GALVESTON - In a November 2, 2008 story in the Galveston County Daily News, reporter Leigh Jones writes about the continuing saga of the so-called civilian review board.
Seems one of the persons appointed to serve on the board has had his share of problems with the police department in the distant past. The rules say if one is a convicted felon he or she may not be a member of the review board.
A search of police records does not indicate that Leon Phillips, II, the person in question, has ever been convicted of a felony. In fact, we haven't found that he has even been convicted of a misdemeanor. We didn't check the traffic courts, but who cares.
The police department says it is still checking. In the computer age that should only take seconds, but in this case it's taking longer.
We say, who cares? Put Leon Phillips on the so-called civilian review board which actually is a 'police review board.' They prefer to call it a 'civilian review board' so it won't seem they are doing what they are actually doing, reviewing the police. But since the members of the board are civilians, they use that to soften the blow to the police and those who oppose police review boards.
Let Leon Phillips on the board. Everyone knows Leon Phillips. Everyone knows that Leon Phillips would probably be against the police in most instances. He is a longtime community activist, his opinions on most things, including the police, are widely known, and most of his opinions are taken with a grain of salt.
Bear in mind, this police review board only reviews police cases that are referred to them by the police chief, then they make recommendations to him on what action to take with the case. The chief need not do what they recommend and the other members of the review board need not agree with Phillips.
So who cares if he's on the board. Record or no record, at least everyone will know what to expect from him. It's good to know who your enemies are.
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