It’s official: DeKalb approves citizens’ review board to deliberate over police misconduct cases

DeKALB – After more than a year of debate and weeks of bargaining between city officials, state and local police unions, the City of DeKalb will soon have a five-person board made up of citizens to deliberate over police misconduct cases.

While the board won’t have policy-making power or final say over disciplinary decisions, city officials reiterated Monday the new Citizens’ Review Board for the DeKalb Police Department is a step in the right direction to public accountability amid a nationwide reckoning on law enforcement rekindled in 2020.

“If you had asked most people after the murder of George Floyd if we felt we could ever get to this point, where we were ready to pass a citizens’ review board on second reading, most of would’ve agreed, that it’s unlikely,” said Ward 5 Alderman Scott McAdams. “It takes all of us to bring about big changes.”

McAdams thanked the contributions of the local Black Lives Matter movement, some of whom marched daily for months around DeKalb streets calling for transparency last summer, and several other local leaders, organizations and city officials before casting his vote. The DeKalb City Council on Monday unanimously approved the creation of the review board. The council also unanimously approved amending the existing police union contract to include updated language such that no officer can be forced to appear before the board, either publicly or privately.

“It took the effort and energy of all of these good people and more working together for a common goal. They stayed committed to an honest review of law enforcement, have given the city an opportunity for an unprecedented level of transparent and accountability for years to come.”

The review board will be made up of five DeKalb residents appointed by the mayor with the council’s approval to serve either two-year or one-year terms. The body will meet at least six times per year, and will be tasked with deliberating over claims that an officer violated the DeKalb Police Department’s “use of force” policies. The board will recommend steps for disciplinary action if necessary, or changes to the department’s training or other relevant procedures. It will be the police chief’s final say whether disciplinary actions are imposed, documents state.

Mayor Cohen Barnes said he plans to bring the five potential members to council for an appointment vote at the Nov. 22 meeting.

“Excellent,” Barnes said after the vote. “A lot of time, a lot of energy went into this. So it’s nice that we have this on the books. I’ll be bringing members before you for approval at the next council meeting and we can get this thing going.”

Harvey Blau, a DeKalb resident, said he spoke on behalf of a local group called Praying with Our Feet, made up of local Jewish residents interested “in helping implement productive and positive changes in structures that will further social justice in the community.”

He read a statement on behalf of the group, asking city officials to reconsider the timing of when the public will be made aware of results from an ongoing misconduct investigation. The board’s protocol requires that, under state law, records identifying an officer as the subject of a complaint, or disciplinary outcomes, be kept away from the public throughout the investigation and 30 days after. That gives an officer a window upon which to appeal any disciplinary decision handed down.

“The result could be a considerable time gap during which the interested and affected public will have no idea that their complaints are being taken seriously and are being thoroughly and impartially investigated,” Blau read. “We may need to think of ways to keep the public informed and keep the time lapse of submission of complaint and its resolution as short as possible. One approach is to release minutes of closed sessions to the review board as soon as feasible with minimal redactions as required by law.”

The approved board’s creation comes after weeks of bargaining between the City of DeKalb, the DeKalb Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #115 and the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council. A tentative agreement was reached Oct. 15, according to city documents. The DeKalb police union already had voted to ratify the proposed revisions in the review board’s creation prior to the council meeting, records show.

The most notable change between the original proposal and the one approved by the city council Monday includes a caveat that the review board’s meetings will not be open to the public.

DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas addressed the concern Monday.

“It boils down to a timing issue: When does the public get to know?” Nicklas said.

Nicklas said having the review board’s meetings conducted behind closed doors instead of in a public format is actually per state law, not the request of police unions. He said city officials initially thought “we could do otherwise.”

Under state law, including the Uniform Police Disciplinary Act and the Illinois Labor Relations Act, personnel matters of city employees must be discussed in closed session, documents state.

Certain records of disciplinary actions and case files could still be made publicly available under state law, however, including through the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act.

Anonymous, oral, unsigned, unsworn or unverified complaints will not be eligible for disciplinary action, according to city documents. The review board will only deliberate over complaints made by those who choose to identify themselves.

Nicklas said that doesn’t mean people can’t make anonymous complaints against police officers, though, and anonymous complaints can be made at any time by anyone today. They won’t be part of the review board’s protocols, however, police department leadership could also take up the investigation themselves, Nicklas said.

Records of disciplinary actions decided on an officer by the review board and the police chief will not be published in a public format until a 30-day period after the decision was made, during which an officer could bring an official appeal to the body. If disciplinary action is not determined necessary for any case, records of the review board’s deliberations would still be made publicly available after that 30-day period, Nicklas said.

The review board will have access to police reports, field notes, body and squad car camera footage and more to determine a case.

The City Council previously tabled a vote on the board’s creation for what it said was the last time during its Oct. 25 meeting. Earlier that day, a man was fatally shot by a DeKalb police officer during a domestic violence call early Monday morning in the 100 block of Tilton Park Drive.