Saint John Mayor Don Darling announced Monday afternoon that he’d immediately vacate his seat on the city’s Board of Police Commissioners.
Darling, who’s sat on the board since July of 2016, made the announcement in a post to his Medium.com page, citing concerns over an inability to fully express his concerns with the city’s police force while adhering to board governance rules.
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“It is not appropriate for me, fair to the commission, or in the best interest of the community for my voice and suggestions to be restricted over the remaining 6 months of my term,” Darling writes.
“This decision allows me the freedom to share observations, opinions and, most importantly, solutions to achieve necessary reforms to policing.”
Darling previously attempted to offload his seat in June, when City Coun. David Hickey expressed frustration over police budget cuts.
Hickey later changed his mind, saying the seat should go to someone within the city’s marginalized communities — perhaps someone, he said, who had actually had an interaction with Saint John police to base their arguments on.
At the time, the board was entirely made up of white men and had two empty seats, vacated by white men.
In August the board filled its two vacant seats, adding two women to its roster: Katelin Dean, a former journalist; and Tamara Kelly, executive director of ONE Change Inc. and chair of the Coverdale women’s shelter.
So why is Darling leaving now?
According to his write up, Darling says the information shared with the board has left him “consistently shocked … not only by the barriers that we face and have faced, but by the almost unwillingness to speak about these barriers publicly, consistently, and as a group.”
He says the commission’s purpose should be to provide civilian oversight to the police force, but that wasn’t his experience.
“I have been struggling with this decision for some time and, as an elected official, am no longer willing to cruise into the finish line with my comments filtered or withheld because of a page in a governance manual.”
Aside from apparently feeling muzzled, Darling also says policing in Saint John needs to be reformed and modernized.
Global News reached out to the mayor’s office for further comment but didn’t hear back.
The mayor lists five steps he thinks the commission should take:
- “The police force must be more open, transparent, and proactive with the community.
- “The police force must recognize the reality of systemic racism in New Brunswick and the SJPF must mitigate systemic racism because systems are how racism lives on. To do this it must operate according to the values of openness, transparency, accountability, and public trust.
- “All stakeholders need to redefine core policing and develop strategies and actions to address systemic issues at their core (outcomes focused). This will not be easy, however, in the absence of this type of thinking, we’ll never have enough money and we’ll never achieve our collective full potential.
- “The relationship between the police union and management needs to be redefined and balanced. It’s broken today, not sustainable financially and actually not conducive to a healthy and thriving workplace.
- “The police act needs to be modernized to enhance public trust, to empower a governance model that works, and to achieve balance.”
In closing, Darling says he plans to use his voice to support these steps while he remains in office.
Municipal elections are planned for New Brunswick in May.
Darling has said he isn’t reoffering.