National
Ferguson Plan for Police Oversight Board is Derided as ‘Insulting’
Many residents at a Ferguson City Council meeting expressed displeasure over details of a citizens review board proposed to monitor the Police Department. (Jeff Roberson/Associated Press)
(Los Angeles Times) – A proposal for greater citizen oversight of the Ferguson Police Department has been criticized as “weak” and “insulting” by police experts and St. Louis-area officials who examined the plan Thursday, while others say it is a positive step forward that needs more work.
The Ferguson, Mo., City Council this week emerged from a month of quiet after the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown with a proposal to create a new citizens’ review board for the town’s predominantly white Police Department, which has become reviled by Ferguson’s predominantly black residents.
Many community members and the St. Louis County branch of the NAACP demanded the creation of such a board after weeks of unrest and citizen anger over police use of force, traffic stops and militarized crowd-control tactics during mostly peaceful demonstrations over the shooting of the unarmed Brown.
