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