City to Look at Civilian Complaint Review Board

As North Park residents continue to press the City of Long Beach to form a civilian complaint review board, the city is showing signs that it will consider their request.  

City Council President Thomas Sofield said he’ will encourage City Manager Charles Theofan to contact a civilian complaint review board in Ithaca.

“Because that is a diverse community, Cornell University is there and it has a substantial minority community, I’m going to ask Mr. Theofan to contact them and see how that works,” Sofield said at Tuesday’s council meeting.  

Residents raised the issue in the wake of two incidents in recent months in which some believe Long Beach police officers used excessive force, charges that the Long Beach Police Department have denied.

In November, five men were arrested following a fight with police officers in North Park, the city’s predominately black neighborhood, and in January police arrested four suspects after a rowdy crowd had gathered outside Minnesota’s restaurant-bar in the West End.

At a meeting last month, Theofan said that he handles complaints about the police department and takes seriously any allegations of police misconduct or excessive force. The city manager encourages people to send him a written narrative of exactly what happened in any police-related incident and he will investigate it, he said.

Mindy Williams, a North Park resident, is spearheading the call to form the complaint board during the good and welfare sessions at each council meeting.

“I still think that we need something in place so that the citizens can file complaints against the police officers,” Williams said Tuesday. “I don’t think all the complaints should just go to Mr. Theofan.”

Williams informed the council of the complaint board in Ithaca after Theofan had previously said that he was aware of a complaint board in New York City but none in other municipalities, at least on Long Island.

He had said last month that he didn’t believe a such a board was needed in Long Beach since complaints about police are “far and few between.”