Council Members In The City Of Washington Table Vote On Citizen Police Review Board

WASHINGTON (KDKA) - City council leaders in the city of Washington tabled the vote to create a citizen police review board on Thursday.

City council leaders and the NAACP want to meet with the FOP and reach a consensus before voting.

If the board is eventually approved, seven city residents will serve on the board.

Andrew Goudy is the president of the Washington Chapter of the NAACP. He spearheaded the idea to get a citizen police review board that would oversee the police.

"When police come to a Black community, they're not viewed as someone there to protect you. They're viewed as someone to fear," said Goudy.

Goudy wants to change that mentality, and he feels creating an oversight board is a good start.

"I know that when this was initially brought up, the first thing I did was go to the police department and asked how many complaints have you had. The number was zero," said City of Washington Council Member Joe Manning.

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Manning said there have been no allegations of misconduct or abuse of power, but he also said Goudy did bring up concerns that people are hesitant to file a complaint with police. This is something resident Gwendolyn Gordon said she's heard from other people.

"They say sometimes they give complaints and police don't take it seriously," said Gordon.

The city council said time will tell, and stressed that everyone must be on the same page.

"In Morgantown, West Virginia, they passed a similar ordinance, and the police union there filed suit against the city of Morgantown," said Manning.

This is something Manning said the city wants to avoid.