The MNPD has been in the news a lot lately. Recently, retired Lt. Garet Davidson released a 61-page complaint outlining alleged MNPD abuses, including how high-ranking officers intentionally sought to dismantle the Community Oversight Board (COB), now known as the Community Review Board after state Republicans abolished the COB in 2023.
The City Cast Nashville podcast had the opportunity to interview Community Review Board chair Alisha Haddock about police accountability, the importance of community oversight, how the Community Review Board works, and the recent allegations concerning police misconduct and their efforts to undermine the COB.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Why was the Community Oversight Board created initially?
"It was originally created because an MNPD officer shot and killed a young man named Jocques Clemmons. That was in 2017. A few months later, there was another police shooting, of Daniel Hambrick.
Community oversight in Nashville had been in the works for decades. These deaths propelled us to go through the measures to establish a board. Signatures were gathered, it was on the ballot, and the people spoke: Over 134,000 people voted for the amendment, over 60 percent of Davidson County voters. Their votes sent a clear message that the COB was needed and something people wanted. And so we were able to get that oversight in Nashville, and we've been the better for it since then."
How is the Community Review Board different from the COB?
"Before we had investigative power, we could make disciplinary recommendations for officers. We would investigate a problem and recommend the disciplinary action so it wasn't the police policing themselves.
The investigations were fair, honest, transparent. And now that has been taken away from the board.
We still take complaints like we normally do, but the work has stalled because we cannot review the cases in their totality because the MNPD is holding records. It is causing a backlog in our work."
Why is having community-led police oversight so vital?
"Everybody across the world saw what happened to George Floyd. It's etched in our memories. You can see that scene on that curb of George Floyd dying because an officer had his knee on his neck, and he said that he could not breathe.
We cannot have that in Nashville. With oversight, and the type of oversight we built, we can deter some of these egregious actions and help spark good behavior from MNPD officers. There are some good officers out there.
We serve the residents of Nashville. It does not matter what color you are, your religion, where you live, or even whether you’re a police officer. We want to address all complaints in the most confidential manner possible because of the history of retaliatory behavior behind the blue wall.
Every citizen has a right to be safe in their neighborhoods, communities, and in public. The culture behind that thin blue wall has to change."
Tune into the podcast to hear more about the recent allegations against the MNPD.
