The Little Rock mayor and city attorney "have discussed a working draft" of an ordinance that would set up an independent citizen review board overseeing the Police Department, but no further details were made public as of Friday.
When asked Friday if a draft was available, a spokesman for Mayor Frank Scott Jr. said in a text message that it "may not be ready for public review." The spokesman said Scott and City Attorney Tom Carpenter were considering details to be implemented, and once finalized it would be added to the board's agenda.
The city did not respond to a state Freedom of Information Act request for a draft by the close of business Friday.
Several city directors said Friday that they had not yet been provided with copies of the draft, and it was not listed on an agenda for the board's meeting on Tuesday available on the city's website. The earliest the ordinance could be put to a vote is April 2; the city board has meetings where it sets its voting agenda every other week.
Scott added urgency to his call for a citizen review board at the close of a city board meeting on Tuesday, telling the city attorney he wanted a draft ordinance on his desk by Friday. Twenty-one people spoke for more than an hour about the fatal February shooting of Bradley Blackshire by Little Rock police officer Charles Starks during the meeting's "citizen communication" portion, pleading for change and justice.
The mayor called for a citizen review board during the campaign that led to his election on Dec. 4, and repeated that call at a press conference in the days after Blackshire's death on Feb. 22. From the dais Tuesday, he said the review board would deal with police misconduct and brutality.
Metro on 03/23/2019