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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCITIZEN REVIEW BOARD - MINUTES - 01/10/2024CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, January 10, 2024, at 5:30 PM 222 Laporte Avenue, Colorado River Room (Main Floor) This information is available in Spanish or other languages at no cost to a person who would like this information translated or communicated in Spanish, or another language. Please call (970)416-4254 or titlesix@fcgov.com to make a request for information in other languages. Esta información está disponible en español u otro idioma, sin costo para la persona que le gustaria esta información traducida o comunicada en español u otro idioma. Favor llame al (970)416-4254 o a titlesix@fcgov.com para solicitor información en otros idiomas. Auxiliary aids and services are available for persons with disabilities. TTY: please use 711 to call (970)221-6753. 1. CALL TO ORDER – Called to order by Shamera at 5:32 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present: Mike O’Malley, Melissa Rosas, Shamera Loose, Michael Ruttenberg, Elizabeth Grant b. Staff Present: Lieutenant Jeremy Yonce, Sergeant Kim Cochran, Deputy City Attorney Jenny Lopez Filkins, Assistant City Attorney Sara Arfmann, Jessica Jones 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION a. Public Input – 5 minutes per individual • Veronica L. with League of Women Voters is present to observe. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. December 13, 2023: Corrections to the spelling of Michael Ruttenberg’s name. Michael Ruttenberg moved to approve the December 2023 minutes, which was seconded by Mike O’Malley. Motion passed. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Introduction of Sara Arfmann, who will be taking over for Jenny Lopez Filkins in advising the Citizen’s Review Board. CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING b. Sub-Committee Roles and Procedures Discussion: Sgt. Kim Cochran and Jenny Lopez Filkins • Board members confirm that they have a copy of the script for subcommittee meetings. The DA completed their review of the case that will soon be reviewed by a subcommittee, and that report has been made publicly available. The 45-day clock to review this case started on 12/29/2023. This deadline may be extended by an additional 30 days. Sgt. Cochran expects to have the report completed by next week, and then it goes to Chain of Command Review. The subcommittee could potentially meet as early as March, so the chairperson of the subcommittee should expect to schedule the first meeting to occur directly after the regular March meeting. • City Code includes the functions of the CiRB and how the subcommittee review process works. The script is based on the Code language. State law requires that the employee whose conduct is being considered give consent to the review taking place in executive session. If the employee does not give consent, the meetings must take place in an open meeting. Sgt. Cochran will contact the employee to notify them and request consent. It is unusual for an employee to withhold consent. Once the findings have been made public, that goes back to the Chief for review and he makes his final finding. • The chairperson of the subcommittee should keep in mind when coordinating schedules that that the four selected subcommittee members, Sara Arfmann and Kim Cochran must attend each meeting. • The subcommittee meeting will start out as an open meeting. There are specific sections of City Code that must be cited when making motions. It is important to ensure that these code sections are stated for the record each time. The subcommittee review is audio recorded only during the executive session portion. The alternate is responsible for taking minutes of those portions of the meeting that do not take place in executive session. Jessica emailed the template for minutes to everyone. The alternate is allowed to participate in discussion, but not to vote. • Jenny Lopez Filkins provided a handout to board members that outlines the possible findings. If the subject employee is present, board members will need to ensure that #5 from the script is addressed. • #6 in the script is the motion to go into executive session. Once that motion is approved, everyone who is not on the committee leaves the room and the door is closed, with only Sergent Cochran, the attorney, and subcommittee members remaining. • These reviews are conducted in executive session in order to preserve the privacy of the employee who was involved. If board members have legal questions, the attorney will read a statement that states that the CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING recording will be stopped because there are legal questions. The recording is then stopped. After questions have been answered and subcommittee members return to executive session, the recording starts back. It is important to remember that board members cannot take any action in an executive session. They should not discuss how they are going to vote, or their opinions about the case. All of that should be done in an open meeting. • Once subcommittee members come out of the executive session, they will need to determine whether they as a committee can take action (pass a motion) to agree with or disagree with each of the Internal Affairs findings that are made about each of the policy violations. Subcommittee members can make a motion to agree with all of the findings or can make a motion to disagree with one of the findings, and only agree with some of the other findings. • For clarification, board members should keep in mind that they are either agreeing or disagreeing with the findings of Internal Affairs only. • If a motion doesn't pass, that is not something that must be reported in the memo to the chief, though it should be included in the minutes. • There are options to agree or disagree with the finding, or to make a motion with one of the other finding options described in the handout. If a subcommittee member disagrees with the findings, it is important to be more detailed in explaining why they have a different finding. • As subcommittee members are reviewing the case, they may see a need for some type of additional training, or a change in policy. They have an opportunity to include discussion about this in the memo to the Chief. • It is helpful to give Sara Arfmann an opportunity to look at the memo before submitting it to the Chief. The chairperson of the subcommittee will write the memo. There is an existing template that Jessica will email. • It is important to remember that board members may not have conversations via email or outside of meetings, about anything other than scheduling a meeting. No action should be taken, or no other topic that is related to the business of the CiRB should be discussed. The alternate will also draft the minutes and submit it to the subcommittee chair prior to them writing the memo. The subcommittee chairperson will send the memo to the Chief and Jessica. • Minutes of a subcommittee meeting must be considered for approval at the next regular CiRB meeting. • Once the Chief makes his decision, he will send a memo to board members. • If the subcommittee wants a subject matter expert, they may request the expert attend the subcommittee hearing. State law and the code make it clear that who can be in an executive session should be limited as much as possible, but there may be times when it necessary for an expert. One way to address this issue would be for the subject matter expert to come in during the open part of the session for questions, but not be in the CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING executive session for the discussion. • In the past, there have been times when the CIRT (Critical Incident Response Team) officer attends as well. The CIRT responds to all officer-involved shootings and consists of representatives for each agency who come together to investigate. FCPS isn't allowed to do their own investigations, so it must be conducted by the other agencies. • Kelly Valdez coordinates the release of the report and will give access to the electronic file. The subcommittee members have up to 45 days to review the case, meet for the review and write the memo. • The board should have the current report in a little more than 30 days. • If subcommittee members are unable to get access through the link, another option is to review everything else, and then Kim can project the link’s contents in executive session. • There are a couple of different philosophies of how to tackle sizable cases like the current one. . • Elizabeth Grant points out that historically, the body cam files just had numerical titles and that what she did previously to cut down on confusion was create sub-folders with officers’ names, or with files she’d already reviewed, to separate them out. c. Voicemail: None d. E-mail: (1) • Email from Jason Knebel: Shamera responded to provide resources for CSU PD and to confirm that she would share the information with Internal Affairs 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. The CiRB’s next regular meeting on February 14 will take place at the Fort Collins Police Station, either in the Community Room or in the Training Room. Board members should report to the front of the building to meet Jeremy Yonce, who will be waiting to let them in. b. Jeremy Yonce will schedule the next training for May, since the meeting in March will be used for the subcommittee hearing and April is reserved for training for new board members. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS 9. OTHER BUSINESS a. TheCiRB’s Annual Report is due on January 31, 2024. Jessica is working with Shamera to complete this report, and the board will be able to consider it at the February meeting. CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING 10. ADJOURNMENT – Beth motioned to adjourn, seconded by Michael Ruttenberg at 6:42 PM