Mobile’s newly reconstituted Police Citizens Advisory Committee met for the first time this week, spending most of its inaugural session on procedural groundwork rather than diving into the substantive questions surrounding its role in police oversight. The committee, known as PCAC, was originally created by the Mobile City Council in 2016 following the fatal police shooting of 19-year-old Michael Moore.
That earlier iteration of the group held only a handful of sparsely attended meetings before fading out. Amid a renewed wave of public pressure for greater police accountability and transparency, city council members appointed a fresh slate of members this year to relaunch the committee.
At the group’s first meeting, members worked through logistical matters, including how the Alabama Open Meetings Act and Robert’s Rules of Order will shape future sessions. The committee elected Raoul Richardson as chairman, Damian Marks as vice-chairman and Vanessa Davis Wright as secretary.
Under the 2016 ordinance that established PCAC, the committee’s stated purpose is to promote the idea that citizens, communities and police share a common interest in maintaining law and order, reducing crime and protecting the community. The ordinance also directs the committee to encourage open communication between police and residents, gather community feedback on police services and tactics, and act as a liaison between officers and the public.
Last month, the City Council’s Public Safety Committee considered revising that ordinance but opted instead to let the newly appointed members weigh in first on what changes, if any, are needed. District 3 Councilman Fred Richardson urged members to nail down their mission before recommending ordinance changes, noting that any amendments would ultimately require council approval.
“As you read that ordinance, make sure the first thing you do is have an understanding of your mission — what it is that we want you to do — and then look at how that ordinance can help you carry that out,” Richardson told the group. “We don’t need anything in the ordinance that’s going to take away from your ability to carry out that mission.” Precisely what that mission will look like remains an open question.
Members had hoped to make progress on defining their objectives during the first meeting, but procedural matters consumed most of the time instead. One point of consensus to emerge early was a shared desire for the committee to operate as transparently as possible — members have already asked city staff about setting up a dedicated webpage or social media presence to share meeting documents and updates with the public.
Turnout for the meeting was modest, though the session was also livestreamed for residents who couldn’t attend in person. Among those who did show up was Tiffany Trotter, an organizer with the advocacy group Mobile For Us, which has spent months calling for greater police accountability in the city.
Trotter urged committee members to stay engaged with the community and take their appointments seriously. “I just don’t want to see this turn out like last time where we have these ministers and these docile people sitting on boards just because of their professional experience,” Trotter told the group.
“You need to actually have the teeth to make changes. Don’t just come to these meetings and sit.” She added a pointed reminder: “This is your second chance. Don’t mess it up.” Just how much authority — or “teeth,” in Trotter’s words — a body like PCAC can wield remains legally unsettled. When the committee was first created in 2016, council members wrestled with how to give residents a stronger voice in police matters without saddling officers with additional bureaucratic oversight.
Some activists, including Mobile For Us, have pushed for something closer to the civilian oversight boards adopted in other U.S. cities, which in some cases can review confidential files, issue subpoenas for records and recommend disciplinary action or policy changes.
There’s no indication PCAC will be granted anywhere near that level of authority over the Mobile Police Department. Its role appears more comparable to advisory boards already in place in cities like Huntsville, or under consideration in Prichard — bodies designed to bridge communication between residents and police rather than serve as an independent layer of oversight.
The committee’s authority is also constrained by the powers of the body that created it. Day-to-day control of the police department rests with Mayor Sandy Stimpson’s administration, not the city council.
Councilman Richardson has previously suggested PCAC could request records from the police department through the council if needed, though others have raised questions about whether that approach is legally sound. Stimpson has not yet named an appointee to serve on the committee, though Public Safety Director James Barber and Mobile Police Chief Lawrence Battiste both represented the administration at the meeting.
For now, PCAC members plan to spend their next several sessions reviewing the ordinance and identifying any changes they believe are needed. While some members initially proposed meeting monthly, Vice-Chairman Marks pushed for a more frequent schedule to help the group get up and running.
“I’m open to meeting once a week until we get established,” Marks said. “I’d like to do whatever it takes to get us going because, by the time we review this and come back, that’s another month or at least a couple of weeks that we haven’t really done anything.” Members ultimately agreed to meet every Thursday for the time being, with their next session set for 4 p.m. Sept. 10 in the City Council’s conference room on the ninth floor of Government Plaza.
The Rules Behind the Meetings
The Alabama Open Meetings Act, which took effect in 2005, requires governmental bodies to deliberate in public and to give advance notice of their meetings. It allows closed executive sessions only for limited purposes, such as discussing certain personnel matters or pending litigation.
