CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Charlottesville police chief Michael Kochis said he remains supportive of the city’s Civilian Police Oversight Board, despite the resignation of executive director Inez Gonzalez and the board’s struggle to maintain membership.
“We are a profession that can take someone’s rights away,” Kochis said during an appearance on WINA Morning News this week. “And so oversight, in my opinion, can only make us better. To me, I look at the PCOB as a bridge to the community. I have nothing to hide.”
Kochis praised Gonzalez, who said is taking a new job in California.
“She’s been in this line of work for a very long time. She knew this work very well,” he said. “And, look, we’re both from Jersey so we kind of speak the same language. We could have some frank conversations and still like each other. … I’m really sad to lose here but she’s going on to big things. She’s going out to California to do the same work in a much larger area and she believes in the work and is passionate about it.”
Kochis and Gonzalez worked together to strengthen the PCOB’s access to information, but four of the board’s eight members have resigned since May, leaving the body without a necessary quorum to hold votes.
When board chairperson Al Pola resigned, he cited flaws in the ordinance that he said prevents the PCOB from accomplishing its mission.
“That relationship is very important. That trust is very important,” Kochis said. “She has more access to our systems than any other oversight board in the commonwealth of Virginia. Full unfettered access to our body cam footage. Can go on anytime and can look at any footage I can see. All our records management systems, our FLOCK systems. You name it, she has the same access that I have. And that’s unheard of in our profession, but that’s because there’s a lot of trust there. And I believe in oversight.”
Currently, the PCOB’s acting executive director, James Walker, has the access that used to belong to Kochis. City spokesperson Afton Schneider said there are no plans to alter access in the wake of Gonzalez’s resignation.
Kochis said that, even with the CPOB in a state of flux, that there are numerous safeguards that make his department accountable, including a community action team, a Guardian (public input) score and newly enhanced professional standards bureau.
He also noted that the police department recently had its accreditation renewed by outside accessors.
