Tension Between Community Oversight Board and MNPD Follows Years of Resistance

The idea of civilian oversight of Nashville's police faced resistance from Metro officials as soon as it emerged.

Calls for some sort of citizen review board have been coming from black activists for decades, starting at least as far back as the early 1970s when police violence against black youth riled the community. 

But the Community Oversight Board that is now in place is the result of a more recent effort that began in 2017, and faced opposition right away. Then-Mayor Megan Barry would not get on board and the police department opposed the idea outright. In 2018, legislation to create such a board died in the Metro Council. Activists moved on to a petition drive, seeking to force a citywide referendum on the issue. They succeeded and moved onto a referendum fight during which they faced opposition from Mayor David Briley, the police department and the police union. Despite all that, voters approved the idea. Even after that victory, the Fraternal Order of Police went to court in a failed attempt to have the result overturned. 

Now that the board is in place, though — and as the COB and Metro Nashville Police Department work to hammer out a memorandum of understanding — its leaders say they have come up against a lack of cooperation from the MNPD. At a board meeting last week, the board's executive director William Weeden described Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson and the department as unwilling to fully participate in the process. He detailed apparently unnecessary difficulty in adding the COB to a list of Metro departments that are immediately notified of critical incidents involving the police, as well as resistance from the department to supplying certain records. 

Seeking to apply "maximum pressure" on the MNPD and other Metro leaders, board members voted to call a special meeting tonight and to invite Anderson and Briley, among others, to attend and discuss the issue publicly. 

Not surprisingly, perhaps, that's not going to happen. 

Anderson will not attend, and in a lengthy document pushing back on the COB's claims, department spokesperson Don Aaron says "the police department is dismayed by public statements from Community Oversight Board representatives concerning record and notification requests." He details the chief's meetings with Weeden and argues that some records requests have been denied because of ongoing investigations and that others are simply too voluminous to fulfill. Aaron also indicates that the matter of including the COB in emergency callouts has been resolved. You can read that document here. 

Briley spokesperson Thomas Mulgrew tells the Scene that the mayor "believes it’s best for Mayor-elect Cooper to weigh in on procedures moving forward between the COB and MNPD." 

Cooper will not attend the meeting either, but his spokesperson Katie Lentile says this: "John Cooper is continuing to focus on a smooth transition to the office of Mayor. The co-chair of his transition team is planning to attend the meeting and take notes. John looks forward to meeting with the COB Executive Director and board once he is in the office of the mayor. It’s important to get the relationship right between the COB and MNPD, and Mayor-elect Cooper is intent on making it work."

The board will meet tonight at 4 p.m. in the jury assembly room at the Metro Courthouse.