This Tuesday is the next City Council meeting for King City, and on the agenda is a discussion of the need to potentially hire an outside consultant to audit the city's police department.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., and will be held at the King City Recreation Center at 401 Division St. City staff has stated the meeting is happening at the Rec. Center rather than City Hall, in order to facilitate the larger number of citizens expected to attend.

“We can't investigate if no one comes forward,” said City Manager Michael Powers, noting the need for citizens to make formal complaints if they see wrongdoing. He said of his stance, “If someone comes to my door with a legitimate complaint, I will personally drive them up to the District Attorney's office to get the ball rolling on an internal affairs investigation.”

The discussion of a police audit is a result of the two-hour open session from the June 22 meeting of the City Council, where citizens came forward to voice complaints about the police department and its officers. Complaints ranged from allegations of racism and job negligence to favoritism for certain gangs.

The Council had agreed during last month's meeting to put a discussion item on the agenda for this month. The community has been encouraged to come forward and express their own complaints against or praise for the police department and its officers.

The council will gauge citizen opinion and come to a conclusion on whether the city needs an audit, and if so, of what scope and magnitude.

Captain Bruce Miller, acting chief for the department, has noted he feels the complaints stem from a breakdown of trust between community members and police. He has explained that in recent years, the department has begun outreach efforts, including the Clergy Council, Business Watch, Town Watch, Police Activities League, and the new Block Captain program.

The Block Captain program is slated to be discussed at Tuesday's meeting. Miller had described it as a program to have community volunteers to be assigned to neighborhoods to specifically act as intermediaries between the neighborhood and police.

The Council will also discuss an ordinance on itinerant vendors in the city parks, a business license fee increase ordinance, a flood damage prevention ordinance and the annual operating and capital budget for the fiscal year.