Could felons be on Fort Worth police oversight board? That and other questions remain.
A community-based board designed to provide oversight of the Fort Worth Police Department was recommended by the city’s police monitor office at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
According to the recommendation, the board would be made up of a maximum of 15 community members approved by the council with a mission to review police activities and recommend ways to ensure fair and equitable policing.
Board members would have to be Fort Worth residents, be at least 18 years of age, pass a criminal background check and have experience with a diverse community perspective such as civil rights, LGBTQ issues or immigration. Board members would also be trained in Fort Worth police policies and procedures.
But the working group tasked with establishing criteria for the oversight board wasn’t able to reach consensus on everything, including whether members would be allowed to have a felony on their record.
“Those are the individuals more than anyone who have the lived experience that is needed to provide input on this board,” said Pamela Young of United Fort Worth and member of the working group in an interview with the Star-Telegram. “They live this.”
Appointing board members with felony records isn’t the standard practice for oversight boards across the county, police monitor Kim Neal said in an interview with the Star-Telegram. Some people on the working group were concerned whether a person with a felony conviction could be impartial when evaluating police actions, Neal said.
The group also couldn’t agree on the training process, including whether board members should have to ride along with police. The city council will ultimately decide whether to implement these recommendations.
Several council members said they were in favor of an oversight board.
“I think that being transparent, and having an oversight advisory board will be great for the city of Fort Worth,” said District 8 representative Chris Nettles. “We support the police department; we want to make sure that it is completely transparent.”
But Young said that the recommendation for a board isn’t an accurate representation of what she believes an oversight board should look like.
Under this proposal the board would “simply [look] at policy and procedure. That’s it,” she said. Young said a complete oversight board would also review complaints about policing, including those involving communities of color.
Before the board becomes reality, the council will have to adopt a resolution and an ordinance.
Next Tuesday’s council work session will include more details on recommendations and a potential timeline.
This story was originally published September 14, 2021 at 9:48 PM.
