Click here for more stories on police oversight.

Click here for a graphic of officers that have been decertified.

This is the final installment in a three-part series examining the lack of police oversight in West Virginia.

MONTGOMERY, W.Va. -- Montgomery City Councilman Terrance Hamm won't point to a single incident as the reason he helped start a civilian review board to oversee the city's police department.

"It's an issue of confidence in general," he said. "It's about checks and balances, like we have in any other part of government."

Hamm is one of a growing number of West Virginians looking to police oversight as a way to instill confidence in the state's law enforcement officers.

The 2007 beating of Twan Reynolds and false arrest of his wife, Lauren, was a factor in the board's creation, Hamm said, as he stood outside the Montgomery City Building. Some of what Leavitt did -- licking Lauren Reynolds' neck and jabbing a pepper spray-covered finger in Twan Reynolds' eye -- happened there.

Leavitt was eventually sent to prison on two federal civil rights violations.

But there were other incidents in the past and the review board is about more than just Leavitt, Hamm said.

Officials from other towns have contacted him, wanting to find out whether something similar might be a good idea for their town, he said.

"The idea is spreading," he said.

The Legislature will take up a bill in the 2011 session by Sen. Bill Laird, D-Fayette, that would expand the duties of the state body that decides when police officers lose their certification.

Sen. Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, said he's been supportive of such legislation.

"I think the process to track and identify those who are not adequately trained or who are behaving in such a fashion needs to be strengthened," he said. "We have to have public confidence in law enforcement."

Decertifying committee is limited

Current state law gives the Law Enforcement Training Subcommittee of the Governor's Committee on Crime, Delinquency and Corrections the ability to decertify officers -- but not the power to subpoena or investigate, said State Police Sgt. Curtis Tilley, head of the LET subcommittee and an instructor at the State Police Academy. 

Tilley said because of this, the committee looks only at cases where an officer has been convicted of a jailable offense.

Even in cases such as that of Galen Reel -- the former Moorefield police officer who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting Mary Ann Groves while on duty, then later said that plea was a lie and was found not guilty of the charges -- the committee's hands are tied, Tilley said.

"We deal with an incident when we know something did happen," he said.

Groves' attorney, Arron Harrah, provided the subcommittee with extensive documents from his case, including the deposition of a female police officer who alleged a similar unwanted sexual experience with Groves.

But in the end, he had been acquitted of the charges, Tilley said.

"What it still boiled down to was the primary accusation and on that primary accusation, there was a jury acquittal," he said. "And that was something the committee had to take into consideration and that was the advice of the assistant attorney general."

But the standard of proof in a criminal trial is not the standard that should be applied to a professional licensure, whether it's that of a doctor, lawyer or police officer, Laird said.

"The authority to certify comes with the responsibility to decertify based on well-defined criteria," he said. "That criteria should be more clearly defined."

Laird's proposed legislation, which the Legislature's interim joint committee on the judiciary supported in early December, does just that.

It creates a statewide database where law enforcement agencies would be required to report complaints, disciplinary matters, investigations and other actions taken by an officer.

Agencies would be required to check the database before hiring. The law would also compel the committee to establish standards and procedures for the reporting of complaints and allow the committee to issue subpoenas so they have better information about the incidents brought to them.

"I don't necessarily subscribe to the fact that final conviction of an offense is the only criteria that should ultimately result in the decertification of a police officer," said Laird, the former Fayette County Sheriff.

Acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said in a statement to the Gazette that although the legislation may have laudable goals, he would want to make sure that any new authority given to the subcommittee wouldn't thwart the ability of state agencies to manage their internal affairs.

"We must also carefully consider whether the power given to the subcommittee would limit the discretion needed within each particular law-enforcement agency to develop policies and procedures consistent with the mission of the agency," he said.

"Finally, it is certainly important that the administration of programs for qualification, training, and certification of law enforcement officers be handled properly. However, it is also important to make sure that the subcommittee is not set up in such a manner that it would simply duplicate investigations that are already properly taking place within a particular law enforcement agency."

Making it work

For the Montgomery review board to work, Hamm said, the community has to be involved. They're setting up places in the town to allow complaints to be dropped off anonymously, so people don't have to make complaints at the police station, he said.

Click here for more stories on police oversight.

Click here for a graphic of officers that have been decertified.

This is the final installment in a three-part series examining the lack of police oversight in West Virginia.

MONTGOMERY, W.Va. -- Montgomery City Councilman Terrance Hamm won't point to a single incident as the reason he helped start a civilian review board to oversee the city's police department.

"It's an issue of confidence in general," he said. "It's about checks and balances, like we have in any other part of government."

Hamm is one of a growing number of West Virginians looking to police oversight as a way to instill confidence in the state's law enforcement officers.

The 2007 beating of Twan Reynolds and false arrest of his wife, Lauren, was a factor in the board's creation, Hamm said, as he stood outside the Montgomery City Building. Some of what Leavitt did -- licking Lauren Reynolds' neck and jabbing a pepper spray-covered finger in Twan Reynolds' eye -- happened there.

Leavitt was eventually sent to prison on two federal civil rights violations.

But there were other incidents in the past and the review board is about more than just Leavitt, Hamm said.

Officials from other towns have contacted him, wanting to find out whether something similar might be a good idea for their town, he said.

"The idea is spreading," he said.

The Legislature will take up a bill in the 2011 session by Sen. Bill Laird, D-Fayette, that would expand the duties of the state body that decides when police officers lose their certification.

Sen. Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, said he's been supportive of such legislation.

"I think the process to track and identify those who are not adequately trained or who are behaving in such a fashion needs to be strengthened," he said. "We have to have public confidence in law enforcement."

Decertifying committee is limited

Current state law gives the Law Enforcement Training Subcommittee of the Governor's Committee on Crime, Delinquency and Corrections the ability to decertify officers -- but not the power to subpoena or investigate, said State Police Sgt. Curtis Tilley, head of the LET subcommittee and an instructor at the State Police Academy. 

Tilley said because of this, the committee looks only at cases where an officer has been convicted of a jailable offense.

Even in cases such as that of Galen Reel -- the former Moorefield police officer who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting Mary Ann Groves while on duty, then later said that plea was a lie and was found not guilty of the charges -- the committee's hands are tied, Tilley said.

"We deal with an incident when we know something did happen," he said.

Groves' attorney, Arron Harrah, provided the subcommittee with extensive documents from his case, including the deposition of a female police officer who alleged a similar unwanted sexual experience with Groves.

But in the end, he had been acquitted of the charges, Tilley said.

"What it still boiled down to was the primary accusation and on that primary accusation, there was a jury acquittal," he said. "And that was something the committee had to take into consideration and that was the advice of the assistant attorney general."

But the standard of proof in a criminal trial is not the standard that should be applied to a professional licensure, whether it's that of a doctor, lawyer or police officer, Laird said.

"The authority to certify comes with the responsibility to decertify based on well-defined criteria," he said. "That criteria should be more clearly defined."

Laird's proposed legislation, which the Legislature's interim joint committee on the judiciary supported in early December, does just that.

It creates a statewide database where law enforcement agencies would be required to report complaints, disciplinary matters, investigations and other actions taken by an officer.

Agencies would be required to check the database before hiring. The law would also compel the committee to establish standards and procedures for the reporting of complaints and allow the committee to issue subpoenas so they have better information about the incidents brought to them.

"I don't necessarily subscribe to the fact that final conviction of an offense is the only criteria that should ultimately result in the decertification of a police officer," said Laird, the former Fayette County Sheriff.

Acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said in a statement to the Gazette that although the legislation may have laudable goals, he would want to make sure that any new authority given to the subcommittee wouldn't thwart the ability of state agencies to manage their internal affairs.

"We must also carefully consider whether the power given to the subcommittee would limit the discretion needed within each particular law-enforcement agency to develop policies and procedures consistent with the mission of the agency," he said.

"Finally, it is certainly important that the administration of programs for qualification, training, and certification of law enforcement officers be handled properly. However, it is also important to make sure that the subcommittee is not set up in such a manner that it would simply duplicate investigations that are already properly taking place within a particular law enforcement agency."

Making it work

For the Montgomery review board to work, Hamm said, the community has to be involved. They're setting up places in the town to allow complaints to be dropped off anonymously, so people don't have to make complaints at the police station, he said.

The review board is also involved in the hiring of new officers, Hamm said. But one review board in Montgomery isn't going to solve the whole issue, he said.

"My hope is that at the state level something will be done about oversight," he said. "It's about confidence in general, that I have a governing body that I can go to that is protecting my interests."

In July, the Gazette reported on Princeton officer Christopher Winkler, who had a blood clot in his brain after an incident while training at the West Virginia State Police Academy.

The Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety started an investigation into the incident, as did the State Police. Kanawha County prosecutor Mark Plants also asked for an investigation by the West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations. The latter report said the incident was a training accident and no criminal act occurred.

The commission's investigation is an example of an outside investigation into a police agency, but also a special case, Plants said. Some, but not all, of the investigators in the division are former State Police troopers.

"It's different because you're dealing with a cadet, you're not dealing with the general public," Plants said. "There ought to be objective, independent law enforcement professionals reviewing complaints."

Doctors review other doctors and lawyers review other lawyers, he said. And just because something isn't a criminal offense doesn't mean that it isn't ethically or professionally wrong.

"Every other industry has that review. I think its fair if other lawyers (review what happened) when there's an ethics complaint against me. And I respond," he said. "I think we need a board of that nature to keep track of and weed out the 10 percent that give everybody else a bad name."

Chesapeake Police Chief Jack Ice has been in law enforcement a long time. Before taking his current position, he was a state trooper for 30 years.

He thinks the idea of a statewide database of police is a good idea.

"A lot of times people come in and you don't know who they are," Ice said. "It's good to know."

Ice hired Shawn Hutchinson, Leavitt's partner the night he attacked Twan and Lauren Reynolds, knowing who he was.

Ice has said in the past that Hutchinson has been a good, conscientious officer. He said he believes there needs to be a process where officers are decertified if they've committed serious offenses. Revoking a certification also shouldn't mean that officers necessarily can't get it back, he said.

"But there has to be a conviction, just not an accusation somewhere," Ice said.

Tilley said he will work with Sen. Laird and others who want to change the process.

He said he wants to see everyone come up with a process that is fair to police officers -- and keeps the public's trust in law enforcement.

"One of the things we always say [at the academy] and that is trained here is that an officer is going to make split-second decisions on what to do, how to react, what to say, what use of force to do, that are going to be argued by lawyers, judges and attorneys for months to come," he said. "We know that everything we do is the ultimate in arm-chair quarterbacking.

"All we can hope here at the academy is that we are doing the best we can -- with the best knowledge and available equipment -- to make those decisions."

'This person I used to be'

Mary Ann Groves has been pulled over once since her run-in with Galen Reel, on her way to see her therapist.

The officer she met that day was very nice to her.

But it was on a rural road, and she was alone again -- just her and a policeman.

It was a terrifying experience.

"My hands were shaking when I got my ID out of my wallet," Groves said. I think he probably felt sorry for me."

She started crying as soon as he said she could go.

"I had to pull off a little further down the road and call my mom," Groves said. "My entire life has changed."

Groves said she used to go to church all the time, but now she doesn't. She said she thinks every day about what happened to her. She is constantly looking over her shoulder.

"Who I am has completely changed," she said. "This person I used to be ... I have to just accept that I'm not going to be that person anymore."

Reel was allowed to continue working at the Moorefield department after the incident. He worked at the department in nearby Petersburg -- Groves' hometown -- after that. State records show him employed there for only a few days in August.

She said her father wrote a letter to the Petersburg mayor, telling him what a slap in the face it was.

She said she now avoids both Petersburg and Moorefield at all costs.

"I think there should be something that prevents this from happening," she said. "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."

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