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Home My WebLink About02-09-1999 Communication Topics for Discussion Joint Meeting of Iowa City Council and PCRB February 11, 1999 · ResponSibilities of the PCRB under the Ordinance · Overview of PCRB work in 1998 · Board perspectives and concerns: 1. Need for means to monitor patterns in complaints, including a system for identifying officers who are the subject of complaints 2. Use of two distinct complaint forms 3. Complainant's right to appear at summary dismissal hearings 4. Extension of deadline for Chief's or City Manager's Report from 30 days to 60 days 5. Extension of complaint filing deadline from within 60 days to within 90 days of alleged incident 6. Extension of deadline for Board's Public Report from 30 days to 45 days of receipt of Chief's Report MEMORANDUM POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD A Board of the City of Iowa City 410 East Washington Street Iowa City IA 52240-1826 (319)356-5413 DATE: February 4, 1999 TO: City Council FROM: Sandy Bauer, PCRB Assistant RE: PCRB Extensions This memorandum is in response to your inquiry at your informal meeting on January 29 regarding PCRB extensions. To-date, the following extensions were requested and granted: PCRB Complaint 897-1 - 30-day extension PCRB Complaint #97-2-#97-7 - 45-day extension PCRB Complaint #98-11 - 45-day extension PCRB Complaint #98-12 - 45-day extension PCRB Complaint #98-14 - 4§-day extension PCRB Complaint #98-16 - 45-day extension PCRB Complaint #98-19 - 30-day extension (requested but not yet granted) The primary reason for these extension requests was awaiting additional information from the Police Department. If there is any further information I can provide you, please let me know. City of Iowa City MEMORANDUM Date: February 4, 1999 To: City Council From: Eleanor M. Dilkes, City Attorney Re: PCRB - Timeline for Police Chief's Report to PCRB At your meeting with staff on January 29 you asked for an estimate of a definite period of time within which Chief Winkelhake's report must be submitted to the PCRB. Currently, the ordinance provides that this report must be submitted to the PCRB within 30 days of the filing of the complaint. R.J. informed you that he would need 60 days to complete his investigation. My office must review R.J.'s report before it goes to the Board. Following this review time must be allowed for us to confer with R.J. and for his staff to make revisions to the report, if necessary. I would propose that 30 days is a reasonable amount of time to allow for review by my office and possible conference and revision in light of that review. This estimate is based on the assumption that extensions will continue to be granted by the Board for "good cause" in accordance with the ordinance. Finally, as I told you at your work session, it is inevitable in an already busy office that such a deadline will require that other work be set aside in order to meet the deadline. cc: Steve Atkins Marian Kan' R.J. Winkelhake Sarah Holecek elea~o~nlern~Ed2*3.doc PCRB Responsibilities 1. Review all complaints of police misconduct. · Review Chief's Report in a manner that is fair, thorough and accurate · Issue public report to City Council 2. Help the Chief, City Manager, and City Council evaluate the overall performance of the ICPD. · Maintain a monitoring system for tracking complaints · Provide an annual report to the City Council · Review practices, procedures and policies and make recommendations for change · Recommend ways for the ICPD to improve community relations and be more responsive to community needs 3. Assure the citizens of Iowa City that the ICPD's performance is in keeping with community standards. · Seek and accept comment, opinion and advice · Hold periodic community forums to gather public input and to inform the public Draft/2/9/99 Iowa City Police Citizens Review Board Activities Since September 1997 Organization and Administration · Board member terms began September 1, 1997 · First business meeting held September 10, 1997 ~ · Independent legal counsel hired September 25, 1997 (after numerous applicants had been screened and four finalists interviewed) · Worked continuously through fall/winter 1997-98 with City Clerk and then with PCRB Administrative Assistant to establish Board working assumptions and routines. · Drafted bylaws, which were approved by Council in December 1997. · Worked on Standard Operating Procedures during 1998; submitted final draft to Council in September 1998 · Revised the PCRB complaint form · Wrote and arranged for production and distribution of a PCRB brochure · Established mediation procedures; developed standard correspondence and materials for mediation participants · Identified a pool of appropriate mediators after reviewing a number of dossiers · Created templates for various office correspondence Board Orientation and Training · Regularly read a variety of relevant primary and secondary resources · Attended 12-session Iowa City Citizen Police Academy, fall 1997 · Arranged for presentations by the Chief and staff on relevant policy and procedure. · Arranged for presentation by David Baldus, College of Law, on use of force and on age-based and race-based traffic stops Board Work · Held nearly 60 regular and special meetings, two to three hours each, since September 1997. Now scheduling a two-hour meeting every Tuesday. · Established procedures for reviewing the Chief's reports and for requesting and examining supplementary information. · Established a standard format for preparing Board reports on the Chief's reports. · Received a total of 26 complaints through February 1999. Issued public reports on 25; one is pending. Have sustained only 3 of the xx allegations in these complaints (two were affirming of the Chief's sustainings). · Spent from 6 to 30 person hours per complaint. · Scheduled two name-clearing hearings; held one but cancelled the other when the officer declined to appear · Held two public forums; a third is being planned.