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More than 130 apply to serve on new Tampa police review board

 
Published Oct. 16, 2015

TAMPA — More than 130 people have applied to serve on Tampa's new police review board, including the president of the Hillsborough County branch of the NAACP, the CEO of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, a prosecutor-turned-private attorney and several civic activists.

Thursday was the deadline to apply for the Citizens Review Board, which will have nine regular members and two alternates.

NAACP president Dr. Bennie Small said he hopes to serve so the perspective of black Tampa residents gets the weight it deserves as the board considers allegations about the use of force and officer misconduct.

"We recommended that everyone who wanted to apply (do so) so the mayor and City Council would have a diverse group to choose from," he said.

Bob Rohrlack said he was applying to the review board as a Tampa citizen, not as the chamber's president and CEO.

"I want to serve and be a part of the solution, not a sideline observer," Rohrlack told the Tampa Bay Times in a text message.

Attorney Lee Atkinson said he would bring a range of experience to the board. He was a state and federal prosecutor in Tampa, but he has also worked as a criminal defense attorney. He won a conviction against the man who in 1988 shot and killed rookie Tampa police Officer Porfirio Soto.

Atkinson said he also might be the lone bay area prosecutor in the past 30 years to bring criminal charges against a police officer accused of using excessive force. The officer, Jay Canals, was fired by the Tampa Police Department. At trial, he was acquitted of a felony aggravated battery charge that in 1990 he climbed atop a police cruiser and used a nightstick to beat Thomas Copeland in the head. A jury found Canals guilty of misdemeanor battery.

The review board is expected to begin meeting in December, after members chosen by the mayor and City Council have passed background checks, attended the Police Department's citizens academy and spent at least nine hours riding with officers in all three patrol districts.

The board will review closed internal affairs cases involving use of force and police pursuits along with other matters of public concern at the Police Department. It will make recommendations for change to the department.

"My hope is that the mayor and the council choose people who the community know and respect," said East Tampa Business and Civic Association CEO Dianne Hart, who applied to the review board. "I think that will do a great deal toward moving this along."