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Council renews Citizens Police Advisory Board; members pledge focus on data and outreach
Summary
The council extended the Citizens Police Advisory Board's term to Dec. 31, 2029. The chief and board chair said the group has produced useful validation and is pivoting to data collection, analysis, and a safety campaign; a new board member outlined steps to build data capacity and recommended partnering with county data committees.
Billings — The City Council voted to renew the Citizens Police Advisory Board (CPAB) through Dec. 31, 2029, after presentations from the police chief, the board chair and a newly appointed member who specializes in data.
Chief described the board's trajectory since it was created in 2021: initial staffing and participation challenges were followed by a period of more consistent work. He told council the board has contributed to recruitment and retention discussions, community engagement and data-related tasks and "have validated, in my opinion, what it is that we're doing across the board. We're doing the right things the right way," the chief said.
Carrie Boyter, chair of the CPAB, said the board plans to dedicate time to data collection and analysis and to reconstitute a safety campaign that stalled when the city's public-information officer position became vacant. She said the board hopes to apply for funding to support outreach.
Jordan Weber, the recently appointed CPAB member with a background in psychology and data roles, outlined a staged approach: form a small subcommittee, engage criminal-justice and nonprofit partners, and either leverage existing county data infrastructure or hire/report via a contractor or platform (Power BI or similar) to build dashboards and routine reports. Weber cautioned that building robust reporting can be resource intensive and recommended partnering with the county criminal-justice coordinating committee to avoid duplicative efforts.
Council members generally supported renewing the board but asked for continued accountability and evidence of deliverables, noting that earlier terms were slow to produce results. The resolution to extend the board passed.
