Petitions are being circulated by the Committee for a Citizens Review Board— to create a board to oversee what some call an "out of control" Key West Police Department. If you're a registered voter in Key West and you want to sign a petition, they are available at the front desk of the Key West Business Center, 422 Fleming Street (behind Fast Buck Freddie's), 9-5, Monday through Friday. If you want to help collect signatures, petition packages are also available at the Business Center.
The petition drive is based on a provision of the City Charter that allows citizens to make law through a ballot initiative. All organizers have to do to get the question on the ballot in November is to collect 1400 signatures, 10 percent of the approximately 14,000 registered voters in the City of Key West.
If the majority of the voters who vote in November vote yes for a Citizens Review Board (CRB), it becomes law.
The question: "Shall an independent CRB with subpoena power be created and adequately funded/staffed to review/investigate complaints involving police officers, even if other inquiries are underway, and forward findings/recommendations to city management, the State Attorney, other law enforcement agencies and/or Grand Juries? Four members shall be City Commission appointees, nominated by community organizations; three additional members shall be selected by the original four members from applications from the general public."
The proposed ordinance which backs up the question has been crafted with input from the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement and Bill Smith, a law enforcement oversight consultant. Smith is a former Philadelphia police officer and the former chief investigator for the Philadelphia Police Advisory Commission.
"Cops and police departments cannot police themselves," Smith said, "not because good cops don't want to do it, but because it's simply impossible.
"Good cops want bad cops off the street and out of uniform," he said. "But few will do anything about it."
Smith said that he approached City Manager Avael and City Attorney Bob Tischenkel back in January and offered a free day of consulting to help them get started in setting up a citizens review board.
"But I never heard back from them," he said.
"We didn't have any problem at all in accepting Mr. Smith's free day of consulting," said Attorney Sam Kaufman, who co-chairs the Committee for a Citizens Review Board with Peggy Ward-Grant, a prominent activist in the Black community. "His input was very helpful."
If you want to volunteer to help, pick up a petition package at the Business Center or express your interest in an email to crb@keywestjustice.com or fax 295-7947 or mail: 302 Southard Street, Key West FL 33040.
Contributions are also needed to help finance the committee's expenses. Make checks payable to Committee for a Citizens Review Board and drop them off at the Business Center or mail to the address above.