It's a question that's been asked behind the scenes at council. In early September, six council members signed a letter--which the Stranger obtained through a public records request--calling for review board access to unredacted files. The six--absent Labor Relations Policy Committee Chair Jan Drago, Margaret Pageler, and Jim Compton (who says he wasn't asked to sign, but acknowledges he's still wrestling with the issue)--requested that the police contract currently under negotiation stay silent on the issue. If the council members' wish is granted, the old clause detailing the review board's access would be axed, giving the board de facto full file access.
The police union is poised to object. "We're not giving them unredacted files," president Ken Saucier says. He has his own idea for improving the review board's file access--installing software that swaps out officers' real names and inserts pseudonyms, so the files are easy to read, but maintain cop privacy. "The [review board's] problem isn't having unredacted files, the problem is having files that are readable," Saucier says. In fact, Saucier says the police guild passed on Licata's invitation to meet with community activists because it was sitting down with the review board that day to talk software.
The union also objected to the meeting outright, citing the confidentiality of negotiations. In a last-minute letter to Licata, Saucier lambasted council members "who have no respect for the law" and accused them of trying to "hijack the...process."
