Video: Citizens Police Advisory Board Ready For Nominations After Meetings, Discussions And Debate

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – It has been a busy 9 and a half months for NAACP President Chris Traylor and second vice president A B Dilworth.

On Father’s Day weekend, Ronnie Shumpert was shot and killed by Tupelo Police Officer Tyler Cook.  Shumpert ran from officers after his car was stopped for traffic violations.  He was found by Officer Cook and his K9, hiding in this crawlspace under a house on Harrison Street.  An investigation by the MBI showed Shumpert came out, attacking the K9 and Officer Cook.  A grand Jury Cleared Officer Cook of any wrongdoing.

However, the incident brought to light what many said were major problems between the police and the African American community.   That’s what led to a proposal for a citizen’s police advisory board.

Pastor Traylor was part of a committee whose task was to come up with a proposal for the advisory board.  The nine member board will act as a liasion between the community and police department,  they will help identify problems and address opportunities for improvement from the community to the police department and the board will help develop partnerships between the community and police department.

Initially, calls were made for the group to have subpoena power, but Pastor Traylor says that is not possible for any advisory board.

“We’re not above the law, we have to abide by the law, we couldn’t get subpoena power.  Anything you do in life you will have a group that’s not happy and a group that’s happy but you got to bring both of those groups together and sit down and work out good and bad and move forward,” Pastor Traylor said.

That’s what Mayor Jason Shelton believes has happened as a result of the events this past summer.  He says issues that needed to be discussed have been brought to light.

“For example, community oriented policing, last summer we were told we weren’t doing enough and again, a perceived problem is a real problem, reality is we’re doing hundreds of community oriented events every year we just have to do a better job of informing the public and inviting the public,” Mayor Shelton said.

The next step is to form the citizens police advisory board.  It will have nine members,  They will meet every month,  members must be a resident of the city of Tupelo,  they have to pass a background check,  they can’t have any civil or criminal action against the city and they must attend and graduate the Citizens Police Academy within one year  after they are appointed.

The City Council approved the ordinance. Members will be selected from each ward, with two at large positions.  It takes 30 days for an ordinance to become effective.