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Under the proposed ordinance rewrite, whole Internal Affairs files would no longer be available to the Police Civilian Review Board investigator. Board panels that weigh discipline cases would look at current allegations but might not have access to an officer’s earlier disciplinary history. Had the rules been in effect, for example, when the board looked at Gallegos’ file, board members would have known he was charged with sexual harassment but not that he’d been written up earlier for a similar offense.

The City Council delayed amending the review board ordinance until after November’s elections. The two council members most critical of the review board—Saxton and Dave Buhler—are no longer on the council, and it is unclear if the idea will be resurrected. Becker hasn’t given city staff direction on the subject.

During the mayoral election, the police union asked some candidates if they would replace the board investigator. Becker, according to Gallegos, wouldn’t commit to firing McCartney, and the union endorsed another candidate. While Becker initially backed the legislative proposal to restrict access to police disciplinary records, he later backed away from the bill. The mayor told City Weekly the bill had been presented to him as a “clean up” measure, and he never supported complete secrecy for police discipline.

Burbank says he doesn’t have any specific changes in mind for the Police Civilian Review Board, but notes the board has greatly expanded from the use-of-force board begun in the early 1990s by Chief Ortega. “Public trust issues were the reason the board was created. Now, it’s a records clerk having an affair, the office romance,” he says. “I’m not opposed to that, necessarily. I don’t think we have anything to hide. But is that focus where the board needs to be?”

That said, Burbank does not want the board to go away. For one thing, it gives cover to his discipline decisions. “I do think [the Police Civilian Review Board] is crucial in modern policing,” he says. “I don’t think I could function without it.”

Gallegos does want the board to change. The union president says the Police Civilian Review Board should examine allegations of inappropriate use of force, and that’s all. And, no information from board reviews of individual officers should ever be released to the public. Rather, the board’s role should be strictly to advise the police chief, he says. If members don’t like what the chief does, they can always complain to the mayor.

Deeda Seed was saddened by the blow-up of the board which she helped to create. “It turned into something that did harm instead of good,” she says. “Things got mucked up.”

The problem, as Seed sees it, is lingering confusion about the intended role and authority of the Police Civilian Review Board. Does the board’s role end at recommending whether or not a complaint should be sustained, or should it be allowed to second guess the police chief’s punishment? What happens when the chief and board disagree? How does the board communicate its concerns?

All those questions should be nailed down, Seed says. There is tension built into the system, but it was made unworkable in Salt Lake City by misunderstanding.

Salt Lake City isn’t alone in grappling with police oversight. In Seattle, tensions between police oversight agencies and the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild boiled over last year. As in Salt Lake City, the issues were a leak from the board and complaints the police chief was letting officers off too easily. But the outcome was different. In Seattle, a blue-ribbon commission last month recommended expanded oversight board powers, stiffer punishments for officers, publication of Internal Affairs files and making the chief explain himself in writing when he reverses a board decision.

In Salt Lake City, McCoy is looking forward to a fresh start. Chief Burbank says he’s anticipating a new era of cooperation and communication with the Police Civilian Review Board.

McCartney, however, warns peace and love between the board and police department are possible only if the board isn’t doing its job. “If you’re looking at dirt, you’re going to get dirty,” he says.

McCartney’s replacement, Rick Rasmussen, is a retired FBI agent who worked with the city Police Department on the 2006 Destiny Norton child kidnapping and murder, the case that first brought Burbank to the public eye. Like McCartney before him, Rasmussen has already been welcomed on the police union’s Webpage as one of the boys. Only time will tell how long the honeymoon lasts.