HomeMy WebLinkAboutMay 2012 (FY12)POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD
A Board of the City of lowa City
410 East Washington Street
Iowa City, lA 52240-1826
(319) 356-5041
June 12, 2012
Iowa City City Council
City of lowa City
410 E. Washington St.
Iowa City, Iowa 52240
Re: Police Citizen Review Board's Annual Community Forum Conducted 9 May 2012
To Whom It May Concern:
The Police Citizens Review Board held its annual forum at the Iowa City Public Library in
Room A at 7:00pm. Board members present were Donald King, Chairperson, Joseph Treloar,
Melissa Jensen, and Royceann Porter. New member Kingsley Botchway was present but not on
the panel due to just being appointed. The Board's Legal Counsel Catherine Pugh was also
present.
The Chairperson called the forum to order and the agenda was presented.
Legal Counsel Pugh started the presentation with a quick outline of the responsibilities and
procedures that the board must follow (See Attached). She highlighted some of the questions that
have been posed about what the board can and cannot do. She pointed out that the primary
federal law that governs these issues is the Fifth Amendment, to avoid incriminating oneself.
Chapter 400 of the Civil Service is the limitation that the PCRB has no ability to discipline any
police officer.
Ms. Pugh went on to explain the procedure for filing a complaint with the PCRB. The PCRB
gives the complaint to the Police Chief to investigate. The Chief and the City Manager are the
only individuals who have the ability to compel the testimony of police officers. This power is
particular to a public employee. Private employers cannot compel their employees to testify.
This is why the Chief investigates the complaints. If complaints were investigated by the PCRB
alone or by a private investigator, there would be no accused officer's testimony. The standard of
review that the PCRB uses is one of reasonable basis that is outlined in our ordinance and is
described very specifically. Since the Chief makes a decision and he has the expertise in police
matters, the PCRB's review of his decision is a reasonable basis review. The only reason the
PCRB cannot sustain a decision of the Chief is if it is "unsupported by substantial evidence',
"unreasonable, arbitrary or capricious" or "contrary to a Police Department policy or practice, or
any Federal, State or local law", according to Section 8-8-7 B (2) a, b, c of the Iowa City City
Code. This is the standard of review that was chosen at the time the ordinance was created. It can
be changed but that's what we have to work with right now.
Member Treloar and Member Jensen answered several of the questions that had been submitted
by the public to the City Clerk's Office. Questions regarding Police Department procedures were
directed to the Iowa City Police Department.
Chair King shared the statistics. Since 1997, eighty complaints were filed with 177 allegations.
Six allegations were sustained during those complaints. King explained that the
recommendations to the City Council were on the web site along with all of the complaints since
1997. Chair King advised the attending group of the meetings being open to the public and held
on the second Tuesday of the month.
The forum was then opened to the public for questions.
The Board was asked if they had gone to the City Council to have the name changed and Chair
King advised that it had not been taken to the City Council.
A former Board member asked that her letter to the PCRB be read into the record. Member
Jensen read the letter into the record. The former member stated that most of the changes had
been discussed at length and that they were ready to go to the City Council with
recommendations. She said we had been looking at the procedures, bylaws, and ordinances. She
felt that those issues were abandoned.
Member Treloar explained that he had received information from four other citizen review
boards. When comparing their laws with our laws, their laws being quite different, there were a
lot of things we couldn't apply. Some had powers to discipline officers. That's not in our Charter.
Treloar then asked if he could make a motion to recommend to the City Council that we change
the name.
Treloar motioned and Member Jensen seconded the motion to recommend to the City Council
that the name be changed to Citizens Police Review Board. Motion carried 4-0.
A question from the public was presented about training to deal with active mental illness. A
member from the police department, in attendance, explained training procedures and stated
training was given to cover mental illness this year.
The four members present were asked to give their thoughts on the structure of the board. All
members responded. The consensus was that the feeling from the public about openness could
not be helped since the privacy and confidentiality of the complainant did not allow us to discuss
our procedures during Executive Sessions.
One concern expressed was about spending too much time on officer misconduct and not enough
time in dealing with the disproportionate arrest and citations rates for black youth in the
community. A community member suggested the PCRB should make more recommendations to
the City Council about police policies, practices and procedures.
Another community member asked if the City Council had asked the Human Rights Commission
to take a look at the PCRB process. Iowa City Mayor Matt Hayek, in attendance, responded that
it was on their pending work session.
Some members of the public spoke on the transparency of the complaint process. It was again
pointed out that we are limited on the information we can share with the public about our process
in keeping the identity of the individuals involved private. Treloar pointed out that our police
department strives hard to keep their officers’ actions transparent by wearing microphones and
having videos in the patrol cars. Policy requires the officers to use both on all calls.
One person questioned the process of knowing the officers involved and keeping the number of
complaints filed against him. The board wants to remain blind to the identity of the officers
involved so their decisions wouldn't be tainted by that knowledge. PCRB again has no authority
to discipline officers.
The process of where the complaint is filed was brought up. Complaint can be filed at the Police
Department or the PCRB. Thought was that maybe all complaints should go to the PCRB. This
again would require the current practice to be changed. PCRB currently gets the statistics from
the department but does not review the internal complaints.
A motion for adjournment was raised by Jensen and seconded by Treloar and voted 4-0 to
adjourn.
Adjournment 8:30pm
Donald King
Chairperson
Police Citizen Review Board
Transcriptions attached per Council request.
Forum agenda, minutes, transcriptions, correspondence, and handouts are all available on the
City website. (www.icgov.org)