DOVER, Del.- Time is of the essence for supporters and sponsors of Senate Bill 149.
A bill that if passed would create community review boards at the municipal, county, and state levels to hear and decide police disciplinary matters. Disciplinary records would also be made public.
Currently, Delaware is the only state with a confidentiality clause in its Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (LEOBOR).
The American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware led a rally in front of Legislative Hall and its own campaign for smart justice. Manager of the campaign Haneef Salaam says LEOBOR is currently in the way of transparency.
"The way LEOBOR is set up to the public’s knowledge, no cop has ever even been disciplined for police misconduct," Salaam said. "Community review boards will add insight, an unbiased opinion, and will be independent of police."
Families of victims of what they call police brutality were at the rally making their call for change. LaToya Holley was honoring her brother Anton Black.
"They’re not tired of seeing families like me wearing this t-shirt," Holley said. "My brother is a hashtag now. His daughter, she’ll never know her father. She was born three months after she was killed."
There were supporters of the bill in attendance Wednesday, but there are members of law enforcement who do not agree with some of the language. President of the Delaware Fraternal Order of Police Jamie Leonard says he has the same concerns.
"If you’ve been accused of wrongdoing, if a police officer has been accused or wrongdoing, their department investigates it," Leonard said. "And found that they did nothing wrong, that the bill in its current state says that that information is still FOIA able. It still could be published in the newspaper or any type of social media platform."
The bill is ready to be considered by the Senate but it is not clear when a full senate vote could happen.
A debate that one side hopes can be settled on the senate and house floors while the other wants more discussions about the bill.
