Who's the Boss? Concerns over police budget reveal leadership vacuum

The police department budget is the second largest single department budget behind public schools, and $900,000 more than than last year, but City Councilors say they don't know what's in it

In recent coverage by the Daily Progress and Charlottesville Tomorrow about City Council's concern over the proposed Police Department's new budget [$18.9 million], one thing that isn't directly stated, but is implicitly clear, is that Charlottesville, like so many cities across the country, has long allowed its police department to function without any real kind of civilian oversight.

Indeed, despite it being the second-largest single department budget behind public schools, and $900,000 more than last year, City Councilors said they didn't know what was in it, and admitted that a records requests from a Charlottesville resident provided the only real insight into where the money would be spent. In addition, the statements from City Councilors were strangely passive: the Mayor "hoped" the city manager and the city's budget team would provide more information, another Councilor suggested it would be "helpful" if Police Chief RaShall Brackney would agree to respond publicly to question…