Citizens arrived Tuesday afternoon at Bethel AME Church to watch Spokane’s first review of police conduct in nearly 10 years. Upon entering, they walked down a narrow hall, following the thick cables that led to television cameras inside a small meeting room.

Four rows of five chairs each greeted them. Most of them were eventually taken, with about half being filled by members of the media. City Councilwoman Mary Verner also attended. The chairs faced a long, rectangular table – the kind families haul out for Thanksgiving overload. Behind it sat six members of the Citizens Oversight Commission. A fly hovered in front of them, perhaps sensing the perspiration building up in the hot, stuffy room.

At the back of the room, a woman busied herself in a small kitchen, preparing plates of cookies, crackers and fruit, and filling a punch bowl with ice.

Early on, a window was slid open, but it did little good.

Commission Chairman Lonnie Mitchell, who is the pastor of the church, welcomed the small crowd and then announced that committee members would be heading across the hall to his office to hear a citizen’s complaint against the Spokane Police Department and its handling of the case involving Lt. Judi Carl.

She was the officer accused of abusing her position in reacting to a man who was detaining children, including her son and daughter, at gunpoint because he thought they were involved in vandalism. The man pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor, and Carl was suspended one day for using foul language.

A citizen complained that the case was handled unfairly. Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick disagreed, but sent the case to the commission for review.

The problem is that the commission, however well-meaning, has few tools at its disposal to conduct an independent assessment of what happened. In reforming the commission, Mayor Dennis Hession reappointed four of its previous seven members. Its rules and procedures were fundamentally unchanged.

The good news is that Kirkpatrick traveled to Boise this week to learn about better systems for police oversight and transparency. We doubt she heard much support for the old ways. Also encouraging is that the mayor has hired an expert in police oversight to recommend a better system.

Tuesday’s closed-door session at the church lasted more than an hour. Upon returning, Mitchell announced that the commission would study the case and meet again the following Tuesday.

Just like that, it was over.

Those in attendance might be wondering why they bothered. They might be discouraged about the prospects for change. But they, and all of Spokane, should withhold judgment until a new process is established and put to use.

The current case should be judged for what it is: a trip through a museum of police oversight. History can be instructive; it can show us why change was needed.

And, if nothing else, the cookies and punch were refreshing.