South Bend’s Community Police Review Board voted secretly last week, against the advice of their attorney. It was yet another problem with an initiative that’s struggled painfully for over four years to get off the ground.
The city’s common council has been trying to seat the 9-member citizen Community Police Review Board since 2020. First the effort was delayed when former city Clerk Dawn Jones hired a board director who had his own long disciplinary record when he was an Indianapolis police officer.
He quit more than three years ago over the controversy but the council hadn’t appointed the final two members until a meeting on Thursday.
But at that same meeting, the South Bend Tribune reported on Monday, the board voted by secret ballot on some citizen complaints against officers. That, despite the board’s attorney, Bob Masters, telling them they would be violating Indiana’s Open Door Law, which prohibits secret voting by a public body in a public meeting.
Board member Donna McMahon said she wants the votes secret because she worries that people could retaliate against board members. But board member Cheryl Ashe disagrees, saying members should know they take on that risk when agreeing to serve.
"If you are really worried about being retaliated against then you need to rethink your position about staying on the board," Ashe said. "We've got to follow the law."
