HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — On a Tuesday night in East Tampa, ABC Action News saw the City's Citizens Review Board (CRB) at work.
First up, after approving previous minutes, public comment was available, where everyday people got to share issues related to policing.
"I'm speaking on behalf of a person affected by TPD misconduct," said a resident named Phil.
"I'm here today to respectfully request my complaint to be reviewed by the CRB for public importance," said a woman named Sandra Zirky.
According to the City's charter, it's one of the essential functions of the CRB—though after some back and forth, we learned Tuesday that not every suggested case from the community makes it onto their docket.
The board then moved on to one of its other essential functions—reviewing disciplinary cases closed by the Tampa Police Department.
"So, in this case, this involved Corporal John Simpkins," said Patrick Messmer with TPD's Internal Affairs, "On December 23rd of 2021, there was a domestic dispute at a restaurant up on Dale Mabry."
According to court documents, the domestic battery case against former TPD officer John Simpkins was dropped in June 2022.
"The victim declined to cooperate further."
The department says the incident was caught on camera and that Simpkins resigned before turning himself in when a superior asked him to. Because of this, TPD concluded that the former officer had violated the following sections of its Manual of Regulations:
MOR 1007: Conformance to Laws: Department employees shall obey all laws of the United States and the State of Florida and ordinances of Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa. An employee may be subject to suspension or termination in accordance with city policy for the violation of any law, whether or not an indictment or information has been filed by the State Attorney's Office. Such suspension may be with or without pay as determined in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement, if applicable, departmental policy, and an employee's right to due process.
MOR 1005: Standard of Conduct: Since the conduct of department employees on or off-duty directly reflects upon the department and the City, employees shall at all times conduct themselves in a manner that does not compromise their professionalism, ethics, and objectives as police officers or the professionalism, ethics, and objectives of the department or the City, or impairs their ability to perform as a police officer within the City.
MOR 1208: Insubordination: Department employees shall promptly obey all lawful orders of a supervisor. This shall include orders relayed to an officer of the same or lesser rank. A "lawful order" is an order that officers should reasonably believe to be consistent with the requirements of their duties. Insubordination shall include, but not be limited to, conduct directed at a supervisor which is either disrespectful, insolent, or abusive.
ACLU-commissioned Poll Regarding CRB Changes by ABC Action News on Scribd
And ultimately, it's a decision the CRB agreed with.
"That motion passes, thank you," said the board chair.
It's work that founding CRB member Dr. Carolyn Collins tells ABC Action News is at the core of community oversight of police.
"To me, it's important because we haven't had a major problem yet and we're letting them know that we agree with you, we'll work with you, but that doesn't mean everything you do is right."
But it also works that some in the community have scrutinized.
Since the board's inception in 2015, several groups in the community have been calling for the CRB to have more power.
So much so that in 2021 The ACLU of Greater Tampa surveyed 600 people across the City. The group found that more than 60 percent of them wanted the board to be able to subpoena witnesses and to have an attorney that doesn't work for the City to avoid conflicts of interest.
We asked Dr. Collins about this kind of community feedback.
"The CRB is not what they want it to be. They want the CRB to have an attorney; they want the CRB to have subpoena power so they can subpoena this, that and the other," she said, "They don't understand we don't do investigations. We don't need subpoena power unless we're a CRB that's going to do investigations."
Dr. Collins says the board focuses on fixing how they communicate with the community.
"And I think the biggest problem we have is consistency on getting our information out," she said.
And she adds that she hopes this message shines through.
"[I would] love to see the community understand that this board belongs to them and that they should come out and actually ask questions and even if they don't get the answers that they want, and they're not pleased with the findings still pursue it," she said.
ABC Action News got in touch with former TPD officer John Simpkins. We asked him for a statement or reaction to the CRB's decision, but he declined to comment.
We also contacted the Tampa Police Department to determine how this decision affects Simpkins. They told us that the case will be reported to the FDLE Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission, ultimately deciding if Simpkins is allowed to be re-certified as a law enforcement officer in Florida.
