Council Exploring Creating Police Citizen Review Board

The New Britain City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee will hold a meeting to consider the concept of establishing a Police Citizen Review Board.

The Council has announced that it will have a meeting of its, “Ad-Hoc Committee to explore the feasibility of establishing a ‘Citizen Review Board.'”

A citizen review board is a board consisting for community members that has the power to review actions of the police, investigate allegations of police misconduct and even set policy for the police.

The concept has been a common proposal for one of the new policies demanded by people who have organized massive protests nationwide, including in New Britain, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis.

The agenda of the meeting first calls for a “legal opinion presentation” by the city’s Corporation Counsel. The city Corporation Counsel’s office is the city legal office headed by the city’s Corporation Counsel, who is State Senator Gennaro Bizzarro (R-6). The Corporation Counsel is an appointee of Republican Mayor Erin Stewart.

The Council is then to hear a presentation by New Britain Police Chief Christopher Chute.

The meeting is to be held online on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at 7:00pm. “To stream the meeting,” The Council announced, “please go to
http://newbritainct.gov/gov/common_council/agenda_minutes_live_stream_n_video.htm.”