Mayor Wharton: ‘We’re behind it 100 percent’
Group consensus could clear way for City Council to approve, modify amendment
Defusing a tense public meeting July 29 in City Hall, Memphis Mayor A C Wharton promised to support more power for the civilian board that investigates police abuses.
As Wharton watched and made the occasional comment, officials in his administration clarified their proposed changes to the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB), resolving many of the questions and disagreements voiced by supporters of broader powers for CLERB.
“We’re behind it 100 percent,” Wharton said. “No more changes in the verdict.”
The different groups found a tentative consensus July 29, possibly clearing the way for the City Council to modify and approve a long-awaited amendment to the CLERB ordinance Aug. 4. Before then, the group of vested parties that met July 29 met July 27 at 2 p.m. in City Hall to review a draft drawn up by the administration.
Consensus looked impossible July 27, when Wharton’s administration came under fire for presenting a draft of the amendment that MidSouth Peace and Justice Center Executive Director Bradley Watkins said would leave CLERB at “status quo.”
In addition to Watkins, the July 29 meeting included City Council members Wanda Halbert and Alan Crone, and representatives from CLERB and the Memphis Police Association.
“We’ve really done some great work at this table today,” said Halbert, who is sponsoring the amendment to the CLERB ordinance. “Better than any other time.”
Addressing the three biggest issues, the administration said it would add language in its amendment to clarify that all employees should comply with CLERB unless exercising a legal right not to, that the board will be able to ask the council to use its subpoena power on behalf of CLERB, and that police Internal Affairs will turn over cases to CLERB 45 days after they start or provide status updates if the investigations haven’t concluded.
Memphis United, a coalition advocating the sweeping changes to CLERB, had originally proposed giving CLERB subpoena power, which the council can’t legally do; making noncompliance with the board a disciplinary offense; and allowing the board to investigate complaints at the same time as Internal Affairs.
CLERB, which was only recently revived. The program went inactive in 2011 because it didn’t have the support of the administration and no enforcement power, said CLERB chairman and Rev. Ralph White.
“It’s the administration we’ve been dealing with that’s been the roadblock,” he said.
He acknowledged that the problems didn’t start with Wharton, who became mayor at the beginning of 2010.
On his way out of the room, Wharton told the group that he and Watkins spoke and seemed to be on the same page, but multiple versions of the amendment clouded the issue.
“It was a simple matter of we didn’t know what we were supporting,” he said after the meeting.
Watkins denied that there was any confusion, and as Wharton was leaving threw back at him.
“This is why people don’t trust government,” Wharton said.
Paul Garner of the MidSouth Peace and Justice Center, which is part of Memphis United, said the meeting may not have gone so smoothly if the public hadn’t been watching.
“People are angry about the foot dragging,” he said.