Gates Panel Still Pending

Although more than a month has passed since the Cambridge Police Department announced that the City would be commissioning an independent police review panel in the aftermath of the controversial arrest of black Harvard professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr., committee members have yet to be finalized and announced.

The panel will likely include 10 to 14 non-paid professional experts in academia, law enforcement, and conflict resolution, whose names are expected to be announced within the next couple weeks, according to Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Police Executive Research Forum and chair of the panel. He said that finalizing appointments has been a “challenge” because people are often traveling and vacationing during the summer months.

Once the panel is convened, the full group will likely meet three or four times over a period of three to five months, Wexler said. Other small group meetings may be held as well, and additional phases may be added if needed, he said.

The CPD hired Jennifer Flagg, former chief administrative officer of the Mass. Turnpike Authority, in early August to serve as a liaison to the panel and to facilitate police discussions, according to CPD spokesman Frank Pasquarello.

Gates’ arrest, which some believe was prompted by police racial profiling, triggered a national media frenzy in July that enveloped even President Barack Obama.

Wexler said that the panel will seek lessons from the Gates arrest that can help local and national police with conflict resolution in the future, rather than compile an “action report” that only analyzes the incident. He said that the Gates brouhaha has been interpreted from many different perspectives, but that the review panel would help bring the discussion to a higher, more constructive level.

City Councilor Craig A. Kelley said that the panel would have to delicately examine the racial and class undertones of the arrest.

“When it’s all done...I don’t want people to look at it and say it was a waste of money, a whitewashing,” Kelley said. “We want people to say we had a thorough discussion, an honest review. If that takes a couple extra months to get there, I’m OK with it.”

—Staff writer Peter F. Zhu can be reached at pzhu@fas.harvard.edu.