New London ― The city may be soon transitioning to a Civilian Police Review Board as its Police Community Relations Committee remains in limbo.

Relations committee Chairwoman Kat Goulart said the committee has not held a meeting since August 2021.

Right now it has six members― four civilian members, one council liaison and one police union representative― the minimum to hold quorum.

Goulart said she had to fight to get new members after the “mass exodus” last year, when six members of the committee submitted their resignations, citing cyberbullying and intimidation by members of the New London police union.

With the committee now having just the minimum number of six members, Goulart said if just one person can not attend a meeting, the group cannot meet. She said the committee has a “habitually non-participating member” who she would not name.

“I lost my patience,” said Goulart who has been president of the relations committee for the past four years, serving two terms. Goulart said she has had to keep scheduling meetings that would end up getting canceled at the last minute and she would end up sitting in an empty room in case any member of the public showed up.

Goulart said the committee has worked to “build bridges” between the community and police and been reviewing complaints against police to ensure procedures have been followed.

However, she said it has had no say in disciplinary actions against officers.

She said the entire point of a transition to a civilian police review board has been to give more authority to the review board than the Police Community Relations Committee now has.

A civilian police review board was one of the recommendations by the Public Safety Policy Review Committee, a group that created a report after it reviewed policies and practices at the police department with the goal of providing more police accountability and community oversight of the department.

The impetus for the committee’s scrutiny of the department was the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis in 2020. The review committee started meeting in June 2021 based on an idea spearheaded by Mayor Michael Passero and Connecticut College.

Passero on Monday said the first step to getting a review board was to include it in a contract with the police union, and it was when the police union and City Council approved a tentative agreement in February.

Mentioned in the agreement, a Police Civilian Review Board would maintain its advisory role but would be able to escalate any unresolved issues by sending concerns to the mayor’s office for review and even a possible formal hearing.

The new board would be composed of seven members — three chosen by the mayor, three by the council and one from the police union. Members would be subject to “a cursory background check,” with the police union allowed to give testimony on why a person should or should not be appointed.

There would be prerequisite training for the board members about modern police practices, and any board member found to be working against the improvement of police community relations is subject to a review and potential hearing before the mayor’s office, City Council safety committee and police union to determine if the individual should be removed from the board.

The requirements come as the result of criticism from police union members who alleged some members of the Police Community Relations Committee had a clear anti-police bias.

Passero said the city’s law director has drafted an ordinance and it is being reviewed by the city’s police union. After it is reviewed, it will go to the city council for a vote.

“I’m pleased to check off another box of goals set by the commission,” he said. “It is an important step forward.”

Councilor Efraín Dominguez said the council is going to hold off on appointing anyone to the existing relations committee until a decision has been made to establish the civilian review board. He said there are a few residents that have already applied to be on the review board and would be considered for appointment once it is in place.

Goulart said some of the relation committee’s current members have applied to become members of the review board. Goulart said she has not applied because she does not believe she would be appointed.

She said a review board can be an improvement on the committee as long as there is a good balance of people, all parties are represented and community outreach is involved.

j.vazquez@theday.com