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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-15-1998 Communication DRAFT-I PCRB STANDING OPERATING PROCEDURES The Police Citizen Review Board shall review Police Department investigations into allegations of misconduct lodged against police officers, conduct further investigation of the complaint when the Board deems it necessary, and issue a public report which explains whether and why the complaint is sustained or not sustained. (~OmDlaint Process: 1. When a complaint is filed in the City Clerk's Office, copies shall be sent to board members in a timely manner. 2. When processing a complaint, the board shall: · use procedural rules in tho statute; · follow bylaws; · follow the board's standing operating procedures. 3. Ifa conflict of interest exists for a board member, that member needs to state what the conflict is at the next meeting, leave the meeting before the discussion begins, and return only afrer the vote is taken. [Should a separate "conflicts" paragraph be added?] 4. After a complaint is filed and once the board receives the Police Chief's Report or City Manager's Report, the board shall ask staffif there is anything to add which should/could be presented to the board. 5. Subcommittees shall be appoimed by the chair as needed. * No subcommittee shall have authority to act unless the board as a whole has granted full authority; · Subcommittees will provide a written report to the full board. 6. The PCRB members shall share the respons~ilities of report-writing amongst themselves, requesting any assistance from staff'as needed. Whenever possible, dra~ report shall be included in the agenda packets prior to thc meeting at which it is discussed. · A subcommittee shall be appointed by Chair to prepare drafr reports. · The draft report shall come back to the full board for discussion and finalization. 7. The PCRB shall not issue a report critical of a police officer until after the officer has been offered the opportunity for a name-clearing heating (per City Code), as outlined in the attached "Procedures for Police Citizen Review Board Name Clearing Hearing" memorandum from Legal Counsel. Meeting; 1. Agenda packets shall be mailed three (3) days prior to a meeting when possible, 2. Notice of meetings must be posted twenty-four (24) hours prior to a meeting. 3. Taped minutes of open meetings shall be kept thirty (30) days from acceptance and approval of minutes. 4. Tape minutes of executive meetings shall be kept for one year from the date of the meeting. 5. Legal Counsel for the PCRB shall attend afl meetings unless otherwise directed. 6. The Consent Calendar shall include: * Acceptance of minutes of the last meeting(s); Acceptance of correspondence and/or memorandums directed to the PCRB (not complaint-related) - Staff will be given direction based on board discussion on whether staff shall respond or whether board members will respond, with copies furnished to the board. 7. Time for public discussion shall be made available at all meetings open for public discussions per by-laws. 8. Time for board information shall be made available at afl meetings. Mediation: 1. The board shall offer formal mediation as detailed in the attached adopted "Police Citizens Review board Formal Mediation Policies/Procedures" and '~Police Citizens Review Board Guidelines for Formal Mediation." Policies and Procedures: 1. Policy-review discussions shall be included in meeting schedules on a regular basis. 2. The board shaft prioritize their own policy-review as deemed appropriate. 3. The process for policy and procedure review shaft include: Presentation by Police Department, if requested; · Board discussion; · Public hearing, if board so decides; Work with police on recommended changes; · Present recommendations to City Council. 3 Creneral: l. The City Clerk will provide staff support to the PCRB and will specificafly retain an administrative assistant who will perform clerical and administration duties for the board. 2. The lawful custodian of PCRB records and the central depository for all information is the City Clerk's Office of the City of Iowa City IA. 3. When Legal Counsel and/or staffare contacted on PCRB business, they shall report that information to the Chair and to each other. 4. Any contacts between a board member and the Police Chief(or City Manager) shall be in the form of written communication when possible. 5. Any requests for information fi.om the board to the Police Chief shall be in writing. 6. Telephone messages to PCRB staff fi.om citizens shall not be retained nor will messages be transcribed unless there are extenuating circumstances on a case-by-case basis determined by Legal Counsel. 7. The PCRB Administrative Assistant is budgeted by the City at twenty (20) hours a week. These hours include otlice hours, meeting times and time spent on preparation of documents. Staod#r~! Ouerati~t, Procedures may need to be developed for:. **'"~'~....v, · Public hearings procedures Quorum attendance at non-mecting functions · Annual Reports · A written policy re: conflicts of interest and exparte contacts · Iowa Open Records Law, Chapter 22, The Code of Iowa · Iowa Open Meetings Law, Chapter 21, The Code of Iowa MEMORANDUM TO: POLICE CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD FROM: DOUGLAS S. RUSSELL DATE: OCTOBER 31, 1997 RE: PROCEDURES FOR POLICE CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD NAME CLEARING HEARINGS 1. ~ 8-8-7(B)(3) provides, "At the conclusion of the Board's review, the Board shall issue a public report to the City Council concerning the complaint investigation." 2. -(~-~4~eftee 8-8-7(B)(4) provides, "The Board shall not issue a report which is critical of the sworn police officer's conduct until after a "name-clearing hearing" has been held, consistent with constitutional due process law." This section also requires the Board to give notice of such a hearing to both the officer and the complainant "so that they may testify before the Board and present additional relevant evidence". In addition, "The officer may waive the right to this hearing upon written waiver submitted to the Board." 3. Ordinance 8-8-7(B)(5) provides, '1If the Board's report is not critical of the officer's conduct, the Board is not required by law to offer a hearing to the officer, but the Board may hold hearings as deemed appropriate by the Board." 4 It is clear that any portio~ o,r 2 complaint which is sustained by the police chief's or city manager's report which is then susiained by the Board and not recommended for reversal or modification woutd be a report "critical of the sworn police officer's conduct". This would necessitate a name-clearing hearing 5. The Board should next select a proposed date for a name-clearing hearing. 6. Written notice should then be given to the officer and the complainant of the date, time and place of the hearing and its purpose. The notice to the officer, if he or she is not identified in the chief's or city manager's report, should be transmitted via STEIN. RUSSELL the chief of police,* The notice to the officer should provide a written response form for & PUGH, EL.F' the officer to demand or waive the name-clearing hearing. ^~'?o..~,~$ (*with the chief of police sloshing an affidavit of service of such t~otice) ,o,.~ c,.~.,ow..22.. / 7. The officer may respond by demanding a hearing, waiving the hearing in .... ~,."..o. /writing or 'IN(. not responding to the notice. Due process requires that if the officer demands a hearing, one should be held If the officer provides a written waiver of the hearing to the Board, the hearing need not be held but may be held The complainant apparently has no independent right to a hearing and the complainant's wishes as to holding the name-clearing hearing are not binding on the board. If the officer does not reply the Board should schedule the hearing with the appropriate published agenda and notice. ~' %6c,~_~,.~ 8. If the officer has demanded a ,h. ear.~g the chair of the B,o,.ard should conduct a hearing mindful of the requirement of e~d;,,--,,~-e 8-8-7(B)(4) that, The Board shall be responsible for protecting all State and Federal rights enjoyed by both the officer and the complainant." At a minimum this would require that the officer and the complainant have a right to make a statement and to present evidence and the testimony of other witnesses. I believe it would also require some right to confrontation and cross- examination or at least an opportunity to rebut opposing evidence. The Board may set reasonable rules about the time allowed to each side with the types of evidence it may receive as long as the rules are neutral. The hearing goal is to give everyone a fair say in a controlled manner. / 9. if the officer has waived the right to a name-clearing hearing the Board -~.,I need not provide one in his or her absence. Nonetheless, under ordinance 8-8-7(B)(5) ~._~- the Board may hold hearings as deemed appropriate by the Board. This means the Board may go ahead with a hearing about a complaint if the officer has waived the name-clearing hearing, but the complainant or the department wishes to present evidence. The Board need not provide a hearing in such a case, however. 10. In the event the officer does not reply concerning his or her right to a name-clearing hearing, the Board should proceed to schedule a hearing and determine at the time of the hearing whether it will receive evidence or cancel the hearing. The same considerations here would apply as apply in paragraph nine. 11. The name-clearing hearing is a closed hearing under Iowa Code 22.7(5) or 21 5(i). The subject matter is still the chief's report and our pending investigation of it. An officer's request for a name-clearing hearing would engage Section 21.5(j). 12. After the closed session in which the name-clearing hearing is held and the Board reaches its decision about the contents of its public report, the Board should return to open session. At that time the Board should vote approval of its public report and vote to transmit the public report to the City Council with a dated letter of transmittal. Pursuant to section 8-8-7(B)(3), "A copy of this public report to the City Council shall be given to the Complainant, the police officer, the Police Chief and the City Manager.". 13. The public report is a public record. STEIN. RUSSELL 14. A remaining issue, for.,~ consideration of the Board concerns naming & PUGH, LL.P names in the public report. ~ section 8-8-7(B)(3) provides, "This public report tN ,,,~.,o ,o ..... shall not include the names of the complainant or the police officers unless the complaint ,o. ~"~"',A.'°'"^ ,,,,,,, is sustained.". This language tells you what the Board may not do as to naming names. "',";~,',"~:~'° It does not say what you may do. The implication of the language of the ordinance is that in a complaint which is sustained, the name of the complainant and the officer may be released as part of the public report. The Board should determine whether the names should be obtained from the police department and placed in the public report. The Board should determine whether the City Council should receive this information and whether the information should be available to the public in a case with a sustained complaint. (11/6/97 - The Board has decided that all names involving name-clearir~ hearing, s shall remain confidential. ) 15. The Board should also consider the content of its annual report under ordinance 8-8-7(C)(2) which provides, "This annual report shall not include the names of the complainants or officers involved in complaints which were not sustained and shall otherwise be in a form which protects the confidentiality of the parties while providing the public with information on the overall performance of the Police Department." The same issue presents itself in this context. Douglas S. Russell DSR.kkj STEIN. RUSSELL (2/2~/~8) POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD FORMAL MEDIATION POLICIES/PROCEDURES 1. Requests for mediation, by either the complainant or the po/ice officer, can be made at any time during the review process. Mediation w/il proceed as promptly as possible. 2. Mediation may proceed only upon written agreement of ali parties. 3. Once an interest in formal mediation is expressed, the complainant shall be provided with a list of approved mediators to select from. Eve~ effort will be made by the PCRB staffto arrange for the selected mediator. If, however, that is not possible, then the PCRB staffwill discuss another possibility with the parties. 4. Formal mediation arrangements will be handled by PCRB stale 5. Mediation shall he conducted at no cost to the pa,ties by a trained mediator authorized by the PCRB. 6, Mediators shall conduct mediation sessions at times and in places agreed to by the parties. 7. Matters discussed in mediation sessions shall be confidential. 8. Statements and records disclosed during mediatio~may not be used or introduced · -'~ · . ~ in evidence during any legal proceeding or PCRB mvesugat~on~f ~,,/ ~' o.~,~t 9. If mediation is successful in resolving the complaint, the mediator shall inform the PCRB in writing, and the complainant shall withdraw his/her PCRB complaint. 10. It' mediation fails to resolve the complaint, the mediator shall inform the PCRB in writing, and the review of the complaint shall proceed as though mediation did not occur. 11. Mediation does not "stop the clock" in the normal complaint process, but extensions based on mediation can be sought through the City Counc/l. 12. Only parties named in the complaint can participate in mediation. Others may be present if all p~ties agree. (2/25/98) POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD GUIDELINES FOR FORMAL MEDIATION Tke goal of the PCRB is to assure that investigations into claims of pollce misconduct are conducted in a manner wkick is fair, thor~gk and accurate. Formal mediation is offered as ti method to facilitate a successful resolt~tion of the issues involved in the complaint 1. Mediation is a process in which the parties named in a complaint meet together with a mediator to discuss resolution by promoting voluntary agreement between the parties. 2. Formal Mediation shall be available at any time durin8 the review process upon written consent of the complainant and the police officer(s) who are the subject of the complaint. 3. Participants. Only the parties named in the complaint can participate in mediation, however others may be present if all parties agree. 4. The Mediator is a neutral person who is not an agent for any party. The mediator is to assist and help the parties reach their own resolution or agxeement and does not give legal advice. 5. Phlce. Mediations shall be held at times and in places agreed upon by the parties. 6. Confidentiality. The parties understand that in order for mediation to work, open and honest communications are essential. the mediator nor the mediator's notes and records shall be subject to subpoena or other discovery by any party following the mediation. 7. Termination. Mediation is a voluntary process, and it is understood that any party may terminate at any time. 8. Results of the mediation shall be reported by the mediator as either (a) Resolved and PCRB complaint is withdrawn, or (b) Unresolved, and the PCRB investigation shall proceed as though mediation did not occur. 9. Fees and expenses of the mediator shall be billed by invoice and paid by the PCRB through the City of lowa City, IA at an hourly rate.