ANOTHER VIEWPOINT: A good faith effort toward fixing longstanding problems

<p>Those who have waited in vain for South Bend to establish a civilian review board might turn their attention to Indianapolis, which recently announced its intention to create such oversight.</p><p>Earlier this month, in the wake of two fatal police shootings, came the announcement of a proposal for a use-of-force review board that will include civilian participation —making it one of the last big cities to do so.</p><p>According to a story in the Indianapolis Star, the review board would include merit-ranked officers and civilians who are appointed by the police chief. The mayor, city-county council president and members of the police department would each be given one nomination.</p><p>Civilian appointees would go through training, including on the Indianapolis Metro Police Department’s general orders.</p><p>In a statement, the Fraternal Order of Police said it awaited the specifics of the proposal but was not opposed to civilian oversight.</p><p>What’s unclear is how many people would serve on the board, whether they would serve terms and for how long such terms would last.</p><p>Police departments across the county have varying levels of civilian oversight, and there is no one way to set up such a system.</p><p>A common goal is to increase trust between residents and police.</p><p>For years now, members of this community — activists, public officials, this editorial board — have advocated for a review board in South Bend. The idea has never taken hold, mostly because it has lacked mayoral support, past and present. That’s a shame, because it could create a more open process — one that might well exonerate officers as well as educate the public about some of the situations that the police face on a daily basis.</p><p>In the past, Mayor James Mueller has raised the possibility of creating a “community advisory board,” which would operate separately from the city’s Board of Public Safety, which handles officer discipline and whose members are appointed by the mayor.</p><p>The Star story quoted a Republican city official addressing attempts to heal the rift between law enforcement and the community: “I don’t think there’s a secret formula to wave a magic wand and we’re all okay now.”</p><p>In fact, establishing a civilian review board is no cure-all — just a good faith effort toward digging in and committing to doing the work to address longstanding problems.</p>