On March 21, the 151st General Assembly introduced a substitute bill to replace Senate Bill 149, the bill that would have historically reformed Delaware’s Law-Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights (LEOBOR).
Despite a good sell in the coverage (“Amended Delaware police-records bill aims to create transparency for public,” March 22), the new bill, Senate Substitute 1 for SB 149, doesn’t make meaningful reform. In fact, it does the opposite: cementing secrecy and taking community oversight boards out of the hands of the community. If this bill passes, not only does it represent a missed opportunity for true police reform, we could be making police-community relationships even worse.
Seventy-one percent of Delawareans support creating community oversight boards that would investigate and advise on discipline for officers who engage in misconduct, and 68% making Delaware police officers’ disciplinary records available to the public. In its original form, SB 149 would have accomplished both meaningful reforms. The substitute doesn’t even come close.
The bill undermines the very purpose of community oversight boards — allowing communities to oversee the police who serve them — by giving just one primary state board controlled by our state’s top law enforcement office, the attorney general, power to oversee any other community oversight board. This would leave local boards without any meaningful oversight power. The substitute bill also continues to keep police disciplinary records secret, offering only a small number of records for public access. Powerless community oversight boards controlled by law enforcement and continued secrecy of police misconduct will exacerbate tension and distrust between community members and law enforcement.
This substitute bill doesn’t reform LEOBOR. It’s not a compromise. It’s a mirage that breaks the promises our lawmakers made to protect our communities with true, meaningful police reform. Why are members of the General Assembly prioritizing the comfort of law enforcement over the voices of their constituents?
Cyndie Romer
Delaware Campaign for Fair Policing
