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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-02POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD A Board of the City of Iowa City 410 East Washington Street Iowa City IA 522401826 3193565041 TO CityCouncil O Complainant Stephen Atkins City Manager Sam Hargadine Chief of Police Officersinvolved in complaint 4z FROM Police Citizens Review Board RE Investigation of PCRB Complaint 0502 DATE September 13 2005 This is the Report of the Police Citizens Review Boardsthe Board review of the investigation of Complaint PCRB 0502the Complaint I Boards Responsibility Under the City Code of the City of Iowa City Section 887B 2 the Boardsjob is to review the Police ChiefsReport Report of his investigation of a complaint The City Code requires the Board to apply a reasonable basis standard of review to the Report and to give deference to the Report because of the Police Chiefs professional expertise Section 887B 2 While the City Code directs the Board to make findings of fact it also requires that the Board recommend that the Police Chief reverse or modify his findings only if these findings are unsupported by substantial evidence are unreasonable arbitrary or capricious or are contrary to a Police Department policy or practice or any Federal State or Local Law Sections 887B 2 a b and c Boards Procedure The Complaint was received at the Office of the City Clerk on May 05 2005 As required by Section 885 of the City Code the Complaint was referred to the Chief of Police for investigation The ChiefsReport was due on August 3 2005 and was filed with the City Clerk on July 29 2005 The Board voted to review the Complaint in accordance with Section 88 7B1aon the record with no additional investigation The Board met to consider the Report on August 16 2005 and September 13 2005 Findinqs of Fact The complaint alleges the use of aggressive behavior and the use of improper language The general facts of the incident as follows are not in dispute On Friday April 22 2005 at approximately 2358 hours a complaint of a loud party was received by the Iowa City Police Department Two Iowa City police officers were dispatched to the location of the loud party 1220 Village Road 4 Iowa City The complainant identified as the resident of 1220 Village Road 4 was issued a citation as a result of this call The complainant reported the conduct of Officer A to be aggressive an unprofessional during the incident and reported that Officer A called thc complainant an asshole The complainant considers the alleged actiQnd F language of Officer A to be improper for that of a police officer r T The two officers involved in this call were in the professional relationsh of FieTrainingOfficerandOfficerTraineeOfficerAwastheFieldTrainingOfficerar Officer B was the Officer Trainee At the time of this call Officer B was in the final phase of training and Officer A was in the position of observer and backup officer clothed in street clothing The complainant stated that Officer A told the complainant not to tell him how to do the officersjob The complainant described the actions of Officer A as being up in my face Officer A recalls being firm and direct during the initial contact with the complainant and the Board could find no evidence of inappropriate aggression on the part of Officer A The complainant could not recall the exact words that Officer A allegedly used but related them generally as Youre being an asshole or Youre being an asshole about the situation It was disclosed through the police departments investigation that an upset neighbor lady had exited an apartment and inadvertently called Officer A who was not in uniform an asshole thinking that Officer A was the complainant or another person present at the party Officer A does recall telling the complainant how upset Officer A was over being called an asshole due to the actions of the complainant and may have used the term asshole in this context Officer B stated he did not hear any offensive language from Officer A and did not observe any aggressive actions on the part of Officer A Officer B told the police interviewers that it was a surprise that a complaint had been filed due not only to the absence of any thing out of the ordinary at the call but also due to the fact that the complainant was calm and noncombative or verbally abusive Officer A related feeling the complainant was initially rude and disrespectful at first but once in the police car for the citation the complainant was very polite and took responsibility Officer A related the initial actions as firm and direct but did not call the complainant an asshole and only used the term in reference to the neighbor ladys mistaken identification of Officer A as a member of the party Conclusion By unanimous vote the Board set the Level of Review for this complaint at 88 7B1abelieving there to be enough information in the Chiefs Report and other attached materials to allow the Board to come to an informed conclusion The Board vote was 30 with 2 members of the board absent The Board finds allegation 1 to be not sustained The Board could not determine exactly what was said or who said what during the incident There is no evidence to support that Officer A acted in an overly aggressive manner for the situation nor that Officer A directly called the complainant an asshole or made any other reference to the person of the complainant using that terminology The only substantiated directed use of the term asshole was by the upset neighbor lady and it appears to have been directed at Officer A The Board concludes the findings of the interim Chief of Police are supported by substantial evidence are reasonable not arbitrary or capricious and are consistent to a Police Department policy or practice or any Federal State or Local Law Complaint 0502 Alleqation 1 Aqqressiveness and Improper Lanquaqe It was noted by the Board that the two complaints originally made by the complainant were contained in one allegation in the Chiefs Report The Board found this condensation of allegations to be consistent with the complainants original complaint and concerns The board has no cause to suspect or believe that Officer A used overly aggressive actions or improper language in this situation Allegation 1 against Officer A is not sustained Comment None