Bryan Bostic’s death in Inglewood police custody on March 10 has inspired a pair of police accountability initiatives in Inglewood. 

If they make it to the ballot and are approved by voters, the initiatives would set up regulations on Inglewood’s new police body-worn cameras and relaunch the city’s defunct police commission with a suite of new powers.

“It’s time to reel them in, hold them accountable,” said Charles Braggs, a former Inglewood parking and traffic commissioner and one of those who took the steps of Inglewood City Hall on Thursday to announce the initiatives. “The good ol’ boy system has got to go.” 

The group — that included Inglewood locals, activists and Bostic’s loved ones — aims to get the initiatives on the ballot for the Nov. 3 general election.  

The Inglewood Police Association, which represents Inglewood police officers, did not immediately return a request for comment on social media and a phone number listed on the nonprofit’s tax documents did not work.

Mayor James Butts said in a statement to The LA Local that he strenuously opposes both initiatives.

Butts, a former Santa Monica Police Chief, contended that body camera policy should be set by the police department and overseen by the City Council. He also vehemently challenged the proposed new-look police commission.

“I have never heard of such an ill-conceived concept as described in this initiative,” he said.

Dallas Fowler, founder of the HEIRS Political Action Committee, said the initiatives are based, in part, on body camera policies from other agencies and on civilian police oversight practices in LA.

Fowler said the group submitted drafts of the initiatives to the Inglewood City Clerk on Thursday morning and will wait for a review from the Inglewood City Attorney before going to gather signatures in support.  

Fowler said she’s been pushing for body cameras in Inglewood for years, but Bostic’s death triggered this new round of activism.

Bostic, 37, died at the Inglewood City Jail after officers stopped his vehicle and arrested him. Butts said Bostic had a “brief struggle” with officers.  

The city published no footage from the incident and did not publicly comment about Bostic’s death for days, two things it could be required to do differently under the rules of the new initiatives. 

The LA County Medical Examiner ruled in May that Bostic’s death was due to the effects of methamphetamine, but family members say they don’t believe the medical examiner’s findings tell the full story. 

Bostic’s family filed a wrongful death claim against the city in April and have been regularly demonstrating on street corners and at Inglewood City Hall, asking for more information on the circumstances around Bostic’s death. 

Here’s what the new body camera ballot initiative proposes

The proposed Bryan Bostic Police Transparency and Accountability Act would mandate that police turn on their body-worn cameras during all encounters and require the public release of unredacted footage within 15 days of “critical incidents,” according to text of the initiative. 

Fowler, who helped piece together both initiatives, said law enforcement agencies typically consider police shootings and deaths in law enforcement custody to be critical incidents. 

Inglewood police are set to get body cameras by the end of the year after City Council gave final approval on June 9 to a $6.3 million deal with police tech company Axon. 

The initiative would also require the city to publicly acknowledge critical incidents within 24 hours, along with the names of individuals affected and the names of all officers present at the scene.

Fowler said the policy is closely aligned with that of the LA Police Department.

In his statement, Butts noted that Inglewood was on its way to adopting body cameras and said the initiative would be superfluous.

“It attempts to proscribe police policy that should be set by the police and overseen by the City Council,” he wrote.

Here’s what the new police commission could look like

The second initiative, the Inglewood Police Commission Authority and Accountability Amendment, would replace the city’s defunct police commission with a five-person body that would have significantly increased oversight power.

Inglewood’s current 11-member citizen police oversight commission hasn’t met in almost nine years, which one expert told The LA Local is a possible violation of the city’s own code. 

The proposed new commission would, unlike its predecessor, have the power to hire investigators, subpoena the police department and hire or fire the city’s police chief.

Fowler said the proposed commission is modeled, in part, after the one in the city of Los Angeles, but adjusted for a smaller city.  Appointments would come from the mayor and each member of the City Council, instead of just the mayor. 

Butts wrote that the commission would transfer power from the department’s leadership to “inexperienced, unelected and unaccountable political appointees that do not answer to the electorate.”

“It is degrades (sic) public safety and will make it impossible to attract the best and brightest police executives,” he wrote, saying the initiative lacked depth of thought.

Inglewood’s Nov. 3 election is looking to be a busy one. Voters will choose a mayor, two council members and three school board members and could weigh in on ballot initiatives dealing with parking, stadium taxes and billboards along with the two police-related initiatives.