with its six-month deadline approaching, the Bernstein Commission prepares to release its much anticipated recommendations on whether to create a police review board

by Joe Tarr

It was a public hearing on the performance of Knoxville's police department, but suddenly the big-wig lawyers and community leaders were talking about something more menacing and straightforward—who has the most guns.

Dewey Roberts, head of Knoxville's NAACP, warned the Bernstein Commission that if they didn't recommend a civilian review board, the city could see serious trouble. The city was on the brink of a riot after Andre Stenson died struggling with police in January, Roberts said. "I dare say it's going to be a long, hot summer, and if something is not done to instill some trust in our community, it's going to be hotter than it needs to be."

Bernard Bernstein—chairman of the commission charged with reviewing the KPD and its policies—bristled at what he saw as a threat.

"I think it would be a mistake not to recognize that the police have more guns than anybody else in town," Bernstein responded.

"That's not true anymore," shot back the Rev. Harold Middlebrook, a black minister lobbying for a review board.

Knoxvillians aren't arming themselves for a shoot-out in the streets. But the talk of guns shows that there are grave political and emotional tensions bubbling beneath a calm that has temporarily graced the city.

Most people are simply waiting for the Bernstein Commission to release its report—due no later than July 15.

The hope is the document will soothe the apprehensions, fears, and angers floating around the issue of whether the Knoxville Police Department needs more community input and oversight.

But so many different groups and people—the police rank-and-file, the activists and ministers lobbying for a review board, City Council, law-and-order-minded citizens, Chief Phil Keith, and the city's young black residents—have a stake or interest in the issue, that it's hard to imagine they can all be reconciled.

The report could touch off a political war, as various groups fight for the ears and votes of City Council—which likely will decide the matter.

The tensions have been building for a while.

Stenson was the third black man to die in a confrontation with white police officers in six months. It touched off an extreme outcry from hundreds of residents.

The protests led Mayor Victor Ashe to appoint the Bernstein Commission. Given a six-month deadline, the 10-member commission has been meeting since January, reviewing department policies and studying various types of review boards.

The Commission has interviewed law enforcement experts, police administrators, psychologists, academics, and activists in public. But all its debate has been behind closed doors—leaving the public little insight into how the Commission is making its decision, who or what has had the most sway, and what each member's views on race, police tactics, civil rights, and the KPD administration might be.

Commission members are now drafting their report but are not speaking about its contents. Commission member Richard Wirtz, dean of UT's College of Law, would only say the recommendations are not unanimous among the members.

The report will likely critique the department's hiring, training, and internal affairs, among other things. And it will say whether the city needs a civilian review board. If the Commission recommends a review board, it will presumably suggest answers to several looming questions: How should members be appointed? How much power should the board have? Should it hire its own investigator, or simply review KPD's work? What complaints or problems should it look at? Who, if anyone, should the board report to—police chief, mayor, City Council?

As the Commission quietly debates its findings in Bernstein's Gay Street office, many wonder whether officials have forgotten the issue.

"In the different places that I go to, people are still asking me what's going on with the civilian review board," says County Commissioner Diane Jordan, who represents East Knoxville. "Some people think it's just died out because they're not hearing much about it. They're thinking maybe we elected officials have just let it go."

"Someone was asking me the other day, 'Hasn't it been six months yet?' [The Bernstein Commission] is hope for them that someone has heard their cries," she says.

The cries have come loudest from black neighborhoods like Jordan's. Black ministers and activists have taken up the cause, trying to organize people in demanding a civilian review board. The issue has strong racial overtones but is not defined entirely by race—many whites complain about police harassment and brutality as well.

Rev. Middlebrook has coordinated a call among black and white churches in pushing for a review board. Middlebrook says there are many good officers on the KPD but adds that there seems to be a systematic difference in the way blacks and whites are treated.

As an example, Middlebrook points to traffic stops. White people are usually put in the squad car if police want to search their car, he says. "When they stop African Americans, in too many instances, they sit the African American down on the ground handcuffed. That's humiliating; that's degrading," he says.

Many white people have also been harassed by police, Middlebrook says. Their complaints have not been as visible because there aren't activist groups like the NAACP or black churches for white people to turn to, he says.

Another group pushing for a review board is Citizens for Police Review, which consists of students, activists, lawyers—both black and white. Takisha Fitzgerald, a member, says she is confident the Bernstein Commission will recommend some type of police over-sight.

"I think there's some great people on the Commission. They've heard arguments from many people," she says. "I would assume, I would hope, they will take these people's concerns into account."

Jordan says failure to recommend some reforms will have its consequences. "There will probably be groups that will begin to police the police," she says.

The NAACP's Roberts says that failure to recommend a review board won't on its own cause violence. But without a review board, another incident like Andre Stenson's could lead to a "situation where people really lose it," Roberts says. "This is a necessity. It needs to happen in order for KPD to be able to work in and with our community. Something has to happen for law enforcement to work in the city."

others believe the police department is working just fine. For them, it is crime-infested neighborhoods and frustrated residents who won't work with the police that are the larger problems.

Elizabeth Harrison says she believes police are being blamed for high crime rates and that people are asking officers to be "superhuman."

"It's easier to say that an agency is responsible for crimes happening in your area than to say, 'We have a problem. We need to address it,'" says Harrison, a white woman who lives in a mixed-race Northeast Knoxville neighborhood. "Crime exists as long as the people who occupy an area allow it to be there."

Harrison trains officers with KPD and the Knox County Sheriff's Department how to understand and communicate with deaf people. She is also a member of the KPD's Community Advisory Committee.

Four years old, the Committee is open to anyone. At the beginning of each year, it has an open call for residents to give their two cents on how the department is doing its job. Committees of interested residents are then formed to look at the main problems identified and develop solutions, says Rhonda Garren, chairwoman of the Committee and community prosecution coordinator for the Knox County District Attorney General.

The Committee wants to improve the KPD but is generally made up of residents who trust the KPD and believe it is doing a good job (though Harrison says there are some members of Citizens for Police Review involved).

Active member Woody Troy, who lives in Timbercrest neighborhood West Knoxville, describes the membership this way: "Not everyone wants to get involved. They'll come out and make complaints, and then you have the dirty dozen who want to get involved. Then there are the others who just want to bitch and moan."

Troy says he's against a review board.

"I think there's one way to run an operation. When you get 10 or more people telling the chief how to run the police department, you get problems," he says. "If Chief Keith is not doing a good job, then the Mayor should get rid of him. But I think Chief Keith is doing a good job."

Harrison won't say whether she supports a civilian review board, but it's obvious she has some reservations.

She worries that such a body will be subject to "political and underground" pressure to vote certain ways. "In my opinion, whoever sits on this citizen review board will be subjected to a lot of pressure by people who want to control the outcome," she says.

As examples of pressure, Harrison points to the elected officials who have urged the Bernstein Commission to take certain actions and to the recent violent attacks on homes of activists fighting to save College Homes housing development.

Although whites have not been as vocal as blacks on the issue, a recent poll suggests many support a review board. Conducted by the News-Sentinel, WBIR-TV, and UT, the poll found 63 percent of whites and 86 percent of blacks favor a review board.

But for other Knoxvillians, the issue has simply faded away. At-large Councilman Nick Pavlis says he hasn't heard any talk about a review board from his constituents in the past six weeks. Initially, people told him they were worried about tinkering with the department.

"A lot of people still believe in the system. They feel that we may not have a perfect system out there, but they're interested in keeping it as it is and maybe adding some more training," Pavlis says.

For police, the issue certainly hasn't gone away. Good or bad—the Bernstein report could impact how they do their jobs.

Sgt. Ed Mitchell, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, is leery about a review board and doesn't think it's needed.

Officers worry about what qualifications or training civilian review board members might have and that the board might be able to overrule decisions made by Chief Keith.

Mitchell says he supports the move by the Bernstein Commission to appoint respected black educator Raleigh Wynn to take complaints from residents and act as a go-between for police.

However, life will go on if the city creates a review board, Mitchell adds.

"Do we think if there's a not a civilian review board, there's going to be a riot? No. Do we think if there is one, there's going to be a blue flu?," says Mitchell, referring to a deliberate police slowdown. "No. There's not enough of us to have a blue flu."

Still, the police may put up a fight against a review board. Speaking for the FOP, Mitchell has asked City Council to let the voters decide the matter through a referendum.

"From what we hear from the majority of the public in all communities, this is something they don't want," he says. "In a democracy, the will of the many is what supposedly prevails."

The group hasn't decided how strongly they'll push for a referendum, Mitchell says.

Just the thought of one alarms many people, who envision a virtual race war at the polls.

"I think that you create a lot more polarization if you do that. You open people up to getting angry again," Middlebrook says. "You're going to make it an us-versus-them situation. You'll have people pitting West Knoxville versus East Knoxville and spending a considerable amount of money to defeat it.

"I don't want to see this community divided. I want to see it starting to come together," he adds.

Mitchell uses this fear to try to refute other assertions by supporters of a civilian review board.

"The proponents of a review board are saying there is community-wide support. They can't have it both ways: [A referendum] will divide the community and there's community-wide support," he says.

There are two ways to get a referendum on the ballot. One is to gather the signatures of 15 percent of the city's registered voters (some 14,500 people) within a 75-day period. A much easier way to get a referendum is to have Council call for one.

Councilwoman Carlene Malone says this is one issue where Council shouldn't pass the buck to voters. "Public opinion is not what every decision should be based on. I don't think we can count on consensus being formed," she says. "This is what we got elected to ponder and decide."

The mayor could appoint his own civilian review board, but it would be limited in power. Boards with any investigative power or resources would have to be approved by Council.

Mayor Ashe advocates a board. But so far only Council members Danny Mayfield and Malone have publicly expressed their support.

Councilwoman Jean Teague says she's waiting for someone to explain what exactly a citizens' review board is. "What is that? Really explain it to me," she says. "I haven't heard a definition of it."

Malone says she doesn't have a feel for how other Council members are leaning. "I have not heard Council members say boo about it. It's just been dead quiet. It's awful to say that."

With the Bernstein Commission deliberating and no recent police confrontations, Council has been given a reprieve from taking action. That will probably end soon, and sides will have to be taken.

"The good news is we haven't had another incident. The bad news is that takes away from the impetus for a review board," Ashe says. "Right now I have two votes on Council [in favor of a review board]."

Has he made any progress toward getting any more?

"No."