HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-16-2008 PCRB Community ForumAGENDA
POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD
COMMUNITY FORUM
September 16, 2008, 7:30 P.M.
EMMA J. HARVAT HALL
410 E Washington St
ITEM NO. 1 CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL
ITEM NO. 2 PRESENTATION BY FORMER PCRB MEMBER, LOREN
HORTON - HISTORY /SUMMARY OF THE PCRB
ITEM NO. 3 PRESENTATION BY PCRB MEMBER, GREG ROTH - PCRB
COMPLAINT FILING PROCESS
ITEM NO. 4 PRESENTATION BY REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE ICPD -
ICPD FORMAL /INFORMAL COMPLAINT PROCESS
ITEM NO. 5 PUBLIC DISCUSSION WITH POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD
ITEM NO. 6 CONSIDER MOTION TO ACCEPT CORRESPONDENCE AND /OR
DOCUMENTS
ITEM NO. 7 ADJOURNMENT
The City of Iowa City
POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD
COMMUNITY FORUM
WHEN: Tuesday, September 16, 2008
TIME: 7:30 P.M.
WHERE: Emma J. Harvat Hall
410 E Washington St
TOPIC: History of the PCRB,
Complaint Filing Options &
Public Discussion
We invite YOU to attend a forum about the History of the Police Citizens Review
Board, Complaint Filing Options, and Public Discussion. Presentations will be given,
followed by a public discussion.
POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD
COMMUNITY FORUM
September 16, 2008
PLEASE SIGN IN
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO
ADDRESS THE PCRB
DURING PUBLIC DISCUSSION
INDIVIDUALS WILL BE CALLED IN
THAT ORDER
POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD
COMMUNITY FORUM
September 16, 2008
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADDRESS THE PCRB
PLEASE PRINT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS ON
THE ATTACHED SHEET
INDIVIDUALS WILL BE CALLED IN THAT ORDER
NAME:
ADDRESS:
ce
POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD
COMMUNITY FORUM
September 16, 2008
PLEASE PRINT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS ON
THE ATTACHED SHEET
IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY SIGNED IN
NAME:
Cl - 0 c) L/ ttl6 -7) i 6 7 -6rU-
ADDRESS:
%d-% (,tl L 1U U T
Page 1 of 1
Kellie Tuttle
From: City of Iowa City [web @iowa - city.org]
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 8:46 AM
To: Kellie Tuttle
Subject: ICgov.org Media Release: General City News
Police Citizens Review Board - Community Forum Contact: Kellie Tuttle
Posted by: City Clerk Contact Phone: (319) 356 -5043
Originally Posted 8/27/2008 8:45:41 AM
The Police Citizens Review Board will be holding a Community Forum on Tuesday, September
16, 2008 at 7:30 P.M. in Emma J. Harvat Hall. Topics will include: History of the PCRB,
Complaint Filing Options & Public Discussion. The agenda is available at:
ham_ / /www. icgov.org /default/apps /boards /board List. asp
View and edit your subscription details.
Visit our jobs page for employment opportunities.
View more news from the City of Iowa City.
Do not reply directly to this e-mail! It is produced from an automated system, and is not
monitored for replies. If you have a question or comment about this information, please contact
the originating department of this message, or by using our feedback form.
For technical questions regarding the website, please contact our_web_team.
9/9/2008
Page 1 of 1
Kellie Tuttle
From: City of Iowa City [web @iowa- city.org]
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2008 9:18 AM
To: Kellie Tuttle
Subject: ICgov.org Media Release: General City News
Police Citizens Review Board - Community Forum Contact: Kel_lie Tuttle.
Posted by: City Clerk Contact Phone: (319) 356 -5043
Originally Posted 9/8/2008 9:17:37 AM
The Police Citizens Review Board will be holding a Community Forum on Tuesday, September
16, 2008 at 7:30 P.M. in Emma J. Harvat Hall. Topics will include: History of the PCRB,
Complaint Filing Options & Public Discussion. The agenda is available at:
hl: / /www. icgov.ojg/de fault /apps/boards /boardList.asp
• View an edit your subscription details.
• Visit our lobs page. for_emplo r�ment opportunities..
• View_ more news from the City of Iowa City.
Do not reply directly to this e-mail! It is produced from an automated system, and is not
monitored for replies. If you have a question or comment about this information, please contact
the originating department of this message, or by using our feedback form.
For technical questions regarding the website, please contact our web team.
9/9/2008
Police Citt"zens R�eviewww
0
The Complaint Review
Proces
R Complaint
A complaint can be submitted
to the Police Citizens Review
Board (PCRB), the Police
Department, or both.
Citizen Comp laint form
Get complaint form through
•City Clerk/City Hall
•Police Department
•Iowa City Public Library
#&City of Iowa City web site
NvWW.1Cgov.org
Citizen Comp ai l nt
For PCRB to review, the
complaint must be filed in the
City Clerk's O
ce within go
days of incident.
• Board receives complaint form
Citizen's COMP laint
Forwards complaint form to
Chief of Police for
investigation
If complaint against the Chief
of Police, it is forwarded to
the City Manager
Investigation of Comp laint
Chief's investigation must be
completed within ��s
and a report of the findings
will be sent to the Police
Citizen's Review Board
(PCRB)
Investigation of Comp laint
The PCRB will grant
extensions for the Chief's
Report for a good cause
shown.
Police Chief's Report
Detailed report of findings
•May include witness and
complainant statements
from interviews, officer
reports, and police in car
video /audio
LA
Police Chief's Report
Will contain conclusions of
findings in regard to
allegations
in complaint.
Sustained
Not sustained
Police Chief's Report
Codes of Chief s Report
Complainant
PCRB
Police Officers
City Manager
PCRB Written Report
PCRB reviews Chief's Report
and sets level of review
Level of review set by need
for evidence to arrive at
conclusion
PCRB Written Report
-PCRB issues a written report
W it hin 45 days of receipt of
Chief's Report.
E xtensions can be requested
through City Council
PCRB Written Report
Detailed findings of fact
*Conclusion and support
Sustained
Not sustained
PCRB Written Report
• Copies of PCRB written report
•Complainant
•Police Officers
•City Manager
•City Council
PCRB Written Report
The PCRB may recommend a
reversal of the Chief's findings
if they are; unreasonable,
arbitrary, capricious, or are
contrary to Police Department
policy or practice, or anyfederal,
state, or local law.
PCRB Authority
*Limited civil administrative
review powers.
N o authority over criminal
matters or police discipline.
Contact Information
-PCRB
4lo E. Washington St.
•Iowa City, IA, 52240
(319) 356-5041
City website mrww.icgov.org
September 15, 2008
409 Crestview Avenue
Iowa City, IA 52245
TO: Police Citizens Review Board Forum —Input
Please accept this letter as input for your Sept. 16 hearing. I will be out of town and
cannot attend.
I would like to suggest that the Iowa City Police Department undertake a public
information and enforcement campaign regarding State law on pedestrian rights.
The trends in transportation toward increased use of public transportation, bicycles, and
walking, already popular in Iowa City, are being accelerated by the high cost of gasoline.
The City of Iowa City and the Johnson County Council of Governments have recently
adopted a Complete Streets Policy which calls for planning all new or substantially
rebuilt streets to accommodate bicycles and pedestrians.
Yet, the majority of automobile drivers seem to be unaware of State laws setting forth
conditions under which pedestrians have the right of way. At any rate, most disregard
these laws if they are aware of them. There is a fine stipulated for violation of these laws,
yet I have never seen announcements of any citations or fines listed in the press. Iowa
City has seen instances of pedestrian deaths due to disregard of these laws by motorists.
I often feel that I am taking my life in my hands when attempting to cross streets legally
at intersections.
Some recent signage attempts by the City are a step in the right direction. However,
motorists will not change their habits unless there is a consistent public information
campaign, underscored by consistent police enforcement with imposition of fines for
violations. This is not an unrealistic idea; there are other states in which this has become
a statewide habit and the pedestrian is regularly ceded right of way when crossing legally.
Chapter 321.327 of the Iowa Code provides that pedestrians have the right of way at "any
marked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection." In addition, Chapter 321.353
provides that "drivers must stop at the sidewalk" when exiting or entering driveways.
Chapter 321.329 provides that motorists must "avoid colliding with pedestrians."
Let's begin to enforce these laws in Iowa City. Resources devoted to this will benefit
many more people than some other enforcement campaigns now underway. Thanks you
for your consideration.
Carol Spaziani
410 E. WASHINGTON
IOWA CITY, IA 52240 -1826
PH: 319 - 356 -5275
FAX: 319 - 356 -5449
September 22, 2008
Mr. Michael Larson
Chair, Police Citizens Review Board
rn
City of Iowa City
o
>
w
Dear Mr. Larson and PCRB members,
i
All of the citizens that spoke at Tuesday's hearing made comments appreciative of the
time you and the board take out of your busy schedule. I would like to echo those
sentiments and thank each of you for your service and commitment to the citizen's of
Iowa City.
Recently the Iowa City Police Department was CALEA reaccredited for the 3 I straight
time. Our policies & procedures meet the "Best Practices Standard" of all of the
departments from across the nation. This in part is because of the role you play on the
Police Citizen's Review Board. An investigative team traveled to Iowa City to inspect
the ICPD and each policy is reviewed. Just having the policy isn't enough, we have to
prove and document that we comply with our own policies. The accreditation committee
that reviewed the inspection report was very supportive and complimentary of Iowa
City's Police Citizen's Review Board. Your mere existence helped the reaccreditation
process.
I would also like to thank the citizens that spoke at the hearing. It is important that the
citizens have a trusting relationship with their police department and I heard nothing at
the hearing that can't be worked out and discussed. I felt it very rewarding that even
those that have philosophical differences with certain policies still spoke appreciatively
of the Iowa City Police Department.
Time and space prohibits me from commenting on all that was discussed but I would
like to comment on a few of the highlights.
Some concern was mentioned that the PCRB does not track the number of complaints
against one particular officer. The ICPD does have a PEWS system or Personnel Early
Warning System. This is a requirement of CALEA accreditation and a subsystem of our
Internal Affairs process. The PEWS system is complex but it does track the behaviors,
complaints and incidents that allow supervisors to intervene when possible triggering
events occur that do not reach the level of a complaint.
It was suggested that ICPD does not cooperate with 'jail alternative initiatives' and that
Ames PD had 0 arrests for Public Intoxication. Neither of these assertions is correct.
There was a reporting glitch to the FBI that ICPD staff caught in time and corrected
however Ames did not. If you check with Ames directly you will find that Ames has
many Public Intoxication cases and is no better or worse than Iowa City.
The assertion that ICPD takes too many people to jail is also incorrect and actually is a
statement of perception. The fact of the matter is that cases like simple possession of
marijuana are "indictable offenses." All Iowa peace officers are required by state law to
book offenders of indictable offenses. To book means to fingerprint and mug shot and
this occurs presently only at the jail. Some arrestees go to jail because their condition
makes it unsafe to release them on their signature. I am very supportive of a "Cite and
Release" policy that would allow for an officer to release an arrestee on his or her
signature promising to appear in court for some offenses.
It is not by ICPD policy that we transport these types of cases to jail. It is because of
Iowa Code or public safety that we transport these types of defendants to jail and I
would be the first to agree with you that many arrestees do not need to be incarcerated
any longer than it takes to book them, assign a court date and if necessary take their
bond.
Lastly, it was asserted that ICPD harasses certain bars. The level of alcohol
enforcement conducted by ICPD in the downtown area is a controversial issue. I
frequently hear from both sides, that we're down there too much or we're not down
there at all. The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division abdicates all enforcement to the
local level retaining administrative licensing authority. This puts local police
departments and city code inspectors in the position of ensuring compliance with every
law and ordinance on the books. This is a monumental task that would keep a team of
full time inspectors busy. At the same time we have responsibility for keeping the peace
throughout the rest of Iowa City. We receive tips on establishment abuses from a
variety of sources and many times the complaints come from other liquor
establishments. We have to take those tips where they lead and if an establishment is
found to be violating state law then the next time there is an inspection they are likely to
be re- inspected. The department tries to balance time spent in the downtown business
district with the needs of the rest of the City. It is a vibrant area and when we are not
present violent unprovoked assaults frequently occur along with vandalism and property
damage.
In closing I would like to reiterate that issues brought up in the forum are oftergimes
issues that I and my staff agree with however you have to look deeper at why * &do
what we do. It's dialog and openness that creates public trust and on behalf opao ofiRe
officers I appreciate your service and assistance with building that trust.
NO
M
Sincerely,
y w
N
XZI E. adine
Chief of Police
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 1
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board— Community Forum 7:30 P.M.
Members Present: Michael Larson, Chair; Greg Roth; Abigail Yoder; Janie Braverman;
Donald King
Staff: Catherine Pugh, Legal Counsel; Kellie Tuttle
Others Present: Captain Richard Wyss of the ICPD; and former PCRB member, Loren
Horton
Call to Order & Roll Call:
Larson/ ...begin with item number one, call to order and roll call. Uh, Janie Braverman.
Braverman/ Here.
Larson/ Donald King.
King/ Here.
Larson/ Michael Larson is present. Greg Roth.
Roth/ Here.
Larson/ Abigail Yoder.
Yoder/ Here.
Larson/ Kellie Tuttle, and Catherine Pugh. Excellent. Item number two, presentation by
former PCRB Member, Loren Horton, on the history and a summary of the
PCRB. Welcome back, Loren!
Presentation by Former PCRB Member, Loren Horton — History /Summary of the
PCRB:
Horton/ Thank you. Thank you for having me back. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm to talk
about the history of the PCRB. It has been in existence a little over 11 years, and
I served on the Board for two terms, which means I was on for eight years, uh, the
majority of the time that the Board's been in existence. I, uh, wanted to start off
by, uh, pointing out that the Iowa City Press - Citizen on September 10th had an
editorial about this, uh, PCRB Forum, and they pointed out, uh, three very
important things, the changes that were made last, uh, November in the General
Election by which the PCRB was made a permanent, uh, part of City government,
not a, uh, necessarily as it was before, sort of a creature of the City Council. It
was also given the power to subpoena witnesses, and it was required to hold at
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum • Page 2
least one public community forum and this is the first one under that. I'm
assuming we could hold more than that. Now I'm going to rely a good bit on, uh,
memory, uh, for this, but I have two excellent assistants scattered throughout the
audience. Catherine Pugh, our Legal Counsel, will be able to correct me when I
make errors of fact, and Marian Karr has been around for the entire existence of
the Board, and she has a razor -sharp memory and will be able to give me clues
too. The Board was created in 1997, and the immediate impetus for the creation
of the Police Citizens Review Board was an unfortunate incident in 1996, the
accidental shooting death of a citizen by a police officer. As a result of that, there
was a good bit of, uh ... uh, I'm trying to think of the right verb. There was a lot of
upset about that, and a lot of the people who were upset about that appeared, uh,
here before the City Council during the Council meeting time when things not on
the agenda can be discussed, and it was, uh, very, very time consuming.
Obviously we want citizens to have the chance to talk about what is upsetting
them, but the City Council as a result of that incident and the after effects of it,
decided to create the Police Citizens Review Board. I believe, Catherine, it's the
first and only one in the State of Iowa, uh, and actually one of the few in the
nation. Uh, it provides a venue by which citizens who have a complaint about the
behavior of a police officer have a place to come and register that complaint and
know that it will be investigated and a... a conclusion will be reached, and the
Police Department and the City Council will both be aware of what our
conclusions are, as a result of the investigation and so on. But, uh, structurally,
the Board was created in 1997, and there was, uh, some revision of it in 2001, and
then the major revision of it in 2007. I thought I would, uh, point out that one of
the things that the Board does, must do, is to, uh, have a good working
relationship with the Iowa City Police Department, and I do want to say here that
through the administrations of Chief Winklehake and Chief Hargadine, that has
been true, and a member of the Police Department is present at our meetings, both
to provide information and also to answer questions and to carry, uh, questions
and information from the PCRB back to the Police Department. We've been very
fortunate to have as our representatives from the Police Department both Chief
Hargadine and Chief Winklehake have appeared at our meetings, but for the most
part, our representative from the Police Department has been Captain Matt
Johnson or Captain Tom Widmer. Captain Widmer is now retired and Captain
Rick Weiss is, uh, the usual representative. They are there to, as I say, answer
questions and to report, uh, back to the Chief if we have things that we want to
discuss with him. I'm reading now from the ordinance and I want to be sure that
you are clear about that, uh, there's one section of the ordinance that says, `The
Board shall have no authority over Police disciplinary matters.' Also, another
section says, `The Board is not intended to be a Court of Law, a torte claim
process or other litigation process.' Another thing, and, uh, Greg, who's going to
talk about the complaint process may get into this. `A complaint of the Board
may be filed by any person with personal knowledge of the incident.' Now,
during the, uh, time that I have been on the Board we have, uh, had complaints
filed before the Iowa City Police Citizens Review Board that complained about
the behavior of an officer of the Iowa State Highway Patrol, uh, one about the
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board - Community Forum Page 3
University of Iowa Police. Those are not within our purview, not within our
jurisdiction, and they have to be summarily dismissed. I think it would be very,
very helpful if the public were very, very clear on that. It is the Iowa City Police
Department and the officers of it that are the issue here. When we, uh, receive a
complaint, there is a particular process and Greg will get into that, so I won't need
to, but I, uh, do want to, uh, point out in the ordinance that not only do we have
the right to subpoena, which was given to us last November, but prior, I shouldn't
say "us" anymore. I'm not on it — excuse me! Uh, there are various levels of
review. When we get a complaint, there are various levels of review that we can
decide to use. We can, uh, refer ... we do refer ... we did, they do, refer the
complaint to the, uh, Chief of Police who then, uh, does the investigative process
and sends a report to us. We can accept that report on the record with no
additional investigation; however, we can also, should we wish to, we can meet
with the complainant. We can meet with other witnesses, as far as that goes. We
can meet, uh, with the officers who are the subject of the complaint, although they
have the right not to meet with us, and sometimes they have and sometimes they
have not. We can request the Chief to do additional investigation. We can
conduct our own investigation and we've always been able to do that, uh, and hire
our own investigators, but now we do have subpoena powers. I was thinking
before I came tonight of an instance when we might have wished to use the
subpoena power before we had it, and the only time I can think of that that would
have been an issue was one case — I'll try to ... try to keep from divulging anything
confidential here ... the complainant lived in Iowa City and we were able to
interview the complainant, but there were witnesses to the incident that the
complaint was about and the witnesses lived in a faraway large city. We would
have liked to talk to those witnesses and we did not have subpoena power;
however, the Iowa City Police Department in their investigation also wished to
talk to those witnesses, and so they engaged the services of the Police Department
in that distant large city, but it turns out that the, uh, witnesses, people involved as
witnesses, had evidently given false names and addresses and telephone numbers
so the police in that faraway distant city were unable to locate them. So the
subpoena power, which we might have liked to use, would have been fruitless; we
couldn't have found them either, I don't think. The Iowa City Press - Citizen
article also noted that not very many complaints come before the Police Review
Board, uh, and it cites that in 2008 we had six, fiscal year 2007 we had four. If
they'd gone back one more year, fiscal 2006, we had 13. So, picking one or two
years doesn't quite do it. I believe in the initial year or the second year was the
peak number of complaints, and Catherine will help me with the numbers. It's in
the 20's or 30's, which one was it?
Pugh/ I think it may have been up to the 30's, Loren, and that was before my tenure,
so ... um, but it ... (both talking)
Horton/ I'm thinking that it was either 27 or 33, uh, complaints. Uh, now the issue of
number of complaints, uh, can be looked at two ways. I'm probably getting far
afield from the history, but it's a venue by which I can say what I think here. The,
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 4
uh, small number, few number of complaints, whatever is grammatical there, uh,
may be an indication, and I hope it is, that the Police Department is doing a
crackerjack job and there are no complaints against it. It may also be the
ignorance of the people who might like to fire up complaints that they don't know
how, they don't know they can. There's also the fact that they can file complaints
with the Police Department itself, without coming to us, and contrary to what was
said in one previous public forum, during my eight years we did have one other
public forum, a citizen suggested that we stand down on the Ped Mall at midnight
and hand out, uh, complaint forms, and we didn't think that was a very sensible
thing, and so we did not do that. At any rate, I don't think the number of
complaints, nor even the disposition of the complaints is a way to judge the need
for the Police Citizens Review Board and the effectiveness of it, or uh, much else
of what is going on. I think that I have covered enough of the history of it, uh,
now and we probably should get into the complaint review process, which is
really the meat of the matter. Thank you, Mike.
Larson/ Thank you, Loren. Item number three, presentation by PCRB Member, Greg
Roth, the complaint filing process. Greg.
Presentation by PCRB Member, Greg Roth — PCRB Complaint Filing Process:
Roth/ Okay, uh, created a PowerPoint for this, so if you'd like to look at that ... you don't
need to. Um, but basically, but what I want to get across is if you have a
complaint for the PCRB, um, how you would convey that, and it's, uh, it's not
that difficult. You submit it to the PCRB, uh, you can submit a complaint through
the Police Department or you can submit a complaint to both, either or both is
fine. Um, there are many places you can get the complaint form, um, City Clerk
in the City Hall, right across the hall here. You can get `em at the Police
Department. You can get `em at the Iowa City Library, uh, the City of Iowa City
has a web site, um, and I believe that you can go on there and print them off. So
there are ... there are numerous ways or places that these are. If you'd like the web
site, it's just icgov.org which is very common governmental -type web site. Now,
we have limitations by the City Code that when we can and can't, um, hear a
complaint, and one of them is time, and a complaint has to be filed at the City
Clerk's office within 90 days of the incident, or the time that the complaint is
about. Um, it is a simple, it is or it isn't within that timeframe. If it's not within
that timeframe, we cannot hear it. Uh, it's not that we may not want to, um, we
can't because the City Code section states it has to be within those 90 days. Now,
first step is basically that we will receive, uh, the complaint form through the
Clerk's office, and we forward it to the Chief of Police. Uh, as Loren was talking
about, we have, um, ways in which we can investigate it ourselves, but that only
comes after we receive the Chief's report and information that they have provided
us and then we make a determination on that. So first the complaint goes to the
Chief of Police. The Chief of Police assigns, uh, someone within the Police
Department to carry out the investigation. If the complaint itself is against the
Chief of Police, then the complaint is forwarded to the City Manager for that
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 5
investigation. And I am not sure if...if they would probably turn to an outside
source for an investigation, but I'm not sure. ...getting a little off the screen here.
Okay. Um, throughout this whole, um, process there are several time limits, uh,
that we are placed under, and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't,
and we need to ask for extensions, uh, one of them has to do with the Chief's
investigation, and it needs to be completed within 90 days, and then the report,
um, needs to be sent to the Police Citizens Review Board. Um, it is a ... a report
that is very detailed, um, it's not a brief summary. It, uh, brings other pieces of
evidence, such as the result of the interviews, um, audio, video, etc., from the
squad cars and there's a lot of things that we can look at, before we decide how to
proceed. Uh, if a good cause is shown for an extension, um, if the Chief requests
an extension and we as a Board feel that he has a good cause, uh, then we will
grant an extension, um, to extend that deadline, as far as when the Chief's report
has to be to us. I kind of went ahead of myself here, but ... there are actually many
sources that the Chief can use, um, to provide us with information. Uh,
they ... they will interview the officers involved, uh, they will interview
complainants, uh, if they can they will interview other witnesses, uh, like Loren
was talking about with the one situation. Sometimes that's very, uh, difficult to
do, uh, but they try, um, repeatedly, um, before they ... before they would give up.
Um, the police -in -car video and audios, um, have really helped the Board. Um,
they are, uh, a new tool, um, I guess. Uh, and it...it really clarifies a lot of
situations for us. Now, with... sometimes in a complaint, there are more than one
allegations. Sometimes there's one allegation, two allegations, or more, and the
Chief's report will come to a conclusion on all of those allegations, and basically
is the complaint, or the allegation sustained, or is it not sustained. And generally,
this is the same thing that we are thinking about when we look at the Chief's
report. Copies of the Chief's report go to the complainant. They go to the PCRB.
They go to the police officers that are involved directly, and they go to the City
Manager. And so before we have even started, um, to think about what we are
going to do with this complaint, it is pretty well distributed. First thing, uh, that
we're going to do is we're going to talk about what level of review we are going
to use, and Loren covered that very well, as far as are we going to investigate it on
just the, uh, just the facts we have. Are we going to call for more, uh, witnesses,
you know, and now we have a subpoena power, uh, where we can actually
compel people to come before us. Uh, the majority of the time, uh, we feel very
comfortable that the Chief's report has been very thorough and is accurate and we
really don't need anything else. Um, but we will do that as the evidence, as we
see it before us, if we think something, um, you know, maybe we need a little bit
more or something like that, we will ... will ask (mumbled) Oh, if you want the
section that these are under, if you'd like to look it up, um, City Code it is Title 8,
Chapter 8 of the City Code, so it's 8.8 -7. Thank you. Okay, when we have
discussed the allegations and the Chief s report as they pertain to the allegation, or
as it does, we will then, um, as a board, um, make certain decisions. If we sustain
or ... or don't sustain what the Chief s report has said, and actually it's very, um,
it's very ... what? Stated in a certain way. We have to decide basically is the
Chief s report, you know, capricious or, you know, other kinds of words that are
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 6
in the City Code, um, but we are supposed to do that within 45 days. Sometimes,
again, uh, due to ... we only meet once a month, there are other things. We can't,
um, always meet this deadline so we can request the City Council for an
extension, and that has not been a problem, that I know of, since, um, since
we've ... since I've been on the Board anyway. And our report ends up an awful
lot, and not necessarily in substance, but in form, uh, like the Chief's. We come
to a conclusion of the allegations, and we support what the Chief has found or we,
uh, don't support it. I mean, we find it's not sustained or it is sustained. And
then, copies of our report go to the complainant, the police officers, the City
Manager, and the City Council. And here's the wording, um, from the Code. Uh,
we may recommend a reversal of the Chief's findings if they are unreasonable,
arbitrary, capricious, or are contrary to Police Department policy or practice, or
any federal, state, or local law. Uh, we get, um, copies of the Police Department's
policies and practices as they are updated, and um, we also have available as all,
as you do, um, through the internet of all the policies that the Police Department
has and so if there is something that is, you know, unreasonable or inconsistent
with those, we may recommend reversal. Now as far as the Board's actual
authority, um, we have very, very limited, um, power. We can review, and we
can suggest, um, but that's about it. Um, we don't have any power over... or
discipline that the Chief may use or may not use. Um, we can make
recommendations, and uh, we have a couple times in the past, um, but as far as
actually deciding a criminal matter or a civil matter, we don't have that—that
power. If you would like to get a hold of the Police Citizens Review Board, uh,
the address is here, 410 E. Washington Street, Iowa City, Iowa 52240. The
telephone number – 356 -5041 and again, um, I'll take you back to the City web
site at icgov.org.
Larson/ Thank you, Greg. Item number four, presentation by representative from the
Iowa City Police Department, Captain Rick Wyss, and unfortunately Captain
Wyss is going to have to depart immediately after this. He has other business to
attend to, so I will hand it over to you, Sir.
Presentation by Representative From the Iowa City Police Department – ICPD
Formal/Informal Complaint Process:
Wyss/ Thank you, and thanks for having me. I think the way I want to start this out. I
was asked to give a presentation on the process that we follow when we receive a
complaint. And first thing I want to address is there's a, uh, this item number four
is listed as ICPD formal/informal complaint process. I want to make it very clear
that the Iowa City Police Department policy does not provide for any informal
process of a complaint review. The informality only speaks to the manner in
which we receive those complaints. A formal complaint is one which is written
out, signed with a name. However, at the Police Department we take any number
of complaints from a number of different sources. The source can come from
emails, from letters, from phone calls, from a face -to -face with a watch
commander, and those complaints are accepted, and once we're at the stage where
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board – Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 7
there's a complaint and we've identified a complaint and the possibility of
problematic behavior the procedure becomes formal. And so if I can just
emphasize that there is no informal investigative process. The informality of this
is only in the manner in which we receive that complaint. We, like the PCRB we
don't have a time line. We've accepted complaints that have been well beyond 90
days, uh, as limited by the PCRB and typically the process that occurs is when a
complaint comes in, if it comes in from the PCRB or from a formal complaint, it
goes through the Chief's office and it is assessed or it's evaluated. If a complaint
is received through a watch commander, again, it is evaluated in the same manner.
The complaint is looked at, at face value. An evaluation's made trying to
determine if given all the circumstances described in this complaint, if everything
in it is accurate and true, what is the likely disciplinary action that's going to
happen. If it's a minor infraction and the disciplinary action is likely to be, uh, at
a level of counseling the officer, uh, additional training, maybe a, uh, minor
written reprimand, then a supervisory review will take place. And the supervisor
will at that time try to talk to the complainant if they're available; identify any
witnesses, if they need to contact them; they'll certainly speak with the officer;
uh, review any physical evidence, such as the in -car camera systems; and they'll
try to make a determination on if the complaint is sustained or not sustained. In
any event, regardless of what happens, the supervisor at that point will complete a
report, which will be filtered through the chain of command, up to the commander
of field operations, as well as the Chief of Police. Uh, the supervisor can take
immediate steps to remedy this complaint. If it's like I said counseling or up to a
minor written reprimand, it's reviewed by the Chief of Police and the Chief can
certainly agree with that assessment, or he can disagree and ask that further
information be, uh, obtained or further investigation be completed. If during that
review process the allegations are more significant and the disciplinary action is
more punitive, such as suspension or the officer gets days off, or um, demotion or
termination of employment, at that point an internal investigation is assigned
usually to two inves ... two supervisors will conduct the investigation. Those
investigations are conducted very similarly to criminal investigations. We gather
all the evidence we possibly can. We interview the witnesses. We interview the
officers, and we interview the complainant. The one exception to the criminal
case is when we interview the officer, we have the authority to compel the
officers to make a statement. Uh, they don't have a choice. They have to answer
the questions set forth before them. So, at any time during this process, if we
develop probable cause that a criminal offense has occurred, that there's been a
violation of state, local or federal laws, then we have to consult with the City
Attorney's office and review where we're going to go with that, if other agencies
have to be notified, if another agency will be called and asked to do a joint
criminal investigation, alongside the internal investigation, and the reason that's
important is when we do the internal investigation and we compel the officers to
make those statements, those statements cannot be used in any subsequent
criminal investigation. So, those two investigations must be kept separate and for
that reason we usually call in an outside agency, get the DCI or other agency to
conduct the criminal aspect of the investigation. The goal is to have these
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 8
investigations completed within 60 days, and the—the investigators, or the
supervisor who are conducting those investigations have five separate
classifications where they can classify their findings. The first one is unfounded.
Unfounded means that the evidence clearly shows that the allegations that were
made are not true. The second one is exonerated, and that's a situation where the
investigation shows that, uh, the allegations as stated are true, however, the
officers were legally justified within the policy when they committed those acts.
We can classify the allegation as not sustained, and that means that there's not
sufficient evidence to say either way that the allegations did occur, or that the
allegations did not occur. The allegations can be, uh, classified as sustained,
whereby the investigation clearly shows that the allegations as stated occurred.
The fifth classification we have is policy failure, and that's a situation where the
allegations as stated were true, the investigators feel that those actions were
inappropriate; however, they were acting within the policy and procedures at ... of
the Police Department. At that time the main focus would be on the policies and
procedures, and to, uh, make the corrections necessary. Once that report is
completed, the investigators will also recommend any disciplinary action, if
necessary, and again, it's filtered up through the chain of command. It is
reviewed by the cap ... commander of field operations and it's also reviewed by
the Chief of Police. Anyone of those two levels can return that for further
investigation to have other questions answered, and at the point where the Chief is
satisfied with the investigation, he's the one that makes the final determination on
any disciplinary action. The Chief is allowed to consider previous disciplinary
actions, as well as employment history, when he makes that determination or
disciplinary decision. Uh, in any event, all complaints, all sustained complaints
are retained in the employee's personnel file. Any of the other complaints are
retained in the internal investigations file, but it's not like they sit there and gather
dust. Those complaints are reviewed, uh, those complaints are reviewed for
evaluation purposes on the officers, that those complaints were filed against.
They're also reviewed to assess training and equipment needs and assessments.
They're reviewed to assess the needs to change policies and procedures, as well to
assess the adequacy of supervision on the street. Ideally, we'd like to never hear a
complaint about any officer, but the reality is things are going to happen.
Sometimes officers makes mistakes, or sometimes there's just situations that
could be handled better, and we've always been open to getting that feedback, so
if there's corrections to be made, we want to be able to make those corrections,
and um, we're also open to positive reinforcement. If officers are out there doing
a good job, we like to hear that information too and pass that on. Thank you.
Larson/ Thank you. Item number five, public discussion with the Police Citizens Review
Board. Please—please state your name and speak slowly we can get it on record.
Public Discussion With Police Citizens Review Board:
Able/ My name is Dean Able. I'm a citizen of Iowa City. First I'd like to thank the
Board Members, past and present, and welcome the new members, and thank you
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 9
for your service to the community. I feel it's a very important service, and I
appreciate the time and effort that you take. I have one question that, um, partly a
point of fact that I may have misunderstood something that Mr. Roth said, um, but
I think one concern of people ... is the issue of multiple complaints from a citizen
complainer, or multiple allegations against a particular officer. And I think we
can see why this is important. Some citizens may be cranks, and make multiple
complaints, and this needs to be considered. On the other hand, if a particular
officer would receive multiple complaints, this in itself, I think, is an issue. My
understanding is that when you examine the complaints in executive session, that
the complainer and the officers are anonymous. If that understanding is correct,
I'm interested in the comment Mr. Roth made about the use of audio and visual
tapes. Obviously anonymity would not be preserved in executive session, if you
were seeing this material, and I recall attending a recent meeting of the Board
where this problem of anonymity in tapes was discussed and actually, uh, was
presented as a reason not to use those tapes as evidence to the Board. So my
question or concern is, uh, are the tapes really available to the Board to view and
listen to, and second, what kind of safeguards do you have to handle or to be
aware that a particular officer is receiving multiple complaints, or that a particular
citizen is making multiple complaints? Am I clear? Thank you very much.
Larson/ Thank you. To make sure I understand your question, you're asking about the
use of the in -car audio and visual, uh, evidence, and your second part of the
question is, multiple complaints against the same officer? Okay. Um (unable to
hear other person talking) sure.
Able/ What I'm asking is, do you have in ... do you have a process to track this kind of
information?
Larson/ Track multiple complaints against an officer?
Able/ Yes, rather than saying we have four complaints against four different officers, is a
very different thing than recognizing that you have four complaints against a
single officer, just as having four complaints from four citizens is a lot different
than having four complaints from one citizen. Are you able to evaluate that ... is
my concern.
Larson/ Thank you.
Roth/ I'll address both of those. Um, first as far as the audio /video concerns, um,
presently, um, we cannot view the video portions of the tapes because they
haven't found a way to keep the, uh, the officer's identity hidden, um, because it's
difficult because the officer's moving around, etc. We have, uh, accessed through
the audio portions and that is ... so we have access to those, okay, so right now
we're kind of half and half, um, as ... I hope that addressed the first concern, and
the idea obviously is, if a way can be found, um, hopefully we'll see audio
sometime. I would love to. Um, there ... they can clear up a lot of things very
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 10
quickly. Um, the second, um, item is about multiple complainants or
multiple ... of complaints against an officer or multiple complaints by one person.
As a board, um, we need to stay neutral, and for us to have information about a
certain officer having numerous complaints against them, or on the other hand, a
complainant bringing many questions before the Board, um, may very well or
could prejudice the Board, and the idea of us not knowing who they are is to
prevent this kind of prejudice in our decision making. And so we take each
incident as it occurs on the facts of that incident. That kind of...of information as
Captain Wyss stated would be used by the Chief, who of course the officers are
not, um, you know, anonymous here, and would use that in a disciplinary action,
um, but we do not have...
Able/ I asked this question, uh, at a Board meeting and received an answer verified by
Council, that the officers were assigned a number, therefore, you would not know
the identity of the officer, their anonymity would be preserved. But if number 27
kept showing up, my understanding was this is the way the information is
presented, that every officer has a secret number and that that number is in the
report, and so you would recognize if there was an officer who was the subject of
multiple complaints. That's what I was told. Am I in error? Or is that the way
it's done?
Roth/ I don't believe that's the way it's done, but I will refer to Counsel on that.
Pugh/ May I, Greg ... okay. Um, I did and that is the case. There are numbers assigned to
the officers, uh, the PCRB does not keep track of those numbers and for the
reason, particularly that Mr. Roth addressed, we're trying not to take into
consideration past events whenever a complaint is reviewed, and furthermore,
even if the PCRB did note multiple complaints against one particular officer, it
wouldn't have any effect on how they handled the complaint, because they have
no power over the consequences to the officer, and I have one small correction.
The PCRB is aware of the complainants' identities. So we do know if we've got
several complaints from one particular complainant. Does that help? You're
welcome.
Roth/ There have been situations where information has led me to I know who the officer
is, and I've excused myself from that ... from that case.
Cox/ Jeffrey Cox (unable to hear others talking) hi, I'm Jeff Cox, I was, uh, one of the,
first again, I want to repeat what Dean said and thank you for taking on this job.
There's better ways to spend an evening, I'm sure! Uh, and uh, I really think that
having a degree of accountability to the police is really fundamental to a
democracy in making that visible and you do that, and I, uh, really appreciate the
work that you do on this. Um, one of the jobs of the PCRB as I understand it is
also to give advice to the City Council on policing policy, not internal matters but
on policing policy generally, and that's one of the things I want to address tonight,
uh, because we're in the middle of a debate about a new jail, and one of the
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 11
distinctive things about Iowa City is that we... city taxes don't go to pay for the
jail, but we fill it up, we being the City. Uh, and ... and it puts the Sheriff in a
rather difficult position because, uh, County taxes go for it and the Sheriff goes
for it. Uh, I was the treasurer of a, uh, political action committee called the
Citizens for Alternative to a New Jail, which uh, conducted essentially a
campaign against, uh, the bond issue for the new jail, back in 2000. Uh, and uh,
you know, one of our arguments then was that we should try to reduce the need
for a jail by reducing the volume of people who are going to the jail. The current
jail holds, I believe, 96 people, double - bunked. The jail proposed in 2000 held
330, uh, proposals for the new jail run 250 to 420, and so forth. Uh, we need
about 150 a night at peak, in order to accommodate our current flow of prisoners
into the jail, and uh, I myself think we need a new jail. I just...I'm worried
though that we are going to overbuild it. Now, when ... in terms of capacity...
when the bond issue failed in 2000, and you may recall that the ... the jail got 30%
of the vote in Iowa City. It needed 60% countywide, it got 30% in Iowa City and
it got 35% countywide, so it was a disastrous failure. I mean, it was an
extraordinary rejection of...of a jail. Uh, the uh, Sheriff, Lonnie Pulkrabek, uh,
actually campaigned on and has carried out his campaign promises to work to find
new alternatives to the jail, to try to find ways to keep up with people who are
outside the jail, to use electronic bracelets, to use diversion programs, uh, of
course what he's trying to do is build a case for a new jail by showing that things
are being done to reduce the capacity, or reduce the need for it. Our court system
has gotten drug courts and diversion programs at work, in cooperation with the
County Attorney, but as near as I can tell, the Iowa City Police Department has
been completely uncooperative in this. That is, it is the one body that has done
nothing to help, uh, reduce the demand for the new jail. Uh, and I've got the ... the
Department of Public Safety puts arrest rates for different, uh, counties in Iowa on
the web, and you know, I ... they're very slow in getting them up, but on the last
year that I looked, uh, which was I believe 2006, uh, the arrest rate for drugs in
Iowa City was, this isn't the number of arrests, it's the rate per 100,000. There
were 798 arrests per 100,000 people. The comparable arrests in Ames, same size
town, same number of students, uh, 188 per 100,000. One - quarter the arrest rate.
I ... and, I mean, there's ... we have a good reason to believe there's more alcohol
being consumed in Iowa City, but we have no reason to think there's more
marijuana being smoked, none whatsoever. Uh, you know, and also if you look at
the arrests for public intoxication, the Iowa City Police arrest rate for public intox,
1,536 per 100,000. The Ames City Police arrests was zero. They arrested not one
single person for public intoxication. The, uh, the, uh, apparently they leave that
to the Iowa State and University police. Now, we have 50 bars in downtown
Iowa City and there are only 14 in Ames, because we have a 19- year -old drinking
age, and so we've got a problem with alcohol, but the problem with marijuana is a
rather different matter. Uh, we are taking very large numbers of people to jail
who spend the night in jail and take the County resources for this. Many of them
arrested not even for simple possession, but for constructive possession, which is
an arrest of someone who's in the room where someone else is in possession of
marijuana, and I think it's going to be very difficult as long as the Iowa City
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 12
Police continue this high arrest policy, and I don't think Iowa City is over policed
in terms of numbers, but I ... if you look at the figures, you would assume we're
over policed, but I ... I don't think we have too many police officers, but these are
questions of policy. They're questions of police policy. And I think it's, you
know, there ... more recent statistics, these statistics that were in place before
Chief Hargadine came in place. There might be better ones. I hope there are, and
I would be delighted to see that there are, but I think we're going to have a very
hard time, uh, persuading voters to build a large new jail if we don't have some
visible modifications in policing policy in Iowa City, and I think we ought to do
that. We ought to be good citizens and ... and try to cooperate with the Sheriff and
the court system. So, I'd encourage you to pass these views on to the City
Council. Thank you.
Hanson/ My name is Peter Hanson. I'm a resident of Iowa City. I have, uh, several
issues, although they overlap with what's already been said. Uh, first of all, I'm
not personally familiar with any of the five of you, and I'm kind of curious, I
assume this is not a high- paying job serving on this Board, and I'm wondering
what you do in the real world, and do any of you have law enforcement
experience or are any of you attorneys or what sort of background you have.
That's the first one. Uh, second one, follow up on Dean's. Did I understand
correctly that, back in the year when you got 27 complaints, if they were all a
complaint about the same officer, you would not... you would not know that? Or
did I misunderstand the answer?
Pugh/ And again, that was before my tenure. They may have known that it was against
the same officer, but it would not have had any effect on how they handled each
complaint. That would have been a matter for the Police Department. That
would have been a disciplinary matter.
Hanson/ So the impetus of accumulative problem, uh, the Board doesn't make
recommendations or anything. It's up to the...
Pugh/ It's outside the purview of the Board.
Hanson/ Uh, third item, a friend of mine said she submitted a letter, uh, in which she
made a suggestion or recommendation and she was told that recommendations
were outside of the purview of the Board. The Board simply handles complaints
and nothing else, which would also relate to what, uh, Jeff Cox said, uh, he's
making a suggestion and a change in police policy. Is ... is that something which
this Board is open to hear, and to pass on if they feel so inclined, or uh, does the
Code simply say that all they can do is deal with complaints? Uh, fourth item, uh,
Mr. Horton in his remarks indicated that ... that you are the only Police Citizen
Review Board in the State of Iowa, and I don't doubt that, but he also added that
you're one of very few in the nation, and I don't think that's correct. I think many
large cities have, uh, police review boards, citizen review boards of some type,
but I could be wrong. So anyway, going back to the beginning of the list, could
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 13
you introduce yourself and give a little background on who you are and ... and
specifically, uh, do you have any law enforcement experience, any criminal
justice experience, legal experience and so forth.
Larson/ Thank you. Would you like to begin?
Braverman/ Sure. I'm Janie Braverman. I am new to the Board as of the first of this
month, first of September. I have 24 years experience in the practice of law, not
in the criminal, uh, arena. I was a real estate and business and environmental
lawyer in Denver for 24 years. I've been in Iowa City for four and you're right.
This is not a high paid position. It's actually volunteer position. You're correct
about that.
King/ I'm Don King, and um, I've been on the Board since June of 2007. Uh, was a
police officer for five and a half years in Anchorage, Alaska, and uh, I joined, uh
the Board as a volunteer.
Larson/ My name's Mike Larson. I'm a program manager at a local company, and I've
been on the Board for three years; been a citizen of Iowa City for 35.
Roth/ My name is Greg Roth, and I have ten years of law enforcement experience, and
I've been teaching criminal justice for 14 years since that. Um, I'm pretty much a
life -long, well, guess I can't say that yet, but um, up to now, I've only spent eight
years of my life outside of the Iowa City, North Liberty, Coralville area so uh, left
for a while and then came back. So I pretty much call this my home.
Yoder/ My name is Abbie Yoder. I'm a recent graduate of the University, but I've been
here six years. Um, I don't have any law enforcement experience. I work here at
the City as a flood recovery assistant currently, and I don't know if that covers
pretty much (mumbled)
Hanson/ And the question regarding recommendations — does this Board have any
authority beyond handling complaints. Guess you're probably in the best position
to...
Pugh/ Yeah, the Code does allow for the Board to make recommendations to the Police
Department or to the City Council about police.
Hanson/ Well, then I'm curious as to why my friend was, when she submitted a letter, I
think was told by Kellie that, uh ... some reason it wasn't appropriate.
Pugh/ I just, I looked at the letter very briefly. I...
Hanson/ I don't refer to the content of the letter, but ... is it appropriate for someone to
submit a letter to the Board, making a recommendation regarding a certain
practice or something.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 14
Pugh/ Certainly, I...
Hanson/ So Jeff was not out of order, uh, suggesting you change a policy, in other words.
Pugh/ Well, no, we can't change a policy.
Hanson/ He's not out of order suggesting that you recommend to the Police that they
change a policy or something.
Pugh/ No, it's not out of order, but, yeah, I mean, the simple answer is that the PCRB can
make recommendations under their ordinance to the Council and to the Police
Department.
Hanson/ Which means that citizens like Jeff can suggest that they make a
recommendation, and they may or may not...
Pugh/ And I believe he did that, made that request. Sure.
Hanson/ Thank you.
Larson/ Thank you.
Dieterle/ I guess, Dean, that those of us who didn't sign in ahead are supposed to sign up
so you should...
Larson/ I wrote your name down.
Dieterle/ Oh, okay. Um, I'm Caroline Dieterle and I am a citizen of Iowa City. I've
lived here since 1968. And I am very glad that we have the Board, that you
people are serving on, and I thank you all so very much for your time and your
effort that you're putting into this, because I know that it does, uh, take a chunk
out of your personal time, and I'm grateful. Um, when I heard that there were,
uh, few complaints, you know, I think that few complaints is an evidence of a
good situation, and not evidence that, uh, it's an underused resource of some sort
that isn't doing anything. I think that it's very reassuring, uh, for the people of
Iowa City to know that we do have this Board. And using once again, as we did
in the campaign, the analogy of an insurance policy, um, you buy an insurance
policy and it's very nice to have one, even if you never make any claims on it,
because that means that things have been peaceful. And speaking of peaceful, I
also would like to, uh, make a suggestion for you to say something to the Council,
um, I agree very much with what Professor Cox said, um, I know because of my
time, um, working at the University that the social sciences in particular have
become very fond of quantifying things. They want to emphasize the science part
of social science. And of course to do that that means gathering a lot of statistics,
and in order to get the statistics, uh, you know, let's say if you're a police
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 15
department, that means you know the number of stops, the number of arrests, and
so forth that are made. And I, just as I think that it's a faulty way to look at
history or economics or any of the other social sciences, I think it's a faulty way
to look at the police department too, because to me a successful police department
keeps the peace, and if people are not bothering anyone, um, regardless of what
they're putting into their bodies in terms of alcohol or marijuana, um, if they're
not bothering anyone else and they're not committing any property crimes and
they're not driving intoxicated, um, the best thing to do is leave them alone and
have the police concentrate their efforts on trying to find the people that commit
the assaults, the burglaries, the vandalism, that sort of thing that we have had
more or less a rash of lately. And I think, speaking with people who live in my
neighborhood, that that is a sentiment that is not mine alone. I think a lot of
people respect the work that the police do and that under, uh, Chief Hargadine, in
particular, I think things have improved over the last couple of years since he was
hired. Um, but you know as Professor Cox mentioned, um, you know, gathering
statistics of how many traffic stops are made or how many PAULA arrests there
are, um, to me isn't the measure of a good police department. So I don't
figure ... so I don't favor those things. Um ... it's easy to think that because we're a
bigger town that that means that we have to have more crime. You know, I don't
really believe that that's true. Um, I think the things that cause more crime, uh,
are other factors that come into play, and uh, so I don't think that it's being
foolish to think that we can go back to the age that I can remember when I came
to town here, when the police did basically keep the peace. I mean, if you did
anything bad, you were in big trouble. You just ... they caught whoever did it!
And um, I worked at the jail as an interviewer and so I knew basically who was
being pulled in, and I think a very good job was done by local law enforcement.
Um, and I think that, you know, I work at the paper now, the University Daily
Iowan, and I tend to hang out where the students are and I think most of, the vast
majority of the students are very, very, uh, peace loving people who aren't about
to make trouble for anybody. Um, I'm always glad when I read the police
review ... police, the police report in the paper and I see that somebody who's been
arrested for public intox has also been arrested because they've done something
else. You know, they've done something that would tend to indicate that they
have been, you know, in an antisocial attitude. Um, you know, they have urinated
in public, they have gotten into a fight, um, you know, they've done something
else. Um, the arrests where it's just simply a case of PAULA, nothing else, or
simple possession of marijuana, uh, I always wonder whether the person in ... in
this case was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and became a statistic.
And I think that the less we have of that, you know, the better off we are. Um,
but as I said, by and large, um, we live in a very nice community and I think most
people want to keep it that way and I think if you say something to the City
Council, I'd be very appreciative. Thank you.
Larson/ Thank you. Okay, item number six, consider a motion... certainly, please!
Fidelis/ I didn't sign up because I didn't intend to, uh, make a statement.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 16
Larson/ Sure.
Fidelis/ I'd like to reiterate what Caroline has said and a few other statements.
Larson/ Can we get your name, please?
Fidelis/ Uh, my name is Libris Fidelis. I'm a member of Johnson County Green Party
and I'm also a resident of downtown, uh, downtown Iowa City. Um, my
involvement with the City Police Department has been very sparse. It's only been
happenstance, and occasional official business when I wasn't at fault for anything.
So, uh, from what I have seen from pretty much a distance without evaluating the
Police Department itself is that the officers and the, uh, Police Chief are very
professional. I find the officers to be very, uh, congenial, very fair and honest. I
don't know about certain incidents; however, I would like to give a... a
background idea about other cities, such as in Los Angeles where there's a terrible
conflict between the citizens and the police department, who has been known
since the 1930's to conduct civil investigations that were, uh, predatory on the
public, and then there was also St. Louis where I lived for three years, and uh, the
city council and the mayor were very much against having any citizens on the
police review board. Uh, the thing was though that although most of the officers
in St. Louis were dedicated and very good officers, um, it just kept coming up in
the newspapers that there were shootings all the time of people that were
illegitimate, and it just kept coming up and coming up, so the review board is still
being pushed by many citizens to be formed, and um, we are very fortunate to
have one here. Um, the thing about our review board is, uh, incidents can happen.
Uh, the best police department in the world cannot have a, uh, police department
that's totally free of any kind of, uh, malfeasance or whatever by individual
officers who may come along occasionally, or even officers who in some kind of
stress may make a bad decision, and that's where our citizen review board comes
in. Um, the citizen review board prevents an issue from becoming dormant, or
uh, overlooked or forgotten, and in this process it also shows a police department
that there is a non - police department agency that does have the authority to
review and consider what has happened, and that brings the issues up to the police
department which keeps the police department aware that they also are a part of
the community, that they're not just some overlord. Um, basically, uh, the only
things I've seen that I really don't like is one thing, uh, by our police department
was the harassment of certain bars. Now, I do not advocate the bar mentality. I
don't like it, but it is a business and if people are willing to be responsible, and if
the bars are responsible as businesses to not promote drunkenness in public and
um, possible liabilities due to drunk driving and so forth, then um, for whatever
reasons that they exist, uh, they have a right as a business because our society
accepts this, and until our society decides that we don't want alcohol to be a part
of our society, um, we basically have to treat them as a business, which is what
City Council has maintained all along. But, there are incidents where the, um,
police department has had certain campaigns against certain bars, and uh, I think
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 17
that basically if someone does something wrong, it should be cause and effect. It
shouldn't be a matter of, well, we don't have much to do tonight so let's go out
and at least justifying our being here by getting somebody into trouble. And that
is very vaguely what I see on the undercurrent against these bars. Now, this is a
city, uh, problem that has to be addressed, possibly by elections with the public
deciding how they're going to regulate bars and so forth. But overall, I think that
the police department has to take the same stance that cause and effect rules, and I
think that's what needs to be promoted, and like I say, I think the Police Chief and
the overwhelming majority of the police officers do an excellent, outstanding job,
but there are these certain little incidents and we have to protect it, and that's what
your job is there for, and I appreciate it. Thank you.
Larson/ Thank you. Sure.
Opstad/ My name's, uh, Galen Opstad.
Larson/ I'm sorry?
Opstad/ Galen Opstad, and um, I've been a member of, uh, citizen of Iowa City from
2003. I'm a super - senior, um, my first incident with, um, and only official one
with the University, or with the police, was I received a PAULA from an officer
when I was 19, and it turned into about a 20, 25- minute ordeal and I'm still
friends with that officer today. It was a very pleasant conversation, um, had about
two sips of my drink and it was the most expensive beer that I've ever had in my
entire life! But, um, fortunately enough I've worked at enough downtown
establishments that I've gotten to know other officers, and I ... I must say that I
think Iowa City is a great town and from, uh, one of the reasons I just chose to
speak is because nobody else my age has, and so I don't think you guys are aware
of what goes on downtown, um, after 10:00, 12:00 at night. Um, I'm a political
science major and social studies, and I also ... so I talk with, um, a lot of
counselors and stuff and the amount of inebriations coming into, uh, clinical
assessments, the, uh blood alcohol levels, the consistency of the levels are up. It
used to be a. 15. A .3 is not uncommon these days, and there's been all these talk,
this talk lately, editorials in the Daily Iowan's about these defenseless people that
are trying to walk home drunk. When you're walking home with a .3 BAC,
that's... that's when crime occurs. Maybe not that person, but something's going
to happen to them, and that's proactive police work in my opinion. Um, that
officer is saving that person from something terrible happening to them, and
there's, they're not targeting anybody, um, and I would invite any of you to go
downtown, um, on a Friday, Saturday night and see what ... what goes on just
there, because it's a madhouse. It really is, but um, I've been fortunate, again, to
know a couple guys and um, I really would like to say that this is a great down.
So, um, I think you really should check out what goes on downtown and what
they deal with, because it's ... it's not pretty. So...
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 18
Larson/ Okay. Thank you. Okay. Item number six, consider a motion to accept
correspondence and/or documents.
Consider a Motion to Accept Correspondence and/or Documents:
King/ So motioned.
Larson/ Motion by King.
Roth/ Second.
Larson/ Second by Roth. All in favor say aye. All opposed same sign. Motion carries.
Any discussion? (mumbled) Has everyone read it? Okay, discussion? (several
talking) Correct.
Braverman/ I don't see why not. Is this the correspondence you were talking about? Um,
is your—what's your friend's name? (unable to hear) Yes. Would you like to
read it? Or did you want one of us to? (unable to hear) Sure. I'd be happy to do
that. To Police Citizens Review Board forum input, please accept this letter as
input for your September 6th hearing. I will be out of town and cannot attend. I
would like to suggest that the Iowa City Police Department undertake a public
information and enforcement campaign regarding state law on pedestrian rights.
The trends in transportation toward increased use of public transportation,
bicycles and walking, already popular in Iowa City, are being accelerated by the
high cost of gasoline. The City of Iowa City and the Johnson County Council of
Governments have recently adopted a complete streets policy which calls for
planning all new or substantially rebuilt streets to accommodate bicycles and
pedestrians. Yet, the majority of automobile drivers seem to be unaware of state
laws, setting forth conditions under which pedestrians have the right of way. At
any rate, most disregard these laws if they are aware of them. There is a fine
stipulated for violation of these laws, yet I have never seen announcements of any
citations or fines listed in the press. Iowa City has seen instances of pedestrian
deaths due to disregard of these laws by motorists. I often feel that I am taking
my life in my hands when attempting to cross streets legally at intersections.
Some recent signage attempts by the City are a step in the right direction;
however, motorists will not change their habits unless there is a consistent public
information campaign, underscored by consistent police enforcement with
imposition of fines for violations. This is not an unrealistic idea. There are other
states in which this has become a statewide habit, and the pedestrian is regularly
seated right of way when crossing legally. Chapter 321.327 of the Iowa Code
provides that pedestrians have the right of way at "any-marked or unmarked
crosswalk at an intersection." In addition, Chapter 321.353 provides that "drivers
must stop at the sidewalk" when exiting or entering driveways. Chapter 321.329
provides that motorists must "avoid colliding with pedestrians." Let's begin to
enforce these laws in Iowa City. Resources devoted to this will benefit many
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
September 16, 2008 Police Citizens Review Board — Community Forum Page 19
more people than some other enforcement campaigns now underway. Thank you
for your consideration. Carol Spaziani.
Larson/ Thank you. No discussion then? All right, item number seven, consider a
motion to adjourn.
Adjournment:
Yoder/ So moved.
Larson/ Motion by Yoder.
King/ I'll second.
Larson/ Seconded by King. All in favor say aye. All opposed same sign. Motion
carries. Thank you everyone.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City Police
Citizens Review Board — Community Forum of September 16, 2008.
POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD
A Board of the City of Iowa City
410 East Washington Street
Iowa City IA 52240 -1826
(319)356 -5041
November 19, 2008
Iowa City City Council
City of Iowa City
410 E Washington St
Iowa City, IA 52240
To Whom It May Concern:
On September 16, 2008, the Police Citizens Review Board held its first formal
community forum.
Loren Horton (former member of the PCRB) presented a History and Summary of the
PCRB. Greg Roth (current member of the PCRB) presented the PCRB Complaint Filing
Process. Captain Rick Wyss (Iowa City Police Department) presented the ICPD
Complaint Process. The PCRB then heard numerous citizen comments.
One of the most notable occurrences at the forum was the support of the public for both
the ICPD and the PCRB. We commend the ICPD for its continuing efforts to foster its
good relationship with the public and are pleased to be a part of that effort.
While a transcript of the community forum is available on the City website, the PCRB
would like to summarize comments made by the public and to add its recommendations
to the City Council. The public comments fell into three general categories.
Tracking of Complaints. There was a fairly lengthy discussion of the process by
which the PCRB tracks complaints, in which the public asked questions and members
of the PCRB responded. The main concerns appeared to be whether the PCRB
knows the identity of complainants (we do), whether the PCRB knows the identity of
officers who are the subject of complaints (we know them only by Anonymous
Officer Number unless a complaint is sustained), and whether the PCRB tracks that
information (we do not, although ICPD does). Chief of Police Sam Hargadine also
responded, in his letter dated September 22, 2008 (a copy of which is enclosed), that
ICPD does have a Personnel Early Warning System that tracks this information.
Pursuant to 8 -8 -2 D.1., the PCRB is charged with overseeing "a monitoring system
for tracking receipt of formal complaints lodged against sworn police officers with
either the board or the Iowa City police department."
PCRB Recommendation: The PCRB is examining the issue of a monitoring system
to track by Anonymous Officer Number those complaints which are sustained by the
PCRB. The PCRB may make additional recommendations to the Chief of Police
and /or the City Council regarding this matter.
2. Reduction of Arrests. Multiple members of the public commented, from different
perspectives, on: the perceived need for anew jail; the need to reduce demand for a
new jail (and to reduce the need for space in the current jail) by reducing arrests; a
request to refocus ICPD attention from so- called victimless crimes (such as PAULA
or simple possession of marijuana) to crimes against persons and property; proactive
police work in arrests of those too intoxicated or otherwise impaired to be safe; and
whether the ICPD targets or harasses particular bars in downtown Iowa City.
Chief Hargadine's letter addresses those concerns: correcting a misperception that
Ames, Iowa, has no arrests for Public Intoxication; explaining "indictable offenses"
and the state law requirement that the offenders be arrested; citing Iowa State Code
and public safety as reasons for transporting certain defendants to jail; and explaining
that booking (i.e., fingerprinting and taking mug shots) occurs presently only at the
jail. Chief Hargadine went on to say that he supports a "'Cite and Release' policy
that would allow for an officer to release an arrestee on his or her signature promising
to appear in court for some offenses."
PCRB Recommendation: The PCRB also supports a "Cite and Release" policy. The
PCRB would also support any appropriate alternative site and process for booking
that would help to alleviate the overcrowding at the current jail site.
3. Pedestrian Safety. The PCRB received a letter, which was read into the record,
suggesting that the ICPD undertake a public information and enforcement campaign
regarding State law on pedestrian rights, with imposition of fines for violations.
PCRB Recommendation: The PCRB supports the recommendation that the ICPD
undertake an enforcement campaign, including imposition of fines for violations.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
KT
(UL i aka. "J I
Michael Larson, Chair
Police Citizens Review Board
cc: Chief Sam Hargadine, ICPD
encl: Police Chief's letter dated 09/22/08
September 22, 2008
Mr. Michael Larson
Chair, Police Citizens Review Board
City of Iowa City
Dear Mr. Larson and PCRB members,
All of the citizens that spoke at Tuesday's hearing
time you and the board take out of your busy sc
sentiments and thank each of you for your service
Iowa City.
410 E. WASHINGTON
IOWA CITY, IA 52240 -1826
PH: 319 - 356 -5275
FAX: 319- 356 -5449
�l J
,'
ry
w
made comments appreciative of the
hedule. I would like to echo those
and commitment to the citizen's of
Recently the Iowa City Police Department was CALEA reaccredited for the Td straight
time. Our policies & procedures meet the "Best Practices Standard" of all of the
departments from across the nation. This in part is because of the role you play on the
Police Citizen's Review Board. An investigative team traveled to Iowa City to inspect
the ICPD and each policy is reviewed. Just having the policy isn't enough, we have to
prove and document that we comply with our own policies. The accreditation committee
that reviewed the inspection report was very supportive and complimentary of Iowa
City's Police Citizen's Review Board. Your mere existence helped the reaccreditation
process.
would also like to thank the citizens that spoke at the hearing. It is important that the
citizens have a trusting relationship with their police department and I heard nothing at
the hearing that can't be worked out and discussed. I felt it very rewarding that even
those that have philosophical differences with certain policies still spoke appreciatively
of the Iowa City Police Department.
Time and space prohibits me from commenting on all that was discussed but I would
like to comment on a few of the highlights.
Some concern was mentioned that the PCRB does not track the number of complaints
against one particular officer. The ICPD does have a PEWS system or Personnel Early
Warning System. This is a requirement of CALEA accreditation and a subsystem of our
Internal Affairs process. The PEWS system is complex but it does track the behaviors,
complaints and incidents that allow supervisors to intervene when possible triggering
events occur that do not reach the level of a complaint.
It was suggested that ICPD does not cooperate with `jail alternative initiatives' and that
Ames PD had 0 arrests for Public Intoxication. Neither of these assertions is correct.
There was a reporting glitch to the FBI that ICPD staff caught in time and corrected
however Ames did not. If you check with Ames directly you will find that Ames has
many Public Intoxication cases and is no better or worse than Iowa City.
The assertion that ICPD takes too many people to jail is also incorrect and actually is a
statement of perception. The fact of the matter is that cases like simple possession of
marijuana are "indictable offenses." All Iowa peace officers are required by state law to
book offenders of indictable offenses. To book means to fingerprint and mug shot and
this occurs presently only at the jail. Some arrestees go to jail because their condition
makes it unsafe to release them on their signature. I am very supportive of a "Cite and
Release" policy that would allow for an officer to release an arrestee on his or her
signature promising to appear in court for some offenses.
It is not by ICPD policy that we transport these types of cases to jail. It is because of
Iowa Code or public safety that we transport these types of defendants to jail and I
would be the first to agree with you that many arrestees do not need to be incarcerated
any longer than it takes to book them, assign a court date and if necessary take their
bond.
Lastly, it was asserted that ICPD harasses certain bars. The level of alcohol
enforcement conducted by ICPD in the downtown area is a controversial issue. I
frequently hear from both sides, that we're down there too much or we're not down
there at all. The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division abdicates all enforcement to the
local level retaining administrative licensing authority. This puts local police
departments and city code inspectors in the position of ensuring compliance with every
law and ordinance on the books. This is a monumental task that would keep a team of
full time inspectors busy. At the same time we have responsibility for keeping the peace
throughout the rest of Iowa City. We receive tips on establishment abuses from a
variety of sources and many times the complaints come from other liquor
establishments. We have to take those tips where they lead and if an establishment is
found to be violating state law then the next time there is an inspection they are likely to
be re- inspected. The department tries to balance time spent in the downtown business
district with the needs of the rest of the City. It is a vibrant area and when we are not
present violent unprovoked assaults frequently occur along with vandalism and property
damage.
In closing I would like to reiterate that issues brought up in the forum are ofter6imes
issues that I and my staff agree with however you have to look deeper at why3ae,do r .
what we do. It's dialog and openness that creates public trust and on behalf 5,,afl of rt ,he a
officers I appreciate your service and assistance with building that trust. �=
nn
Sincerely," '-
r
>
sv
S muel E. adine
Chief of Police