It's been six months since world leaders assembled in Pittsburgh for the G-20 summit and protests led to the arrests of dozens of people.

Since then, the Citizen Police Review Board has been stymied in its efforts to obtain arrest reports and other material on cases stemming from the disorder. Now the decision of how much information should be provided to that civilian watch-dog panel is in the hands of a judge.

Most ordinary citizens didn't go anywhere near the G-20 protests, so why should they care? Because the actions of police during these public demonstrations raise broader questions about how officers have been trained to respond to any kind of large gathering and whether lessons can be learned from September's events.

The review board is an independent agency formed as a result of a 1997 referendum in which city voters said they wanted a public body to investigate citizen complaints alleging improper police conduct. Since then, the board has examined individual complaints and issued reports with widespread impact on police pursuits, race relations, the use of Tasers and other issues. City attorneys want the review board to have a limited role.

Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. must decide the legal points, but it is disappointing that this matter even had to go to court.

Pittsburgh's G-20 was largely successful, and leaders earned accolades because the level of disruption did not mirror the destructive experiences of other cities that have hosted it. But more can be learned from the summit if the Citizen Police Review Board gets the data it needs to study police response.

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