TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A bill that would ban law enforcement citizen review boards in Florida is moving ahead in Tallahassee.

Senate Bill 576 would prohibit municipalities from establishing citizen review boards that have oversight powers over "investigations of complaints of misconduct by law enforcement or correctional officers."

Proponents of the bill — which passed out of the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee this week by a vote of 6-2 — say it would make investigations into law enforcement more uniform across the state. 

Richard Crabtree served as a member of the Orlando’s citizen's police review board for five years before the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the goal of the bill came as a surprise to him.

“I think it is an egregious error," he said. "The community deserves to have civilian oversight and the police chief deserves to have an independent body that can make recommendations to him on what they see, because we are never going to see it as a policeman does.”

Aside from that, Crabtree said he appreciated being able to touch base with leadership at the Orlando Police Department.

“I enjoyed being able to discuss with the chief of police and the internal affairs officers what was going on," said Crabtree.

He said the work the board did was important, not just for the department, but for the community as a whole.

“We would review the cases after internal affairs has completed their review of any officer involved activity and we would look at did the investigation seem thorough? Did they reach a reasonable conclusion? And did we see anything were there might be a pattern of recent cases or anything that suggested other training might be beneficial, things like that where we could make a recommendation to the chief,” Crabtree said. 

Crabtree said that during his time on the board, members were able to help affect change while also holding a space for the community to voice their concerns and ask questions.

“And if they do away with that, then that avenue goes away and everything gets put under the table again," he said. "And I don't think that is a very smart move. I think it is an incredibly dumb move." 

Spectrum News asked city officials in Orlando about the proposal and received the following statement:

“As a city, we believe that local governments know best how to meet the needs of our communities, residents and businesses. In Orlando, our community has chosen to have a CPRB since 1992. Our legislative team is aware of this proposed bill and is expressing our concerns with legislators on bills like this that seek to preempt local government.”

If the bill passes, it would go into effect on July 1, but Crabtree said he hopes it doesn’t come to that.

“Hopefully the legislators will come to their senses and realize they are fighting the wrong battle,” he said.