By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – A police watchdog group says unauthorized changes were made to the Civilian Review Board after the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners approved it in April.
The Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression contends 13 changes were made after the board voted. The group had sought the Civilian Review Board, which will investigate complaints of police misconduct.
The Coalition's John Chasnoff says the group has contacted the Missouri Attorney General's office about the alleged changes.
"You can talk in detail about whether the changes improved the bill or weakened the bill, but the fact that these were unauthorized changes is a slap in the face to open government and the citizens of St. Louis," Chasnoff said.
Board of Police Commissioners president Chris Goodson says the discrepancies were brought to the board's attention and they reviewed the meeting's video.
He says there are a few things that should be clarified. Goodson says that will take place at the board's meeting next week.
"These are formal meetings and they're run with a formal order, and so we want to go back and make sure that everything's fair because it needs to be," Goodson said. "This is a public body and an open process and the folks who filed the request are going to get their questions answered."
Goodson says any discrepancies in the language creating the Civilian Review Board or the meeting's minutes were unintentional.