DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) — The Dayton City Commission is considering doing away with its Use of Force Committee and replacing it with a new Use of Force Advisory Committee.
Currently, the city has a seven-member committee with the primary task of hearing appeals from citizen complaint investigations during quarterly meetings.
The newly proposed committee would consist of five members and would review data on police use of force, meeting twice a year.
Critics of the proposal say the new committee would strip away what little power the seven-member committee had.
“When a politician is not brave enough to do something, they form a committee,” said Jared Grandy, former Dayton community-police relations coordinator.
“We know what we should be doing, the problem is that leadership in cities like Dayton, Ohio is not brave enough to institute the change that would make these committees unnecessary.”
On the other hand, supporters of the proposal say this change is necessary to clarify the mission of the committee.
“The committee is being proposed to specifically review police of force data so this ordinance kind of clarifies some of that and really makes it clear that that is the primary objective for this committee,” said Darius Beckham, Dayton mayor’s senior policy aid.
During last week’s city commission meeting, it appeared Commissioners Turner-Sloss and Fairchild were poised to vote no. Commissioners Shaw and Joseph as well as Mayor Mims appeared to be on the yes side.
The Dayton City Commission is expected to meet Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 8:30 a.m.
