Letter to the Editor: Advocates want action on police transparency bill

Editor’s note: The following was sent to members of the General Assembly on March 10.

We are calling on legislators to act now on police transparency and accountability and pass Senate Bill 149 with the urgency demanded by the community.

It has been almost two years since the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus made commitments to the community to provide law enforcement transparency and accountability. After patiently participating in a year of Law Enforcement Accountability Task Force meetings, we were pleased when SB 149 was introduced. Then, we patiently participated in several months of public SB 149 stakeholder meetings, again with the promise of change attached to them.

We are still advocating for the passage of SB 149. A statewide poll shows that 71% of Delawareans support creating community oversight boards that would investigate and advise on discipline for officers who engage in misconduct, and 68% of Delawareans support making Delaware police officers’ disciplinary records available to the public.

While we support SB 149 as originally introduced, we understand that amendments are forthcoming. That said, there are components of this bill we are unwilling to compromise on:

• Provide public access to serious and substantiated police misconduct records — including records that show conduct unbecoming of a police officer and sexual assault.
• Provide public access to redacted, unsubstantiated police misconduct records.
• Ensure local community oversight boards have subpoena power, investigatory power, disciplinary power and access to both substantiated and unsubstantiated police misconduct records.
• Ensure community oversight board composition cannot include current or former government employees, a current or former government elected official, a current candidate for public office, a current or former employee of a law enforcement agency or an immediate family member of any of the preceding.

We are calling on legislators to publicly support a bill that includes these nonnegotiables and commit to voting yes for SB 149 this session and without further delays. The time is now. We need law enforcement accountability to be passed as soon as possible, without further excuses.

This message is sent on behalf of the following organizations:

People’s PAC-Delaware, Progressive Democrats for Delaware, Community Policy Institute, the Delaware Cannabis Advocacy Network, New Castle County Change-Makers, Delaware Pacem in Terris, Congregation Beth Emeth, Westminster Peace and Justice Work Group, Delaware Center for Justice, Unitarian Universalist Delaware Advocacy Network, Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 21st Representative District Democratic Committee, 26th Representative District Democratic Committee, Delaware United, Wilmington Community Advisory Council, Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice, Delaware Working Families Party, Project New Start, Poor People’s Campaign, Network Delaware, Delaware Democratic Black Caucus, Campaign to End Debtors’ Prison, League of Women Voters, Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, Campaign for Smart Justice, Building People Power and Delaware Campaign for Fair Policing.

Shyanne Miller

Building People Power Campaign manager

Network Delaware