Virginia Beach City Council: No investigative powers for board that reviews complaints against police

Virginia Beach — The majority of the Virginia Beach City Council does not support extending subpoena and investigative powers to a citizens board that reviews complaints against police officers.

The council voted 6-5 during a retreat this week at the Convention Center to not allow the Investigation Review Panel to get subpoenas to compel witnesses to testify or gain access to investigative files. Additionally, the council unanimously agreed the board should not be able to discipline law enforcement officers.

Mayor Bobby Dyer said the city will accept public input at an undetermined time later this year, so the issue is still up for debate.

The votes, which were not broadcast on television or live streamed for the public, disappointed community activists who have been lobbying the city to make the civilian review board more effective and transparent.

Without subpoena and investigative powers, the board would have no capacity to ensure that allegations of police misconduct are properly handled, said Damien Stennett, a local activist and a member of the African American Roundtable, created by the mayor’s office.

Criminal justice reform advocates are planning to protest this summer if the council doesn’t expand the powers of the board or create a new citizens board that can truly investigate complaints against police, said Stennett, the organizer of several marches last year. He said he is frustrated the council is not listening to the public.

“We have to make some more noise this summer,” said Stennett, 20. “We have a right to say how we want our communities policed.”

Dyer, who is not in support of giving the group subpoena powers, said the city is focused on trying to recruit and retain police officers and subjecting officers to more scrutiny doesn’t help. He said the city needs to let its new police chief find other ways to improve transparency and build bridges with the community.

“Giving subpoena power to the Investigation Review Panel would send the wrong message,” Dyer said. “It might be detrimental to the morale of the police department.”

Councilman Aaron Rouse urged council members to view the issue differently. He said citizen review panels are more likely to exonerate officers than convict them. He said providing the board investigative powers improves transparency and trust.

Council members Sabrina Wooten and Guy Tower hope council members will change their minds after holding a public hearing. Wooten said she will continue to advocate for the council to receive more education on citizen review boards and to provide funding to the board so it can conduct investigations.

“If you are going to have a meaningful investigation, you need subpoena power,” Tower said.

After the death of George Floyd last summer in Minnesota, activists rallied at Virginia Beach Municipal Center to call for the creation of a new review board that would have subpoena powers and be able to discipline officers. The group wanted the board to have the authority to conduct its own investigations to increase transparency and improve trust with the community.

Since then, several groups, including the Investigation Review Panel, the Human Rights Commission and the mayor’s African American Roundtable have weighed in on how to improve the board.

The African American Roundtable, formed by the mayor’s office last summer, recommended the most sweeping changes: subpoena powers, audit powers, allowing the board to investigate any cases it wishes, allowing cases with pending legal proceedings to be heard and increasing diversity of the membership of the board.

The Investigation Review Panel and the Human Rights Commission did not recommend subpoena or investigative powers.

“All of this is done so transparency can be on both sides,” Veronica Coleman, a member of the mayor’s roundtable, told the council in February. “One of the ways you get accountability is the public has to believe that these investigations are non-biased.”

Coleman could not be reached for comment.

The group wants the board to include representatives from historically disadvantaged communities and to exclude city employees, current law enforcement officers, relatives of police officers and candidates for public office.

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A new law, scheduled to be implemented July 1, requires that civilian oversight groups reflect the demographic diversity of the city — so changes will need to be made to the makeup of the board before then. Currently the group has five members; three are white, two are Black, four are retired and all are over the age of 60, said Susan Mayo, the group’s chair.

The new law also says active police officers may not serve on the board and only one retired officer from another city may serve as a non-voting member.

Vice Mayor Jim Wood, who opposes giving the group subpoena powers, said he would like to see the number of board members expand to 11 or 13 members to increase diversity.

Gary McCollum, a member of a group of local Black ministers, said the council’s vote shows most members have ignored the mayor’s own African American roundtable and the ministers’ past request for reforms to the board.

“It shows they are not listening to the citizens of Virginia Beach,” McCollum said. “Frankly, it is insulting. It is baffling to all of us.”

Alissa Skelton, 757-995-9043, alissa.skelton@pilotonline.com.