3 years later, South Bend’s police review board is set

SOUTH BEND — More than three years after a city ordinance formed a citizen review board to examine complaints of police misconduct, the South Bend Common Council on Monday appointed nine members to serve.

An October 2020 ordinance formed the Community Police Review Board and the associated Community Police Review Office, which has been led by South Bend native Charles King since last May. The board is to review independent investigations into complaints against South Bend Police Department officers and suggest policy changes.

Some at Monday’s council meeting were upset that recommendations from three past councilors — 2nd District representative Henry Davis Jr., 5th District representative Eli Wax and AtLarge representative Lori Hamann — were nixed in favor of the officials who ousted them in last year’s municipal elections. The nine appointees were all chosen by sitting councilors, some of whom didn’t vote to form the review board.

In a statement, Black Lives Matter South Bend said its group is disappointed that two candidates it endorsed, Dé Bryant and Tiana Batiste-Waddell, weren’t chosen.

They lamented that there was no public interview of each candidate, similar to how King faced the public before the council chose him to lead the review office. Before the vote Monday, none of the councilors offered public statements about why they chose their respective candidates.

“Unfortunately, the sponsors of the bill who were most engaged with the community were not able to have their choices seated, which is a travesty of justice for our community,” the statement said, referring to past councilors Davis and Hamann, who both lost races in the May Democratic primary.

King said Monday that in the past year, he visited Kalamazoo to learn how its community review board operates. He’s worked through a dozen South Bend police complaints alongside the department’s internal affairs investigators to understand how he’ll operate independently.

He went through the Citizen’s Police Academy and looks forward to each board member doing the same, he said. Leading topics he aims to focus on with the board include use-of-force policies and officers’ behavior in daily interactions with residents, he said.

“We’re definitely going to look at community action items,” King said, “stuff that the community review board should review, and we’ll define what those are after this board is seated.”

Who will serve on the Community Police Review Board?

Here are the nine appointed members of the Community Police Review Board, the Common Council district in which they reside and the councilor who nominated them. All six Common Council districts are represented on the board.

● Sherria Williams, 1st District, nominated by 1st District councilor Canneth Lee

● Komonique Thomas, 2nd District, nominated by 2nd District councilor Ophelia Gooden-Rodgers

● Kelly Johnson, 3rd District, nominated by 3rd District councilor Sharon McBride

● LuElla Webster, 4th District, nominated by 4th District councilor Troy Warner

● Dennis James Givens, 5th District, nominated by 5th District councilor Sherry Bolden-Simpson

● Clara Davis, 6th District, nominated by 6th District councilor Sheila Niezgodski

● Joseph Adams, 5th District, nominated by At-Large councilor Karen White

● Cheryl Ashe, 5th District, nominated by At-Large councilor Rachel Tomas Morgan

● Otis Davis, 6th District, nominated by At-Large councilor Oliver Davis Jr.

Email South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09