Government

Dickson Republican Tell House Committee Cutting COB is Best Practice

THE TENNESSEE TRIBUNE — Representative Mike Curcio repeatedly and mistakenly cited a 2001 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) article.

Published

7 years ago

March 14, 2019

Oakland Post

By Peter White

NASHVILLE, TN — Representative Mike Curcio (R,Dickson) repeatedly and mistakenly cited a 2001 National Institute of Justice (NIJ) article when he spoke last week to the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice and urged them to cut the heart out of Nashville’s Community Oversight Board.

“The standards bill that you have before you was brought out of observed best practices by

A graph from a Department of Justice 2018 report, Civilian Oversight of the Police in Major Cities, shows a wide range of COB powers in 41 U.S. cities.

the National Institute of Justice that has studied such Community Oversight Boards across the country to find out what makes the boards work best,” Curcio said.

The 167-page NIJ article does not list best practices or even discuss them as such. It examines COBs in several American cities but takes a “no one size fits all” approach. It describes various kinds of COBs, their structures, authority, problems of trust between police and communities and very clearly advises that cities have to decide what works best for them when creating a COB.

Members of the National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) represent 146 jurisdictions. Forty-six of them are also members of the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA).

A 2018 article sponsored by the DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) surveyed MCCA members about their COBs. They identified three types: investigation-focused model, review-focused model (16), and auditor/monitor model (4). Twelve reported “other” meaning a hybrid or two separate bodies with oversight authority.

Of 41 MCCA agencies, two reported their COBs had all authorities (see graph), while 39 reported limited COB authority. Twenty-six reviewed discipline and independently investigated complaints and 25 heard citizen appeals. Only 4 COBs had the authority to impose discipline.

Half had the power to investigate use of force complaints and to subpoena records. Seventeen of 41 could subpoena witnesses. A July 2017 Gallup Poll found Black respondents’ confidence in law enforcement was only 30 percent, Hispanic respondents’ was 45 percent, and White respondents’ was 61 percent. Clearly race matters and clearly there is no general consensus on what constitutes “best practice” when it comes to COBs. But there is good reason why most Americans favor them.

“A 2016 CATO Institute poll found that 46 percent of Americans (including 64 percent of African Americans) say the police are “generally not” held accountable for misconduct, and 79 percent of Americans support outside law enforcement agencies conducting these investigations,” the report said.

Last November, Nashville voters approved a Metro Charter Amendment establishing a COB by 59 percent to 41 percent. On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee took up SB 1407, the companion bill to HB 658, approved it, and they will now move to a floor vote in both houses.

Both versions of the bill would block the COB’s ability to independently investigate complaints against police by stripping its power to subpoena witnesses. The bill actually goes further. It disqualifies four COB members who were picked by the City Council from neighborhoods that are considered economically distressed. The bill gives Metro one year to get rid of them. It does not say what will happen if they don’t.

The legislation reads in part: “Prohibits a community oversight board from restricting or otherwise limiting membership based upon demographics, economic status, or employment history.” Oversight Now spokesperson Jackie Sims translates that to mean “no poor black folks need apply”.

“I think they want to get rid of members from communities that are disproportionately impacted by law enforcement. They want to get rid of that so they have what they consider respectable middle-class people on the board,” Sims said.

This article originally appeared in The Tennessee Tribune.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Nashvillian Named NGH Chief Medical Officer

Don't Miss

Knoxville’s Race Riot…100 Years Later

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

2 days ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

NPRC Joins National Grand Jury Proceedings Seeking Accountability, Constitutional Restoration

Organizers state that testimony will explore historical and political developments that they believe have contributed to the expansion of corporate influence over public institutions and governmental decision-making. Participants are expected to discuss concerns regarding constitutional governance, individual liberties, property rights, and the protection of vulnerable populations, including seniors and persons with disabilities.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

Photo by Billie Powers.

Special to The Post

The National Probate Reform Coalition (NPRC) has joined Toll and Roll and a growing coalition of advocacy organizations, victims, whistleblowers, and citizen groups in support of a nationally broadcast People’s Grand Jury proceeding scheduled for July 1 and July 7.

Organizers describe the event as a public forum designed to examine allegations of government abuse, judicial misconduct, legislative failures, and the erosion of constitutional protections affecting millions of Americans.

The proceedings will feature testimony from victims, families, advocates, and organizations from across the country who contend they have experienced harm through government actions, institutional neglect, and failures of oversight.

According to organizers, the People’s Grand Jury will focus on concerns involving probate courts, guardianships, conservatorships, child welfare systems, property rights, civil liberties, and what participants view as a growing disconnect between government institutions and the constitutional rights of the people they are sworn to serve.

NPRC is participating because many of the issues being examined mirror the concerns raised by advocates, victims, and families who have participated in its monthly town halls. For years, families have reported cases involving exploitation of elders, questionable guardianships, estate depletion, denial of due process, and a lack of meaningful oversight within probate court systems.

“This proceeding gives victims and advocates an opportunity to place their experiences on the public record,” said Tanya Dennis, lead facilitator of NPRC. “For too long, families have struggled to have their voices heard regarding elder abuse, probate exploitation, and government inaction. This forum allows those stories to be shared before a national audience.”

In keeping with principles of transparency and fairness, invitations have been extended to legislators, members of the judiciary, law enforcement representatives, and other public officials who may wish to respond to concerns raised during the proceedings or defend actions taken by their respective institutions.

One of the primary outcomes sought by organizers is public consideration and support for the People’s Remedy and Restoration Act, a proposed legislative framework that advocates believe would strengthen oversight, increase accountability, provide remedies for victims of governmental abuse, and restore constitutional protections.

The proceedings are expected to be broadcast nationally, providing citizens throughout the United States an opportunity to observe testimony, review evidence presented, and participate in an ongoing conversation regarding government accountability and the protection of individual rights.

Advocates hope the hearings will encourage meaningful dialogue, legislative reform, and renewed public engagement in the democratic process.

Individuals, organizations, public officials, and members of the media interested in attending or obtaining access information may contact the organizers at tollandroll2025@gmail.com.

As Americans continue to debate the future of constitutional governance, judicial accountability, and the protection of vulnerable citizens, the July proceedings are expected to serve as a significant forum for public testimony and civic engagement. For more information, go to https://tollandroll.com

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Local Civil Rights Attorney, Activist Walter Riley Reveals Life Lessons from 70 Years in the Movement

Widely known in Oakland for his unifying leadership on issues of social justice and human rights, Riley is also recognized for his famous son, Raymond “Boots” Riley, a rap artist, political activist, and successful filmmaker, whose latest film, “I Love Boosters,” is now in theaters and capturing national attention.

Published

2 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

Walter Riley. Courtesy photo.

By Ken Epstein

Prominent civil rights attorney and activist Walter Riley recently went on radio station KPFA 94.1 to discuss his new book co-authored with local veteran organizer Jesse Strauss: “Civil Rights and Structural Attacks: Conversations with Walter Riley.”

Born in North Carolina, Riley has lived in San Francisco, Chicago, and Detroit, but his longtime home is Oakland, California.

Over the years, he was a leader in the South against Jim Crow, participated as a student in the historic 1968 San Francisco State University strike that created Black Studies and Ethnic Studies in the U.S. and scored victories in the fight for open college admissions.

He was also a labor organizer and was involved in early Black Panther Party formations, anti-war protests, and was a leader of the Progressive Labor Party, a pro-Mao, Marxist Leninist party.

In an interview on KPFA’s “Upfront” with host Brian Edwards-Tiekert on June 18, he discussed some of his formative experiences, born in 1944 to a family of sharecroppers who worked on a tobacco farm near Durham, North Carolina.

“I came from a farming family, the ninth child of 11 children,” Riley said. “My mom and dad got married as teenagers, and they were together for their entire lives. Growing up in this large family, we had to deal with various aspects of what it meant to live in an economically depressed area with parents who had come through what they called “Hoover times” (the Great Depression) in the South.

“They were proud of every one of their children when they took some stand, to develop and show some sense of dignity,” he said.

In his neighborhood, slavery was not a distant memory. There are many people “who knew firsthand what it was to have family members that had lived as enslaved people and lived in communities where enslaved people had lived.

“(Under tenant farming), the landowner negotiated for the entire family: the farmer, the wife, the children – everybody was involved on the farm. Kids were often engaged. We had to shovel, hoe tobacco to keep the weeds from taking over, to make sure that tobacco worms didn’t eat up the tobacco. If a child was old enough to plow, they would walk behind a horse or mule and plow a field, working from sunup to sundown,” he said.

The houses did not have indoor bathrooms, running water or electricity. “A lot of the names in the Black community were the same names as these slave owners. We could see the names of folks on the streets, street names of people who had enslaved people, and they were symbols to me of a world that did not see me as a human being, that has not treated my ancestors as humans, has treated us as chattel to be sold, to be owned, to be property,” Riley said

“When we were counted by our government, we were counted only for the purposes of allowing white people, white men, to have a vote.”

By 1950, when he was 6 years old, his family moved to another house, leaving tenant farming. His father took a job in construction.

“My parents wanted the younger kids to have education,” he continued. “The older kids had to work on the farms. By the time I came along, I was the second child born in a hospital. “My parents looked forward to younger kids to have more sense of independence from the economic and social depravities that they saw around them.”

Watching television, he became aware of the suffering under Jim Crow, including the lynching in Mississippi of Emmett Till in 1955 and Mack Parker in 1959.

When he was 13, he joined a picket line in town in front of a variety store chain that did not hire Black people and became active in the Civil Rights Movement. By time he was in high school, he had become a leader in the local chapter of the NAACP and met Malcolm X and later Medgar Evers, leaders who were both assassinated.

Married and with a child, he moved with his family in the early 1960s to San Francisco, attending San Francisco State University while working full time.

He participated in the San Francisco State University strike, the longest student strike in U.S. history, where students and their supporters prevailed in the face of mass arrests and daily violent police attacks.

While many people remember the strike for its historic victory – the creation of the first Black Studies and Ethnic Studies programs in the country. “But open admissions was the thing,” he said. “Open admissions had to do with people being able to go to school for free. People should be able to go to school just because they come here and say, ‘I want to go to school. I want an education’ (because) we live in a rich country.”

Studying Marxism, including dialectical materialism, he gradually began to understand structure of the system that needs to be changed, he said. “It requires a lot of study, and it still does.”