Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-01Police Citizens Review Board A Board of the City of Iowa City 410 East Washington Street Iowa City IA 522401826 319 356 5041 June 8 2009 To City Council Complainant i3 Dale Helling Interim City Manager E Sam Hargadine Chief of Police Officers involved in complaint From Police Citizens Review Board c Re Investigation of PCRB Complaint 09O1 BOARDSRESPONSIBILITY Under the City Code ofthe City of Iowa City Section 887B 2 the Boards job is to review the Police Chief s Report Report ofhis investigation of a complaint The City Code requires the Board to apply a reasonable basis standard ofreview to the Report and to give deference to the Report because of the police chiefs professional expertise Section 887 B 2 While the City Code directs the Board to make Findings ofFact 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 apolice department policy or practice or any federal state or local law Section 8 BOARDSPROCEDURE The Complaint was received at the Office ofthe City Clerk on February 17 2009 As required by Section 885 B of the City Code the Complaint wasreferred to the Chief of Police for investigation The Chiefs Report was due on May 18 2009 and was filed with the City Clerk on May 14 2009 The Board met to consider the ChiefsReport on May 26 2009 The Board voted to review the Chiefs Report in accordance with Section 887 B 1 a on the record with no additional investigation ALLEGATIONS This complaint came from an incident that occurred February 10 2009 Complainant alleged that Officer A maliciously made false statements to Complainantsemployer about Complainants driving of a company vehicle which resulted in Complainant being suspended and fired fromhisjob FINDINGS OF FACT On February 10 2009 Officer A and Officer B were surveiling Complainant based onn unrelated investigation Officer A was following Complainant in a company vehicl Complainant recognized he was being followed and attempted to confront Officer ATo doiis Complainant pulled the company vehicle offthe road hanging out the window waving his herds and arms at Office A pulling up right behind Officer As car swerving the company vehicle within its own lane towards Officer As car and yelling out the window while driving next to Officer A Officer A Officer B and Complainant agree on these facts regarding Complainants driving behavior Officer A appropriately exercised his professional judgment and discretion in reporting the above erratic driving behavior to Complainantsemployer Officer A did not and was not required to identify his place ofemployment when making this report Officer A chose not to identify himself as a police officer so as not to compromise the investigation Complainant alleges that he was fired as a result ofOfficer As complaint to Complainants company about his driving but the following shows otherwise Complainantssupervisor reported that there were other contributing factors which lead to Complainant being placed on suspension at their job Complainantssupervisor also stated that Complainant would not be fired due to the driving complaint but would have been monitored closer in the future Furthermore when interviewed Complainant admitted he quit his job CONCLUSIONS Allegation Officer A maliciously made false statements to Complainants employer about Complainantsdriving ofa company vehicle which resulted in Complainant being suspended and fired from his job Complainant agreed with both Officer A and Officer B regarding Complainants driving of the company vehicle Officer A used professional judgment and discretion in reporting Complainants erratic driving behavior to Complainantsemployer Complainant was not fired by his supervisor but put on suspension Complainantsemployer stated that there were other contributing factors leading to Complainant being placed on suspension Complainant admittedly quit his job NOT SUSTAINED BOARD COMMENTS The Board would like to support the Iowa City Police Department in creating a written policy procedure rule or regulation which requires officers to request permission to leave city limits while on duty and NOT in pursuit of a violator or suspected violator as well as requiring that the supervisory staff identify to the requesting officer the limits to such travel permission and that such policy procedure rule or regulation be added to the Operations Section of the Iowa City Police Policy and Operating Procedures Manual c i Y