By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — A proposal to establish a Civilian Police Review Board failed to win a recommendation for approval Wednesday from the Representative Town Meeting’s Public Protection Committee.

The proposal, which failed on a 5-2 vote, foundered primarily over committee members’ concerns over civilians’ lack of  training to undertake investigations of police and whether the civilian board should have the power to issue subpoenas.

The negative vote during Wednesday’s virtual meeting, however, does not prevent the full RTM from considering the proposal. A first reading of the proposed ordinance is scheduled for next Tuesday’s session of the legislative body, with a final vote in October.

Police Chief Foti Koskinas has questioned the ability of a civilian board to perform investigations related to police complaints, especially to conduct initial interviews at the very beginning of an investigation, which he said are crucial.  

“The investigating officers know the policies and procedures,” the chief said Wednesday. Police have access to body camera videos, statements by officers and the training to interview witnesses. Bringing in civilian reviewers would delay the process right from the start, he said. 

“That is an area that will ultimately hurt the investigation,” Koskinas said. “We have held meeting after meeting of what we should be doing without even recognizing what the actual process really is,” he said. “I am a little disappointed that more people, especially the petitioners … don’t even know the names of the [police] captains involved.”

The proposal for the ordinance-established board was brought before the RTM by a petition signed by more than 20 local voters. The petitioners’ effort was primarily motivated by their concerns about limitations in the authority of a Civilian Review Panel set up by First Selectman Jim Marpe, as well as its members’ potential conflicts of interest.

Several committee members agreed with the chief, questioning how a board of at least three of the five civilian board members could even get together quickly enough to conduct any potential interview. 

“What problem are we solving?” asked RTM member Richard Jaffe, District 1.

Committee member Louis Mall, District 2, agreed. “What is the need for this? … How many cases have we had?” 

Koskinas said there had basically been two complaints lodged against police in the past two years. 

One of the complainants, Jason Stiber, began the process of proposing a civilian police board after he was cited by a Westport police officer in 2018 for distracted driving while using his phone. He contended that he was eating a hash brown from McDonalds and not using his phone, ultimately winning on appeal. Stiber then became the petitioner to create an ordinance for civilian oversight of the police. Stiber could not attend the meeting because of family illness and RTM member Kristan Hamlin, District 4, served as Stiber’s proxy at the meeting. 

“I really don’t think it is about these two complaints,” commented RTM member  Stephen Shackelford, District 8. “There are other people in the community who would like a safety valve. … there are a number of people who support this effort.”

But the absence of petitioners at the meeting or RTM members co-sponsoring the ordinance was noted by Mall. He suggested that at least two RTM members should be co-sponsoring the Civilian Police Review Board proposal with the petitioners to give it validity.

The case to create the board was led at Wednesday’s committee meeting by Hamlin, who said she feared that police administrators might not be objective when judging their peers. She used current police Capt. David Farrell as a hypothetical example, saying someone in his position of authority might not judge a fellow police officer fairly. 

“Say the person who is accused is Capt. Farrell’s closest friend on the department and the interview of the complainant and the police officer is done by Capt. Farrell,” Hamlin said. “There’s got to be some objectivity. It’s human nature to have some implicit bias with people you are close to.” 

Chief Koskinas said he was concerned about Hamlin’s characterization of his officers’ possible lack of objectivity. “I do feel I have to defend Capt. Farrell or whoever is in that position,” he said. 

The chief said he would not assign a police officer to investigate a complaint against that officer’s friends. 

Koskinas said he does not object to the formation of a civilian board for review of police actions in complaint cases, however. “This is by no means to avoid accountability,” the chief said regarding his concerns about the proposed civilian board. “I actually like some of the things proposed.” 

However, he does not agree with the board being involved in investigations of police, disciplining officers and issuing subpoenas, which he called among the “draconian measures that this board is proposing.” 

Hamlin and Koskinas sparred over the same issues last week when the RTM’s Ordinance Committee also considered the proposed Civilian Police Review Board ordinance. The Ordinance Committee voted unanimously Sept. 1 to approve the language of the proposed ordinance in passing it along to the Public Protection Committee.

The Civilian Review Panel appointed by First Selectman Jim Marpe in June 2020 has never had its full five-person membership. Koskinas referred to the panel during the meeting, suggesting that it was successfully taking on the role of reviewing complaints about police. 

Hamlin and committee member Noah Hammond, District 4, voted in favor of recommending adoption of the Civilian Police Review Board ordinance to the RTM, while five other committee members voted against the recommendation and two abstained.