Councilman reacts to PARC vote

Councilman reacts to PARC vote

Now at 11.

A year ago, chattanooga councilman russell gilbert was one of the council members who pushed to bring changes to the city's police advisory board.

Now, thanks to voters, this board has a layer of protection for the future.

News 12's dorothy sherman spoke with the councilman on how the board came about, and if having it is enough.

Dsherman@wdef.com/dorothy sherman: "before all those protests across the us calling for change within law enforcement agencies this year, chattanooga had already been making changes with a police advisory and review committee, and earlier this month voters chose to put that into the city's charter."

Councilman russell gilbert: "i'm glad that it was put in the charter and now and future council it will be kind of difficult to change or get rid of it."

Councilman russell gilbert was one that sponsored the passing of a police advisory and review committee over a year ago.

A board he says came about after this video surfaced of a chattanooga police officer beating a man in custody.

Councilman russell gilbert: "there was some negativity going on during that time and that kind of got us to start thinking where our current board that we had had a lot of police and not citizens."

The 9 citizens on the board are selected by council members.

The commitee reviews police complaints.

Some have wanted more than the committee.

The organization concerned citizens for justice have been pushing for the creation of a citizens oversight board different from the committee.

News 12 ask councilman gilbert if he feels the committee is enough or more needs to be done.

Councilman russell gilbert: "i think that the people that are trying to get more teeth just like we got restrictions and i believe the same restrictions they going to have far as what they can and cannot do dictated from the city.

Yes, if i could put more teeth in it i would like to put more teeth in it, but based on the guidelines that i have to follow or the city has to follow, this is what we can do at the moment."

Dsherman@wdef.com/dorothy sherman: "not this tuesday, but the tuesday after, police advisory and review committee members will join council members during one of their meetings.

They're expected to discuss what kind of cases they've been looking at and outcomes as well.

In chattanooga, dorothy