Public Advocate candidate Bill de Blasio proposed a measure Tuesday to give the Civilian Complaint Review Board more power to prosecute cases and greater independence from the police department.

The council member was joined on the steps of City Hall by other elected officials and community leaders calling for the reforms.

His proposal would also give the CCRB the power to initiate complaints, improve community outreach, establish minimum qualifications for investigators and maintain confidentiality in investigations.

Last week, de Blasio introduced legislation to make the CCRB and other similar agencies independently budgeted. He says it's the only way they can keep up with the complaints they get.

"In the past eight years, the number of CCRB complaints has gone up 84 percent. So it's taking longer to review the complaints and the people of the city are not seeing results with any frequency. And part of that is the budget of the CCRB has not grown, while the amount of work they have to do has grown," de Blasio said.

De Blasio says his plan would maintain the police commissioner's decision-making role in officer discipline.

NY1 has reached out to the CCRB for comment.