At its meeting on July 28, 2020, Town Council adopted Resolution 20-07-02, stating its desire to establish a Community Policing Advisory Committee for the purpose of: (a) advising the Town Council, Town Manager, and Town Police on matters related to police-community relations, police training, and police protocols; (b) improving public trust of police by increasing communication and transparency, (c) raising awareness about racial injustices in policing, (d) promoting public education on policing matters, and (e) promoting the fair and equal treatment of all citizens by the police.

Resolution 20-07-02 directed staff to prepare, in collaboration with interested citizens, an ordinance creating the Community Policing Advisory Committee, describing its purpose, its membership, and its scope of authority, and further directed staff to advertise said ordinance for public hearing on September 8, 2020, or as soon thereafter as practicable.  In accordance with Council’s direction, Town staff reached out to interested citizens through a press release, and received expressions of interest from 36 community members, all of whom received a written copy of the proposed purpose, mission, powers, and duties of the committee.  Four such interested citizens provided written comment to the proposed document, and Town staff revised the document to accommodate both council and citizen comments, and to ensure orderly governance and compliance with state law.

Legally required notice of the public hearing to receive comments on the creation of this committee, its mission, purpose, and authority, was published in the August 21, 2020 and August 28, 2020 editions of the Loudoun Times Mirror.

Staff’s recommended regulations governing the committee are contained in the draft ordinance, attached to this staff report.

1.      As drafted, the Ordinance limits membership to residents of the Town, and business owners or business managers of businesses located in the Town.  The Council should consider whether it wants to allow for appointment of persons who may not meet these two criteria, but who have extraordinary expertise in the field of law enforcement, criminal justice, or community policing.

2.      As drafted, it is unclear how the committee works with the police department.  For example, if the committee were to receive a complaint about the police, what would they do with it?  The committee will have the “appearance of authority” to the public, and the public will assume that by speaking to members of the committee, they have properly submitted their communication to the Town.

Council should address this, and staff will revise the ordinance accordingly.  If this situation were to occur, staff recommends that the committee be obligated to promptly share the complaint or communication with not only the Town Council, but also the Town Manager and the Chief of Police, since the Town Manager and Chief of Police can direct prompt response and remedial action in response to the complaint.  In contrast, Town Council can direct action only on legislative matters and only at a public meeting, which occurs relatively infrequently. 

Because this is a public hearing, no motion is ordinarily adopted.  In order to take action on the night of a public hearing, the Council must first suspend its rules of procedure.