The City of Santa Barbara is well on its way to establishing a system of civilian oversight for its police department. Creating this layer of outside accountability had been locally discussed and debated for years ― decades, actually ― but it was the murder of George Floyd that galvanized enough organized and sustained momentum to finally begin the process.
The other day, I was talking to a lieutenant, and he said many of the department’s top brass are actually in favor of a civilian review board. We have nothing to hide, he said, so how could it hurt? In fact, he argued, building an independent review system and publicly sharing the transparency it would produce might actually improve relations between our cops and the community.
The effort is still in its early stages. Many questions remain ― most importantly, whether the board will be given subpoena power ― but real progress is being made.