We’re not advocates of discussing alleged incidents of police misconduct behind closed doors. That said, it is odd to us that two Forest Park village commissioners expressed concern last week at a village council meeting that a proposed settlement of such a case — an extremely modest settlement — had not previously been discussed in an executive session.
Turns out the executive session at a previous council meeting had been cancelled and therefore the settlement came straight to the board’s public agenda.
In a village with an abnormally high number of lawsuits against its police department by alleged perpetrators complaining of mistreatment, protocols for addressing these issues seem especially important. Honestly, we appreciated hearing Mayor Rory Hoskins and Village Administrator Tim Gillian publicly explain details of this case and how it came to be settled. This case, in which the village firmly maintained there was no wrongdoing by the arresting officer, was a modest one. But more public airing of the issues around charges of police misconduct, both when the village could acknowledge overreach or could defend its officers, would bring necessary light.
