It has no teeth.

That was our reaction after reading Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s plan for a new civilian review board to investigate serious complaints lodged against police, including allegations of abuse, brutality, misconduct and shootings involving officers.

But the board Mayor Stoney proposes would not have subpoena power — instead having to request subpoenas from a circuit court judge. And the board’s findings and determinations for punishment would only be recommendations to the police chief.

That is no power at all.

We call for Mayor Stoney to go back to the drawing board and come back with a plan to deliver true police reform as demanded by the people of this city when they took to the streets day after day in 2020 following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The people have called for creation of an independent citizen review board to oversee the police, a department of roughly 700 officers and detectives who are sworn to serve and protect the public and whose salaries are paid by the taxpayers of this city.

Instead, Mayor Stoney has delivered a plan aimed at placating a police chief who believes he should have ultimate control.

Yes, we believe Chief Gerald M. Smith, or whoever is in the leadership role in the Richmond Police Department, should have authority over his or her sworn officers and other employees. And we believe the department’s Internal Affairs Division should investigate any and all complaints lodged against officers by the public.

But the ultimate oversight should rest with an independent body whose members are neither beholden to nor dependent upon Chief Smith or Mayor Stoney for their employment. They should have the freedom — and power — to look anywhere and everywhere their investigation takes them and question anyone and everyone needed to determine the truth. And their resulting findings and recommendations should be binding.

Public trust in the Richmond Police Department can be built only by having an independent panel to review incidents such as the violent arrest on March 7 of Alecia Nelson, a 33-year-old mother who was shopping for snacks for her child’s elementary school class at the Family Dollar store on Westover Hills Boulevard in South Side, when she was taken down by Officer Graham Lang, allegedly for shoplifting.

We are grateful to Joshua Carter, a shopper who had the presence of mind to pull out his cellphone and record the ugly incident, which has gone viral on social media.

We acknowledge that the video doesn’t capture what happened before Ms. Nelson was on the ground with Officer Lang on top of her. The police department stated that it has launched its own investigation.

No shoplifting charges have been filed against Ms. Nelson; she was charged with felony assault against a police officer. And she has filed her own official complaint with the Richmond Police Department against Officer Lang, who has been with the department for 21 years.

This situation screams out for review by an outside panel that is independent of the police department. A citizen review panel’s investigation would carry more weight in the community and leave fewer doubts about an outcome.

Without a review panel, we urge witnesses to present their information to the public, as well as to the police.

And we call on Richmond City Council to reject the toothless proposal put forth by Mayor Stoney and, instead, to create an authentic civilian oversight panel with subpoena power and real authority.

We cannot be timid or faint-hearted about change when it comes to moving our city forward. Instituting a toothless police review panel is akin to putting up contextual signs by Confederate statues and thinking you’ve accomplished something. It accomplishes nothing.

Richmond must embrace real change — like it did when it finally removed the Confederate monuments — if we are to have progress. A strong, powerful and independent review panel — not a police department puppet — would signal real change.