Skyler Baldwin | Charleston’s Citizens Police Advisory Council (CPAC), formed in 2020 to give Lowcountry residents a voice in the direction of law enforcement, has halted meetings. The leader of the volunteer group said he took the action after the Charleston Police Department (CPD) put a pause on some of the group’s subcommittee efforts.
Charleston City Council created CPAC in 2020, at the height of national police discourse following the choking death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Floyd’s death inspired nationwide protests, including a night of limited violence in downtown Charleston. That led to reform efforts in several police departments.
“Charleston went through its racial bias audit, and that was just completed last year,” CPAC Chairman Paul Tamburrino said. “Once that report came out, pretty much the city has said, ‘OK, we’re done with that, and now, we move forward.’”
A source familiar with the issue, however, said Charleston City Council members had not heard anything about the future of CPAC. The City Paper reached out to Charleston’s communications director Deja McMillan, but received no response.
But Charleston Police Department (CPD) Public Information Officer Christopher Stinson said, “CPD will continue to engage with the CPAC to make our police department the best in the country. CPD hopes to see reforms in the committee to encourage production of more concrete results in the future.”
Meanwhile, the source said the apparent breakdown in communication about CPAC and transparency in city government was a cause for concern.
“CPAC was formed primarily to help implement the racial bias audit and to serve as a liaison with the community,” the source said. “The council appointed the members, so when … they weren’t meeting anymore, it struck me as something that probably should have gone to council.”
Served its purpose?
Tamburrino said one of the biggest contributing factors, however, could be that the CPAC has fulfilled its original purpose.
“At the time it was created, other communities were doing this, too, and we wanted to do our part — there was more ongoing civil rights discussion when it came to policing,” he said. “But the city of Charleston doesn’t have the same law enforcement issues we were seeing in surrounding communities. The feedback we hear is not [about Charleston police], it’s about problems they’re seeing on the news elsewhere.
“Things are a little more conservative now, so there’s less of the demand for public interaction involving the police,” he added. “When I talked to [Charleston Police Chief Chito Walker], he told me … they’re looking for us to be maybe more of a liaison-type of body. There’s a need for some interaction, but not for being involved in policy development, complaint review or the intrusive pieces of it.”
Tamburrino said that while there’s value in the advisory council, it often felt like the 11-person volunteer group was only present to “check a box.”
The source agreed, saying that while public safety is the largest expenditure of the city budget, and there’s merit in having a CPAC in between the City Council, the police department and the public, it might be a good time to talk about the need for CPAC.
“If you want to reform the commission or repeal the ordinance that created it because the city has moved on, that’s fine,” the source said. “It’s just something that needs to go before council.”
Good intentions, poor optics?
Tamburinno said he believed that there was no ill-intent with the slowing of the CPAC’s responsibilities, but questioned a decision to slowly end communications rather than being forthright about the future of the advisory group.
“We weren’t designed to be law enforcement, and I believe everyone here is well-intentioned,” he said. “The department has been great with us, but their focus is now on other things. But nobody wants to be the mayor, the chief, the City Council who says this is going away,” he said. “My answer to that is, ‘Where were you for the years we were here, and you had no input for us?’
“We’re a volunteer group here, and my time is valuable,” Tamburrino added. “I’m not going to exist just to be a check mark. … The reality is that there’s not a lot of public interaction. We don’t really get a lot of public input on what we do. We try our best, but it’s largely out of sight, out of mind.”
In fact, the source added, it might be time for other boards and commissions to face sunset reviews as well.
“Charleston has tons of boards and commissions,” the source said. “Some are meeting, some aren’t. … This hasn’t appeared on any council agenda yet, but … I’m hopeful that it will be coming up soon if and when it needs to be addressed, and that it can be handled the same as any other commission.”
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