Antioch has taken step one to convey the hiring and firing of its police chief below the Metropolis Council’s management and away from town supervisor.
The transfer got here every week after a scandal broke out within the division when the FBI, which had been investigating officers for different issues, discovered racist and homophobic textual content messages involving 23 Antioch officers. The messages dated again to 2019 and led to January 2022 when their cellphones had been seized – a number of months earlier than Steven Ford was employed as interim police chief. He was given the everlasting position in November.
The Antioch council presently oversees solely town lawyer and metropolis supervisor, and would first want to vary town municipal code earlier than taking on the supervision of the chief, Metropolis Lawyer Thomas Lloyd Smith mentioned. The chief’s contract must be thought of as nicely, he mentioned.
“Metropolis Councils are granted huge latitude in figuring out how a metropolis might be administered and operated,” Smith mentioned, noting that in some cities the council appoints division heads, together with the chief who then instantly studies to the council.
The concept to switch the facility to the council dates again to 2021, and it was mentioned after that, however Smith mentioned it “by no means got here to full fruition.”
Residents had been combined on whether or not the change was a good suggestion.
“I actually don’t suppose one particular person, town supervisor, ought to have the facility to rent or fireplace the chief,” Leslie Might mentioned. “I believe the chief must have an open relationship with town council the place you may talk.”
Sandy Hartrick disagreed, saying there must be checks and balances.
“I really feel like when you guys take over the hiring, firing and administration of the police division, you're controlling all the facility,” she mentioned.
“So lots of the actions that I see on the market generally are inclined to make me imagine that we’re shifting away from a normal legislation metropolis, which is what we're based mostly on, right into a constitution metropolis the place you guys make the legal guidelines, you implement the legal guidelines and also you resolve who's in energy of the legislation,” Hartrick added.
Former police officer and former Councilman Ralph Hernandez additionally mentioned “positively no,” questioning why the council would wish to tackle much more accountability when some members earlier had requested for added administrative assist.
However Mayor Lamar Thorpe clarified that the council had agreed in 2020 to altering the hiring course of for the police chief.
“All of us agreed to that, as a result of we would like it extra public. I used to be an enormous advocate, earlier than there was a chief employed, about guaranteeing that that contract was ratified by town council as a result of I wish to guarantee that the chief of police of town understood that there was additionally a stage of accountability as much as this stage,” he mentioned.
However the metropolis lawyer later decided it couldn’t simply be in regards to the hiring course of alone, he mentioned.
Opposite to rumors on social media, the proposed restructuring was mentioned months earlier, and one thing the present chief knew was within the works, Thorpe mentioned. He urged individuals to cease personalizing the transfer, saying, “This isn't about Chief Ford.”
“That is about accountability,” the mayor mentioned. “And in the present day, I don’t understand how anybody can argue towards this, as a result of we’re seeing why we want accountability.”
In help of the restructuring, Mayor ProTem Tamisha Torres-Walker mentioned in her expertise, metropolis managers haven't overseen the actions of the police chief, “which is their job.”
“The police chief runs a metropolis division, not a small city or democracy of his or her personal. It's a metropolis division that's purported to be managed.”
However whereas town council would supervise, it could not do the chief’s job, Torres-Walker mentioned.
“We don’t run town, town supervisor does although town supervisor studies on to the council, nor will we be working the police division as a result of that's the job of the police chief.”
Councilman Mike Barbanica, although, mentioned he thought it was a mistake to restructure.
“The rationale I believe it is a mistake is that the police division’s not an extension of a political arm,” he mentioned. “We're the political make-up of this neighborhood. The police chief, there must be a buffer between politicians and people out imposing legal guidelines. …This can set coverage for years and years to return.”
Councilwoman Monica Wilson mentioned the occasions of the previous weeks show that there must be a direct line between the council and the chief so councilmembers can concentrate on points reminiscent of racist texts, which had gone unchecked for years.
“We're not going to supervise the police division. We simply need that direct line,” she mentioned.
With three council members in favor — Barbanica and Ogorchock had been opposed — Thorpe directed workers to return with an ordinance the council might think about.
“And to me, the selection may be very easy. Maintain doing the identical factor and be on the facet of racism or be on the facet of social justice. It’s that easy,” he mentioned.