Members of the coalition Community Oversight Now launched a Nashville charter referendum campaign to have an independent community oversight board.
Nearly 40 people held a news conference outside of Metro Police's East Precinct about why they would like to have the board.
"It's important to me for a number of reasons but the thing that got me really interested in this proposal was the Driving While Black which indicated Nashville has a real problem in our police force," said Nicholas Cavin.
For this referendum 4,300 registered voters must sign the petition by the first week of August.
Upon validation, the referendum will be placed on the November 6th ballot.
This charter referendum if voted for would give the board the ability to investigate allegations of misconduct by Metro Police.
Members say Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. played an important voice for police accountability when he was alive.
"Not just black and brown people, but all the communities should care about transparency and accountability and that's what Dr. Kind thought as well. So I'm hoping on this day we'd give serious thought on reasons why we know this would be a good thing for Nashville," Jackie Sims said.
In January, metro council voted against legislation that would create one.
Members plan to start collecting signatures on April 11 when early voting begins.
