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Committee to consider making Citizen Review Board stronger

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte city council committee will discuss giving subpoena power to the Citizen Review Board on Monday.

The Citizen Review Board essentially polices the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Some have demanded a stronger board following recent officer-involved shootings in Charlotte.

The Citizen Review Board was designed to help look into citizen complaints regarding allegations of police misconduct, but for some years, many residents have said it doesn't have enough power to do its job.

Channel 9 checked, and since the board was created nearly 20 years ago, it has never ruled against an officer.

Several groups, including Charlotte City Council, have called for a second look at the board, and some believe it would be more effective if it had the power to subpoena witnesses.

After the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott, CMPD said it will undergo an independent review of its procedures, including a discussion about subpoena power for the board and an internal review of deescalating techniques.

Channel 9 spoke with Willie Ratchford, the community relations committee executive director.

"If they have subpoena power and they receive an appeal from a citizen, if they determine that there were certain witnesses that they needed to speak to or certain records they need access to that they didn't have, then they would subpoena that information and make it part of their investigation," he said.

Leaders will discuss possible changes to the board in an inter-governmental relations committee meeting at 1 p.m. Monday. The committee also plans to talk about the bill regarding police-worn body cameras.

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