Arlington County has appointed attorney and organizer Mummi Ibrahim as its first independent policing auditor — a role tasked with overseeing investigations into the county’s police department.

The position was created last summer in conjunction with the establishment of an independent Community Oversight Board, a civilian group with the power to review incidents of police misconduct and community complaints.

Ibrahim’s appointment finalizes the county’s new apparatus for increased police oversight, after more than year of debate over how much investigative power the civilian board should have. While local activists wanted the board to have the ability to launch its own investigations into the police department, the agreed upon version of the board (pushed by County Manager Mark Schwartz) limited the scope of its powers, giving the group the authority to review existing investigations into concerning behavior and make policy recommendations.

“Now with Mummi joining us, [the board] will be able to get to work, and we’re really excited to see what they do and how they breathe life into this function that the community worked so hard to create last year,” says Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol.

Ibrahim comes into the job with an extensive history in criminal justice reform. She currently serves as a senior staff attorney with the Advancement Project, a nonprofit focused on supporting civil rights movements with legal and campaign organizing assistance. Previously, she held roles with the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, where she campaigned to end the sentencing of juveniles to life in prison without parole, and her own criminal defense practice, where she worked with young people who were tried and sentenced as adults.  She was also a contract attorney for New Orleans’ Independent Police Monitor.

Ibrahim was appointed by Schwartz after Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill in March that would have afforded the Arlington County Board hiring power, rather the county manager. Board members argued that giving the county manager — who also hires the county’s police chief and oversees the police department — the power to hire the “independent” auditor diluted the position’s independence. Cristol says that while Youngkin’s ruling was frustrating, the lawmakers are still pleased with the input they had in Mummi’s selection process — a county board member as well as a member of the Community Oversight Board were included in the decision.

“We do remain in need of that governance, but in practical terms, this is an [Independent Policing Auditor] that I think is going to do an exceptional job setting a standard for the role, and really getting to work with the community and law enforcement to build trust, improve policy, and handle incidents that the community may want to bring forward,” Cristol says.

Julius D. Spain Sr., the president of the NAACP Arlington Branch, says that despite the disappointment of Youngkin’s ruling, the NAACP has had a strong line of communication with the county staff and manager, and sees Ibrahim’s newcomer status — “not [being] that entrenched in the county” — as a benefit.

“This seems to be a really truly independent hire — it’s a positive thing. And at the end of the day, one of the most important concepts of civilian oversight of law enforcement is that it needs to be independent,” Spain Sr. says. “I think this is a fresh start for us.”

The formation of police oversight boards in the commonwealth began after George Floyd’s murder in 2020, when state lawmakers passed legislation granting localities the authority to establish review boards consisting of community members who would review incidents of police misconduct. Fairfax County has its own civilian review panel, as well as an independent auditor who was appointed by the Board of Supervisors in 2017. In Alexandria, the city council voted in 2021 to create an independent community policing review board, as well an independent auditor selected by the council.

Ibrahim will begin work on June 1, joining the nine-member civilian board appointed in March. All members of the board are Arlington residents — seven with voting power are community members, while two with non-voting power are people with prior law enforcement experience. The group now plans to begin work this fall.