Anyone with a complaint against the department, which has four full-time and about five part-time officers, will be able to bring that complaint to the commission, said Mayor Jim Higgins.

"My hope is that it bridges the gap between the police department and the community," said Councilman Terrance Hamm, who is the only city official on the five-member oversight panel.

"If they feel they are not getting the protection that they need, they have another avenue to take," Hamm said. "There have been a number of incidents in the city and I really felt like the people in the community needed a way to have a little bit more of a voice."

City Attorney Brian Parsons said citizen oversight of police departments is an idea that is gaining momentum in West Virginia.

"I was reading the Gazette editorial [urging independent civilian review boards] this past Sunday, it's obviously an idea that is being kicked around in other places," said Parsons, who also is city attorney for Oak Hill, Ansted and Gauley Bridge and a Fayette County assistant prosecutor.

At least 120 cities and towns have civilian review boards across the country, but Montgomery becomes only the second West Virginia city to have any outside review of police.

Bluefield agreed to set up a review board as a part of a settlement with Robert Ellison, who was left paralyzed below the neck in 1998 after two Bluefield police officers beat and dragged him outside a nightclub. Ellison settled a lawsuit against the city for $1 million in 2000.

Montgomery Police Chief Jack Brown said he thinks the new commission will help foster a relationship between the community and the police department.

"It gives us another set of eyes and ears on what goes on," Brown said. "From my experience, police work is no different than any other kind of work. You have people who have done it for years and years and they are very reluctant to give up any perceived control to anyone outside of police."

He said officers worry that regular citizens won't understand the particular problems and dangers that are part of police work.

"But I think you can get people from outside and, when they find out what goes on and how things happen, you can make it work," he said. "They've done it in bigger cities, Los Angeles, New York, and we are going to follow their lead. I look forward to making this a model program we can all be proud of."

Parsons said he's also discussed the idea of setting up a police oversight commission with the city manager in Oak Hill.

"They have a much more developed civil-service system there. They have police commissioners. I'm not sure if it's analogous," he said, "but I do see Montgomery as a test pilot."

History

Montgomery has had a history of problems with its police department.

In September 2008, then-Montgomery officers Matthew Leavitt and Shawn Hutchinson assaulted Twan and Lauren Reynolds outside the city's 7-Eleven.

Leavitt hit Twan Reynolds over the head with a blackjack, kicked him in the back and sprayed his eyes with pepper spray at close range. He also used a racial epithet and licked Lauren Reynolds on the neck during an interrogation. Their 4-year-old daughter witnessed much of the assault.

Leavitt is serving a two-year prison sentence for federal civil rights violations. The Reynolds family settled a lawsuit with the city for $500,000.

Leavitt allegedly had run-ins with other residents. In September 2007, he and Hutchinson allegedly assaulted Roderick and Lakisha White after responding to an incident at their home.

"[Leavitt] threatened to 'blow my fat black ass away,'" Lakisha White told the Gazette-Mail. "He said, 'Bitch, I own you. I own the streets of Montgomery.'"

Three other people claimed problems with Leavitt in August 2008.

| Gregory Lee Payne alleged that Leavitt drove him to a wide spot in the road just before Interstate 64 near Cabin Creek. There, he choked and hit Payne, then left him by the side of the road, according to a lawsuit filed in Kanawha Circuit Court.

| Sherkiri Terell, then 17, said Leavitt pushed her head against a wall and slammed her cell phone to the ground. As the two struggled, she says, she put the phone down her pants. She alleges that when it began to ring, he put his hands down her pants to get the phone.

| Joey Carr told the Gazette-Mail he was stopped after knocking over a soda machine in Montgomery. The West Virginia University Tech student said Leavitt pepper-sprayed him at close range. Then, Carr said, Leavitt "grabs me and throws me down, kicks me in the stomach and Maces me again.  . . . When he handcuffs me, he throws me against the car and told me to 'quit screaming like a little bitch.'"

Leavitt isn't the sole reason Montgomery officials decided to put a review board in place, said Higgins, who has served in Montgomery's city government -- including a stint as police chief -- for the past 40 years.

"I'm not going to say it didn't have some bearing, but this is something that probably would have come about anyway, eventually," the mayor said. "It's something that involves the public and it's a tremendous help to me. It doesn't leave me sitting there being the only one to make a decision."

Accountability

The Montgomery board must consist of five members -- one city councilman, one representative each from WVU Tech and Bridgemont Community and Technical College and two other community members.

In addition to Hamm, a city councilman and pastor, the board includes John McGinnis, a teacher and former principal at Valley High School; Ruby Price, a retired nurse; and the human resources directors at WVU Tech and Bridgemont.

Parsons said he drafted the Montgomery law by looking at civilian review boards in other cities. The board will meet once a month. It will look at training issues and its members will ride along with the officers once a year, in addition to dealing with issues regarding the public, he said.

"I'd like to see Montgomery up front on this issue. It is so close to Charleston and it's a big town and holds an important position in the Kanawha Valley," he said. "It's time for us to take a leadership role in this issue."

Citizens will be able to make complaints directly to the commission, Higgins said.

"This gives citizens an opportunity to have other citizens look at a complaint -- instead of having a scenario where you have to file a complaint against a police officer to a police officer," he said. "Although it might be handled completely properly, there's just the feeling that, nothing might be done or you're making someone mad. This is a more comfortable situation for them."

Sen. Bill Laird, D-Fayette, plans to watch the Montgomery board closely. The former Fayette County sheriff plans to introduce an expanded version of a bill he introduced last year that would require departments to report problems with officers to a central database.

Laird also wants to give a state panel the power to investigate potential problem officers, as well as ban them from working in the state.

He has been asked to swear in the new oversight commission at the City Council's 7:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday.

"To me, it constitutes a little field research in developing a sense of what local governments are doing in respect to police oversight," Laird said. "If there are good ideas that may be transferable, that's part of my preparation in advance of drafting any legislation."

Reach Gary Harki at gha...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5163.