HomeMy WebLinkAboutCitizen Review Board - Minutes (Subcommittee) - 04/19/2000i
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City of Fort Collins
Citizen Review Board Minutes
Subcommittee for Case IA#99-50
Wednesday, April 19, 2000 7:55 p.m.
Human Resources Conference Room, 200 W. Mountain Ave.
Present: Maria Martinez (Chair), Brian Carroll, Becky Richardson, Rick Aulino (Alternate)
Others: Lt. Karen Carlson (Police Services), Greg Tempel (Asst. City Attorney, Timy Gonzalez,
Olivia Abeyte-Gonzalez, Norberto Valdez
Agenda:
• Listen to public input
• Go into executive session to discuss the case
• Come out of executive session and vote (if needed)
Listen to public input:
The meeting was called to order at 7:55 p.m. The first order of business was to listen to any
public input. Members of the public took turns addressing the board.
Timy spoke first. He recapped a meeting that was held between representatives of the Justice
Department and members of the Fort Collins community. He suggested that maybe the
Citizen Review Board should attend these meetings. Timy said there have been a lot of
complaints presented at this meeting. Timy also said that the meeting was not just made up of
Hispanics, but also Anglos, American -Indians, etc. A sampling of the complaints presented at
the meeting were charges of Police brutality, charges of Police harassment and 5 complaints
against Internal Affairs.
Norberto spoke next. He said that a smaller group of people were going to continue these
discussions. The next meeting for these discussions will be on Tuesday, April 25 h . It will be
held at the Family Center (College & Willow, in the old furniture store) at 6:30 p.m.
Go into executive session:
Becky made a motion to enter executive session. Greg ands Karen were stay in
executive session with the subcommittee long enough to answer the specific questions
that were asked of them at the last subcommittee meeting (on Tuesday, April 18). Brian
seconded. The motion passed 3-0. The board entered executive session at 8:06 p.m.
Citizen Review Board • P.O. Box 580 • Fort Collins, CO 80522 •
Karen left executive session at 8:12 p.m. Greg left executive session at 8:14 p.m. Rick came
out and invited Timy to join the subcommittee in executive session. Timy entered the
executive session at 8:20 p.m. Timy left executive session at 9:35 p.m.
Rick came out and invited Olivia to join the subcommittee in executive session. Before
Olivia could join the subcommittee, Norberto came up and demanded that he also had to be
let into the executive session. Norberto claimed that only he could make sure that Olivia's
rights were not violated. Norberto refused to state exactly which rights he was referring to.
Norberto wWold that he would not be allowed into executive session, that he did not
directly witness anything associated with the case and that the subcommittee had no
questions for him. Norberto was told that he would neither control nor intimidate the
subcommittee,. Norberto still demanded to be allowed into executive session. Rick told Olivia
that it was her choice, the board cannot compel someone to come into executive session,
.without getting a subpoena. The two choices were either Olivia could choose to come into
executive session by herself and give her testimony or Olivia could choose to not give her
testimony. Olivia decided to come into executive session by herself. Olivia entered executive
session at 9:45 p.m. Olivia left executive session at 9:55 p.m.
Come out of executive session and vote:
The subcommittee left executive session at 10:25 p.m. Brian made a motion that the
subcommittee for case IA#99-50 has completed its review of the internal investigation
conducted by Police Services. The subcommittee concludes that the internal
Investigation was sufficient and accurate as to its findings/recommendations with
respect to the complaint's allegations:
• Committed the following misconduct: racial discrimination — exonerated
Becky seconded and the motion carried 3-0. Brian then made another motion that the
review subcommittee write a memo explaining its findings. Becky seconded and the
motion passed 3-0.
After the motions were finished, members of the public wanted a chance to respond. Timy
spoke first. Hg'said that he thought the conduct of the Citizen Review Board was outrageous.
He had three questions that he wanted to ask in executive session and he claimed he was
allowed to only ask one of them. Rick replied that no one stopped him from asking questions,
that Timy stopped after he asked the first one. But Timy was allowed to ask his questions.
Limy asked if the board members listened to the audio tapes of his interview with Internal
Affairs. Thp feply was that some of the board members did. He then modified his question to
ask if those board members listened to the entire 4 V2 hours of tapes. The subcommittee
r�eFlidd'yes. The next question that Timy asked was if the subcommittee read the transcripts
of the audio tape. The board replied that every subcommittee member read the transcripts
multiple times. Timy again modified his question to ask if they read every word in the
transcript. Theboard replied yes, every word was read, not just in Timy's transcript, but in all
df the transcripts that the board requested.
The last question that Timy had was why did the board try to separate out all of the issues
that Timy had, the claim of racial discrimination and the claim of intimidation by Internal
Affairs? The board replied that only one complaint was before the board. Specifically the
Citizen Review Board • P.O. Box 580 • Fort Collins, CO 80622 9
�lioard was reviewing complaint IA#99-50, which was the allegation of racial discrimination.
By law, the board could only review complaints that are sent to it, it cannot review a
complaint onIts own. The board would like to review the intimidation complaint, but legally
could not until Timy would go and file a separate complaint. The members of the board
encouraged Titny to do this so they could review this intimidation complaint. Timy reiterated
how disappointed he was in the Citizen Review Board and since we didn't find in his favor,
we must be controlled by the Police. The board told Timy that the memo explaining their
findings will include the reasoning that went into determining these findings. Timy would get
a copy of the memo.
Norberto spoke next. He also said he was disappointed in the Citizen Review Board.
Norberto made the same claim that since we didn't find in Timy's favor that we must be
controlled by the Police. Norberto then said that since Timy was not allowed to talk about a
complaint that wasn't currently before the board (e.g. the board only wanted to stick with
discussing the facts of case IA#99-50) that we weren't treating people with respect.
Becky made a motion to adjourn. Brian seconded. The motion passed 3.0. The
subcommittee adjourned at 10:56 p.m.
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