May 7, 2021 3 min read

Washington City Council held a first reading of a new ordinance that would create a proposed police review board.

The ordinance states the review board would be established “in order to establish a mechanism for citizen review of allegations and misconduct undertaken by police officers with the City of Washington.”

The six-page document is available for public review before council votes on it next month. The review board would require a vote of at least four of its members to initiate an independent investigation into alleged police misconduct incidents involving city police. The ordinance outlines the purpose, positions, powers, procedures, police directives and a recommendation process for how the review board will function.

During a virtual meeting Thursday, Mayor Scott Putnam said the proposed review board would also serve as “a mechanism to protect our police officers from false allegations.

“We have a great group of police officers in our department, and I have their back 100%,” Putnam said.

In an interview after the meeting, Matthew Karlowsky, president of the Fraternal Order of Police union in Washington, voiced some concerns about the ordinance.

“We are all for community policing and good relations with the community,” he said. “We don’t believe we have a bad relationship with the community.”

Among Karlowsky’s concerns is giving the review board power to subpoena personnel and documents, including personnel files, performance evaluations, management files, training records and counseling records. Karlowsky said having access to personnel files and counseling records would need to be negotiated into their union contract, as those files may contain personal family and residence information or health information protected under HIPAA.

“This ordinance has in no way been negotiated with the FOP,” Karlowsky said. “We feel it has been severely rushed. It needs to be negotiated prior to being implemented.”

Board members would be required to participate in 15 weeks of training. Karlowsky said the union believes that should be mandatory in-person training, not via Zoom. He also said he’d like to see members submit to background and credit checks, drug and alcohol screenings and a physical agility test.

He also suggested they participate in a 30-day ride along with police, during which they would accompany an officer on patrol, in training and in court proceedings.

“Unless you have done this job, it’s very hard to judge a policeman on the way they do their job,” Karlowsky said. “A split-second decision – we have to make those.”

If the ordinance is adopted next month, the city will need to determine how to fund the board and who will sit on it.

“There’s a lot of work to do to get this up and running, but this is the first step in that process,” Putnam said of the first reading.

The review board was proposed last summer by Andrew Goudy, president of the Washington Chapter of the NAACP, when he approached council with concerns. Goudy said Thursday that he’s “pretty confident” council will have a majority vote in favor of the ordinance next month.

The board will include Goudy, Putnam, police Chief Robert Wilson and seven residents who would serve a four-year, unpaid term. Fourteen applicants have expressed interest in participating.