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From YouTube: Board Wrap-Up: Community Oversight Board
Description
A wrap-up of decisions made at Arlington County Government’s July 2021 Board meeting.
A
Welcome
back
to
county
board
wrap
up
and
this
month's
big
story,
the
new
community
oversight
board
for
the
police
department.
Here
in
arlington,
I'm
joined
now
by
board
chair,
matt,
diferenti
and
board
member
takus
carantonis,
and
we
had
quite
a
bit
of
discussion
from
the
public
over
the
past
few
months
on
this
issue,
including
a
variety
of
public
engagement
sessions.
But
before
we
get
into
all
that,
let's
take
a
few
steps
back.
What
was
really
the
thought
process
that
went
into
the
idea
of
creating
a
community
oversight
board
here
in
arlington.
B
Sure
so,
over
a
year
ago,
in
the
weeks
and
months
following
the
murder
of
george
floyd,
arlington
wanted
to
take
a
look
and
really
understand.
Where
are
we
on
criminal
justice
and
and
fairness?
And
it's
appropriate
because
of
this
national
challenge
that
we're
facing,
but
arlington
also
has
a
its
own
history
and
we
have
had
a
police
department
that
has
been
has
served
our
community
well.
B
But
there
are
parts
of
our
community
that
have
felt
not
well
served,
and
so
we
wanted
to
listen
to
our
communities
of
color
and
seek
to
build
greater
trust
going
forward.
So
our
manager
over
a
year
ago
brought
forward
this
police
practices
group
with
four
subcommittees,
and
one
of
them
is
focused
on
community
oversight,
and
so
we
have
been,
we've
had
an
extensive
process.
B
The
ppg
group,
as
it's
called,
has
had
a
ton
of
meetings,
and
this
this
particular
subcommittee,
chaired
by
rodney
turner,
has
really
done
a
lot
of
additional
work
to
bring
this
forward,
and
so
we've
had
some
rec
initial
recommendations.
B
Those
came
before
us
in
may
we
advertised
an
ordinance
and
then
we
had
a
lot
of
follow-up
engagements,
two
work
sessions
and
a
sort
of
an
interactive
session.
So
all
of
those
have
led
to
the
action
that
we
took
to
stand
up
this
community
oversight
board
and
I
think
we're
excited
about
this
opportunity,
and
I
think
we
both
need
to
understand
it's
precipitated
by
some
very
painful
events,
and
there
are
residents
who
don't
feel
trust
with
our
police
department.
B
A
Let's
break
down
like
there
have
been
a
lot
of
kind
of
iterations
of
the
details
of
this
community
oversight
board,
since
it
was
first
proposed
back
in
may,
let's
break
down
the
the
ideas
of
the
main
functions
of
the
community
oversight
board,
dr
swister.
C
Look
on
investigations
that
the
police
department
is
conducting,
especially
in
sensitive
things
like,
for
example,
if
it's
a
if
there's
an
allegation
of
misconduct
or
there
is
another
complaint,
etc
that
can
come
from
a
citizen
that
can
come
that
can
be
anonymous.
So
there
is
a
a
direct
recourse
to
to
to
the
community
oversight.
If
some
somebody
anybody
feels
that
there
there
is
an
issue,
and
this
will
be
so
number
one.
There
is
investigatory
power.
This
will
be
fully
and
thoroughly
investigated.
C
The
board
has
the
ability
to
access
all
all
documents,
or
I
mean
it's
actually
the
that
to
be
appointed
independent,
a
police
auditor
who
will
be
essentially
the
staff
person
for
this
board
will
be
contemporaneously
so
at
the
same
time
with
police
on
the
investigation.
So
the
the
the
community
oversight
is
happening
from
from
the
point.
Zero
of
often
on
investigation
can
be
there,
and
the
second
thing
is
the
the
the
board:
if
there
is
still
an
issue
which
we
we
believe
it
won't
be
very
often
the
case.
C
C
The
oversight
board
can
and
will
issue
conclusions
on
on
on
on
their
findings,
and
this
will
be
reported
to
the
county
board
and
the
county
board.
Who
who
we
are
the
elected
representatives
of
the
people
in
arlington.
A
B
Sure
so
the
county
board
will
work
with
our
manager.
To
there
are
two
things
we
need
to
two
groups
of
individuals.
We
need
to
pull
together.
We
need
to
hire
an
independent
auditor
monitor
and
we
need
to
vet
community
applications
and
appoint
the
seven
members.
Well,
it's
seven
voting
members
and
two
retired
three-year
space
between
their
last
law
enforcement
job
and
then
so.
This
would
be
two
additional
non-voting,
but
essentially
experts,
technical
experts
that
could
help
us
to
be
the
last
two
members
of
the
civilian,
the
community
oversight
board.
B
So
we
need
to
find
those
people
and
have
a
fair
process
with
community
input
and
to
to
fill
those
spots,
and
we
discussed
how
important
it
is
that
this,
the
oversight
board
be
heavily,
have
people
who,
whose
experience
is
particularly
critical
to
this.
We
anticipate
a
large
number
of
our
into
those
individuals
will
be
individuals
of
color,
perhaps
organizations
that
have
returning
citizens,
and
so
we
need
to
find
those
people
and
there's
also
then
going
to
be
some
work
on
a
memorandum
of
understanding
to
work
out
procedures
and
processes.
B
But
the
big
picture
takus
referred
so
well
to
what
was
the
the
main
part
of
our
discussion
was
individual.
What
is
right
for
individual
complaints
with
respect
to
officer
more
or
less
officer
conduct,
there's
a
whole
other
piece,
there's
about
nine
items
in
the
oversight
board's
jurisdiction
that
would
include
in
sort
of
understanding
policy
and
practice.
A
great
example
is
traffic
stops.
B
That
was
a
subject
that
the
ppg
worked
on,
but
we
think
that
this
oversight
board
can
really
help
look
at
those
sorts
of
issues,
and,
frankly,
that
is
something
that
the
police
chief
has
said
has
expressed
such
an
openness,
as
have
our
police.
To
saying,
let's
take
a
look
at
those
to
see:
is
there
a
disproportionate
disproportionality
between
those
stopped
and
are
the
demographics
of
our
community?
B
B
This
is
about
what
we
can
be
as
a
community,
and
the
purpose
of
the
the
oversight
board
is
to
help
us
get
there
on
a
number
of
policy
and
complaint
related
issues
that
are
linked
to
our
criminal
justice
system,
because
it
is,
if
you
look
at
our
jail
population,
it's
a
fact
that
it
is
not
reflective
of
our
population
as
a
whole
and
we're
arlington.
So
we
want
to
do
better
and
on
racial
equity.
We
must-
and
this
is
one
way
we're
going
to.
C
If,
if
I
had
to
add
one
thing,
is
that
the
the
the
cov,
the
community
oversight
board,
is
a
place
of
where
we
really
bring
people
together?
It's
not
a
battlefield,
it's
not
a
dividing
place.
It's
a
a
place
of
community
community
oversight
is
about
improving
on
on
arlington
and
our
community,
and
I
believe-
and
this
is
why
everybody
agrees
to
have
one
everybody
agreed
to
have
one.
C
So
I
am
definitely
positive,
and
I
expect
that
this
independence,
the
the
way
that
the
board
will
be
do
the
investigation
on
a
complaint
that
is
fundamentally
comes
from
an
independent
point
of
view.
Fair
means
independent
means
impartial,
and
this
is
why
their
their
findings
will
be
also
far
far
better
accepted
and
digested,
and
they
will,
you
know,
contribute
to
to
lasting
improvements.
C
This
is
the
outcome
we
want
to
see.
We
never
denied
that
we
have
issues
with
you
know
racial
discrimination
and
other
types
of
issues.
This
is
not
the
only
type
of
misconduct
that
exists,
so
the
the
board
will
definitely
bring
us
a
very
big
step
forward.
This
is
a
real,
great
improvement.
A
All
right
well,
of
course,
there
was
plenty
more
to
discuss
from
this
month's
board
meeting
and
that's
where
we're.
Turning
to
you,
the
viewers,
we're
going
to
answer
your
questions
on
some
of
the
hot
issues
from
this
month's
board
meeting
and
let
you
know
how
you
can
participate
when
we
come
right.