Comment on Cedar Rapids officials pivot on approach to forming police review board

CEDAR RAPIDS — After facing criticism over its approach to creating a citizens’ review board of the police, the city announced Wednesday it will open the process to public comment.Cedar Rapids Mayor Brad Hart said in a statement that the city believes it can establish a review board in 90 days that will ensure public safety accountability and strengthen the community’s bonds with the police force.The “Cedar Rapids City Council is listening to residents’ calls for change, recognizes that the time for action is now, is responding and will keep working with the community to combat systemic racism,” Hart said.A local group, the Advocates for Social Justice, which has been meeting with city officials, said the step is a bureaucratic way to slow progress and quiet leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement.“It’s just such a letdown that they are not open to our involvement and … it’s just very offensive to the movement and to the work that we are doing,” said Nicole LeGrand, a leader with Advocates for Social Justice.