serious charge I call bringing attention to a serious issue and asking questions (and getting no answers). Info that was revealed in a mayoral debate that was found to be disturbing.. I keep asking the questions but I’m ignored and getting no answers. What is the mayor of afraid of?

    Let’s start with the mayor providing info where he increased funding for patrols. When you find none then ask the mayor,

    Why…

    1) he did not increase funding for patrols with a crime rate so high?

    2) what is the funding amount for patrols now and what was the funding rate for patrols 10 years ago?

    I’ve asked the questions and it’s time for some answers. Thank you for asking.

    1. You made a comment that Mayor Dailey decreased funding for TPD and now you indicate you do not have any facts supporting your comment. Steve S.

  19. This is ridiculous and should be disbanded as a waste of time and money. The only question they should be asking is why on Mayor Dailey’s watch crime has increased yet police patrols have decreased, as funding for patrols has decreased. They should put the mayor on full display as who decreases police patrols and funding when crime is up?

    1. This is a serious charge. Please provide info that supports your claim that Mayor Dailey is responsible for decreasing funding to TPD. Steve S.

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