YOUNGSTOWN — Police Chief Carl Davis and members of Youngstown City Council’s Safety Committee agreed Thursday that they would like to see the creation of a citizen review board to review the actions of Youngstown police officers.

There was not a lot of discussion about what type of powers the board would have, but one such board in Toledo hears complaints from citizens if the police department’s internal affairs division finds no wrongdoing by officers in a specific matter and someone files an appeal within 14 days.

“I am very receptive to the idea of creating a citizen review board,” the chief said.

Committee chairwoman Anita Davis, a retired Youngstown police officer, said she researched the idea about 10 years ago and wants to see the idea implemented in Youngstown “within a couple of months.”

She said such a board reviews incidents and makes recommendations to the police department. “It doesn’t replace internal affairs,” she said of the division of the police department that reviews officer conduct.

Creation of such a board would need the support of the entire city council, she added. In hearing the chief”s reaction, Anita Davis said, “It is refreshing that you are open to this.”

Safety committee member Jimmy Hughes, a former Youngstown police chief, did not indicate support or opposition, but pointed out that such boards can have a lot of power or not, depending on how they are structured. Having such a board will “be a lot of work too,” he said.

Two other council members who attended the virtual meeting — Julius Oliver and Samantha Turner — said they supported the idea.

“The citizens are calling for it across the country. I know our citizens support it as well,” said Oliver, who is a candidate for mayor.

“I agree with Counciwoman Davis that this should happen within a couple of months,” Turner said. “It’s time to get this done.”

Chief Davis said the city nearly created such a board in the 1980s after a “very ugly incident” in the former Westlake Terrace apartments on the North Side.

It involved officers who uttered a “stream of profanities and racial slurs at residents, probably one of the most disturbing incidents I’ve seen in my 35 years at the police department,” he said.

Anita Davis said she has “had a plan for a civilian review board” for about a decade.

Law Director Jeff Limbian called it “a great idea” and offered to have a draft of legislation prepared “in a week” as long as there are model programs that could serve as a model. Hughes mentioned one in Toledo. Anita Davis mentioned ones in Las vegas, Columbus, Atlanta and Pittsburgh.

The safety committee also asked Chief Davis about the new bias-free policing policy the department wrote recently. He referred questions to Lt. Brian Butler, head of internal affairs, who said he and Capt. Jason Simon will meet with the two police unions today to discuss the policy “pursuant to their collective bargaining agreements.”

He said that will be the “last step” to creating the policy. Officers are reading the policy and signing off on it now, but they will be trained on it this spring, Butler said previously.

He said the department had policies on bias-free policing before but the policy “tells you what to do if you see it” and other things, he said.

Simon then reported on the software the department is using that tracks the race and gender of drivers stopped by officers.

Using the software this way “brings us into compliance into the Ohio Collaborative Community-Police Advisory Board, which works in partnership with the Ohio Department of Public Safety to certify police departments in policing standards.

He said the software requires officers to enter the race and sex before the report can be “closed out.” The department never had that type of system before.

The data can then be turned into reports that can track the race and sex of the people officers are stopping. Committee members earlier questioned former police Chief Robin Lees as to why the department was not tracking race and sex so that it could be determined whether officers were racially profiling citizens.

The committee asked the chief about the department’s efforts to stop illegal motorcycle and ATV riding in the city, often times by juveniles.

He referred the question to Butler, who was part of the unit that attacked the problem. They used a sheriff’s office drone to watch the riders from the air, which enabled officers to determine where they lived. They also followed social media accounts to locate them.

Officers seized 20 to 30 motorcycles and ATVs in various parts of the city last year, Butler said. Locating them that way avoided pursuits that could lead to injury, Butler said.

“It slowed them down, but it didn’t elimininate them,” Butler said. “I’m sure by now they’ve got their hands on new” motorcycles and ATVs, he said.