By Caleb Bedillion
Daily Journal
TUPELO – A proposed police advisory board is facing fire from differing directions.
City officials and some local civil rights advocates met Wednesday with a U.S. Justice Department representative to discuss, at least in part, a recent proposal to form a police advisory board in Tupelo.
According to NAACP President Chris Traylor, who helped write the advisory board recommendation, some community members feel the advisory board as proposed is insufficiently independent from the Tupelo Police Department.
Other opponents of the board don’t want to see it formed at all. One such opponent, who sat with Traylor on the committee that studied the possibility of an advisory board, will share his concerns before the City Council next week.
Under current recommendations, a representative of the police department would hold a non-voting seat on the advisory board. This is apparently a point of contention for community members Traylor has spoken with.
“I’ll be honest, I did not have that concern when the document was approved,” Traylor said. “But the citizens have a right when they see what’s going on to state their opinion.”
However, Traylor and other participants in Wednesday’s meeting wouldn’t discuss details of what was discussed or if any solutions were reached.
After a Tupelo police officer shot Antwun “Ronnie” Shumpert in June after Shumpert fled from a traffic stop, some area activists began to demand a civilian review board be formed with oversight of the police department.
Traylor said Shumpert’s death was only a catalyst for long-simmering dissatisfaction.
“The black community feels they are being targeted by the police,” Traylor said. “That’s the reason why everyone is all in an uproar.”
Mayor Jason Shelton responded to calls for a civilian review board with a committee that began to meet in August to study the issue.
That committee, composed of city officials, City Council members and local citizens, voted to recommend an advisory board.
As outlined in the committee’s recommendations, this advisory board falls short of demands for a civilian panel that would independently investigate allegations of police misconduct.
Three working group members opposed the formation of any such board.
One of the three dissents, Pete Sims, presented his opinion to the City Council earlier this week.
Sims will appear before the board again at a meeting Tuesday to press his case against a board.
Oversight of the police department should come from the City Council and mayor’s office, Sims has said.
In a presentation document Sims distributed earlier this week, he urged council members not to “appease and placate groups and individuals who are seeking to damage the community through economic boycotts and the filing of frivolous lawsuits.”
Sims has also urged that a public forum be hosted to allow Tupelo citizens to comment on a potential advisory board.
Shelton has not outright rejected the idea, but has suggested that the public has ample opportunity for input through other venues.
caleb.bedillion@journalinc.com
Twitter: @CalebBedillion