Civilian Police Review Boards: Toothless Testaments to Institutional Racism
NOVANEWS
Erica Bailey, daughter of Aaron Bailey, wipes a tear during a news conference announcing that the Indianapolis police officers who shot her father in the back 15 times, killing him, won’t face criminal charges. Oct. 31, 2017. AP | Darron Cummings.
Civilian review boards fail to stop the bleeding in their communities thanks to their institutional toothlessness. Their lack the authority to subpoena police or investigate police abuse leaves them at the mercy of police to self-investigate.
By Jon Jeter
INDIANAPOLIS — The rector at Christ Church Cathedral here, Steve Carlsen, was crestfallen when a special prosecutor in November declined to indict either of the two police officers who fatally shot a church volunteer in late July of last year. Forty-five-year-old Aaron B...