HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-03POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD
A Board of the City of Iowa City
410 East Washington Street
Iowa City IA 52240 1826
319 356 5041
FROM Police Citizens Review Board
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TO City Council
Complainant
Stephen Atkins City Manager
Sam Hargadine Chief of Police
Officer s involved in complaint
RE Investigation of PCRB Complaint 05 03
DATE February 14 2006
This is the Report of the Police Citizens Review Board s the Board review of
the investigation of Complaint PCRB 05 03 the Complaint
Board s Responsibilitv
Under the City Code of the City of Iowa City Section 8 8 7B 2 the Board s job
is to review the Police Chiefs Report 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 8 8 7B 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 8 8 7B 2 a b and c
Board s Procedure
The Complaint was received at the Office of the City Clerk on 27 September 2005
As required by Section 8 8 5 of the City Code the Complaint was referred to the
Chief of Police for investigation
The Chiefs Report was due on 27 December 2005 and was filed with the City Clerk
on 21 December 2005
The Board voted to review the Complaint in accordance with Section 8 8 7B 1 a
on the record with no additional investigation
The Board met to consider the Report on 10 January and 14 February 2006
FindinQs of Fact
The Complainant alleges Improper Conduct and Differential Treatment on the
part of an Officer of the Iowa City Police Department
On 22 August 2005 Officer A was off duty and in his personal vehicle but was not
the driver He observed a traffic violation by the Complainant contacted the ICPD
by telephone reported the violation and requested citations be issued The driver
of the Officer s car continued to follow the car being driven by the Complainant until
both vehicles pulled offthe street at a considerable distance from the alleged traffic
violation Officer B arrived and began to question the Complainant At this time the
versions of what happened are in dispute The Complainant alleges that Officer A
got out of his personal vehicle and began to enter into the situation by accusing the
Complainant of untruths using a loud tone of voice and raising his arm in the
direction of the Complainant Officer A agrees that he did leave his vehicle in order
to provide information about the alleged traffic offense Officers A and B and the
driver of Officer A s personal vehicle maintain that while Officer A did enter into the
situation the gesture with the arm was only for emphasis not done in a threatening
manner Officers A and B agree the voice was not raised to an unusual pitch The
Complainant further asserts that Officer A behaved in this improper manner
because of the race of the Complainant
Officer B wrote two traffic citations for the Complainant and the validity of these
citations are not in dispute by the Complainant
Conclusion
The Police Citizens Review Board finds that there is no evidence to support the
complaint that Officers A or B behaved in an improper manner because of the
Complainants race which seems not to have been brought into the situation at all
at the time the citations were written
The PCRB finds that the Complainant seems to have no complaint about Officer S
except in allowing Officer A in an off duty status to enter into the situation when
Officer B was gathering information preparatory to issuing traffic citations The
main thrust of the complaints is against the behavior of Officer A The Complainant
believes that Officer A should not have inserted himself into the situation
However the adopted policies of the ICPD Rules and Regulations Section 345 14
and the ICPD Policies and Procedures Manual Leg 05 01 IV C 2 do provide for
the off duty conduct of officers and it does not appear that the conclusions of the
Chief of Police s Report can be considered to be unsupported by substantial 85
evidence nor that the findings are unreasonable arbitrary or capricious Qat
the findings are contrary to an ICPD policy or practice or any federal stat ocar
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Complaint 05 03
Allegation 1 Improper Conduct is not sustained
Allegation 2 Differential Treatment is not sustained
Comment
The Police Citizens Review Board considered ICPD General Order Number 00 05
Off Duty Conduct Powers of Arrest ICPD General Order Number 99 07 Traffic
and ICPD General Order 01 01 Racial Profiling in coming to its conclusions
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