9 months ago
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Birmingham’s new Public Safety Advisory Committee, or PSAC, met for the first time on Thursday.The brief, seven-minute meeting simply established its operation and set meeting times for every third Thursday of the month at 5 p.m. This day has been in the works since the end of 2020.That's when a Public Safety Task Force recommended a Civilian Review Board in the wake of George Floyd's death.The board was formed the following spring, but never met.Two and a half years later, the city is reviving the panel under a new name with one new member, former governor Don Siegelman.“The goal is to see how we can allow communities to be able to have a second apparatus or a second look at what they felt were negative interactions or even positive interactions with the police department,” Uche Bean with the Division of Social Justice and Racial Equity said.Thursday, she explained how some legal obstacles forced them to put the mission on hold and regroup before this relaunch.We asked about some of the community’s growing frustration with the lack of meetings over the last 29 months.“I understand their frustration, but I think that we are all working towards a positive endpoint, and I think that's where we are now. So, I can't really speak to the past, but I can definitely speak to the future, and we are moving in the right direction,” Bean said.The Rev. Eric Hall, with the local chapter of Black Lives Matter, has been very vocal about the previous Civilian Review Board’s lack of action.During Thursday’s meeting, he insisted they move the meeting time from 1:00 until the evening to allow more of the working citizens in Birmingham to attend. “We don't need to be meeting just to be meeting, but we need some results in this city and we need some true reform to the policies and the practices of Birmingham police,” Hall said.The committee agreed to shift to the regular 5 p.m. monthly meeting time.The panel can hire an investigator and mediator to handle complaints.They will only review concerns that are not currently under investigation by police internal affairs or are pending in court.If you would like to file a complaint or compliment against the Birmingham Police Department, click on this link to take you directly to the PSAC’s website.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. —
Birmingham’s new Public Safety Advisory Committee, or PSAC, met for the first time on Thursday.
The brief, seven-minute meeting simply established its operation and set meeting times for every third Thursday of the month at 5 p.m.
This day has been in the works since the end of 2020.
That's when a Public Safety Task Force recommended a Civilian Review Board in the wake of George Floyd's death.
The board was formed the following spring, but never met.
Two and a half years later, the city is reviving the panel under a new name with one new member, former governor Don Siegelman.
“The goal is to see how we can allow communities to be able to have a second apparatus or a second look at what they felt were negative interactions or even positive interactions with the police department,” Uche Bean with the Division of Social Justice and Racial Equity said.
Thursday, she explained how some legal obstacles forced them to put the mission on hold and regroup before this relaunch.
We asked about some of the community’s growing frustration with the lack of meetings over the last 29 months.
“I understand their frustration, but I think that we are all working towards a positive endpoint, and I think that's where we are now. So, I can't really speak to the past, but I can definitely speak to the future, and we are moving in the right direction,” Bean said.
The Rev. Eric Hall, with the local chapter of Black Lives Matter, has been very vocal about the previous Civilian Review Board’s lack of action.
During Thursday’s meeting, he insisted they move the meeting time from 1:00 until the evening to allow more of the working citizens in Birmingham to attend.
“We don't need to be meeting just to be meeting, but we need some results in this city and we need some true reform to the policies and the practices of Birmingham police,” Hall said.
The committee agreed to shift to the regular 5 p.m. monthly meeting time.
The panel can hire an investigator and mediator to handle complaints.
They will only review concerns that are not currently under investigation by police internal affairs or are pending in court.
If you would like to file a complaint or compliment against the Birmingham Police Department, click on this link to take you directly to the PSAC’s website.
English (US)