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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCitizen Review Board - Minutes - 05/19/20041 ORIGINAL. Citizen Review Board Meeting CIC Room, 300 Laporte Avenue May 19, 2004 Present: Dave Evans, Harry Edwards, Maria Martinez and Becky Richardson Absent: Jim Butzek, Brian Carroll, Monica Garcia Staff: Lt. Jim Broderick, Greg Tempel, Assistant City Attorney, Wendy Hartzell, Secretary Public: HRC member Elaine Boni The meeting was called to order at 6:09 p.m. Absences: Written notice for all absences. Voice Mail: No voice mail messages were received. Minutes: January 21, 2004 Minutes - The Board discussed changes to the January 21 minutes. Harry Edwards noted that "less than" should be added before the word 'lethal" on page 2. Jim Broderick will make this change on the minutes that were taken by Dave Evans. April 21, 2004 Minutes — Corrections were given for pages 2 and 3. Becky Richardson made a motion to accept the January 21 and April 21 minutes as amended. Maria Martinez seconded the motion. There was no discussion. The motion passed 4-0. February 18, 2004 Minutes — Corrections were made on page 2 of the minutes. Harry Edwards made a motion to approve the minutes as amended. Becky Richardson seconded the motion. There was no discussion. The motion passed 4-0. Special March 2004 Minutes — Becky Richardson has prepared minutes of the special meeting the CRB held in March to discuss the memorandum from the Human Relations Commission. These will be distributed, revised via email and approved at the June meeting. General Meeting Minutes - It was agreed and discussed that the secretary will send the regular meeting minutes to all Board members and staff prior to the next regular meeting. Board members will then return any comments and suggested changes to the secretary and copy all other Board and staff members on their email. The CRB Chair will mediate any questions regarding proposed changes via email. In this way, the minutes will be in final form and require only approval and signature at the regular meetings. Subcommittee Minutes - It was agreed that the chair of each subcommittee would be responsible for taking, distributing and revising minutes of each meeting via email before the next regular CRB meeting. In this way, the minutes will be in final form at the time of the regular meeting so that can be approved and signed. Two of the three subcommittee members must be present in order to approve subcommittee minutes. Only subcommittee members vote to approve the minutes, not the entire Board. Greg Tempel clarified that if the determination letter is consistent with the vote, it does not need approval by the subcommittee. The subcommittee does not need to wait for preparation of minutes before sending the determination letter to Police Services. Case #2003-24 — insufficient subcommittee members present to approve the minutes. Lt. Broderick reported that Findings have been submitted for this case, only the minutes are pending. Case #2003-22 — referring to April's minutes, Lt. Broderick noted that Findings are still pending for this case. Dave Evans will check with subcommittee chair (Jim Butzek) on the status of the Findings memorandum. Minutes for this subcommittee meeting were reviewed. Maria Martinez made a motion to accept the subcommittee minutes for Case #2003-22. There was no discussion. The motion passed 2-0. Public Input: A meeting has been scheduled in the City Attorneys office for May 27, 2004, at 9:00 a.m. to discuss public awareness improvements for the CRB and the HRC and how the CRB process works. Greg Tempel will prepare a notice and post it in case other CRB members wish to attend. All members were invited and Dave Evans stated that he would report back to the Board at the next regular meeting. New Business: Bylaws Amendment - Greg Tempel presented proposed modifications to the Bylaws regarding subcommittee minutes and timeline constraints for reviewing cases. Harry Edwards asked if it was intentional to leave the responsibility of filing minutes with the City Clerk's Office open. Greg Tempel stated it was left open for flexibility. It was agreed that this would be tabled for further discussion at the next meeting. Dave will send an email to Board members to ask that they send in feedback in advance of next regular meeting. Dave Evans asked about custody of records for subcommittees and who is responsible for filing them with the City Clerk. The Code does not specify who on the Board is responsible for filing minutes with the City Clerk. It was stated that Lt. Broderick files regular minutes, and he stated he could also file subcommittee minutes. Lt. Broderick noted that there has been discussion regarding Police Services tracking CRB timelines, and that many subcommittee chairs are not keeping track. Items to be tracked by subcommittees are: • Requests for extensions • Subcommittee minutes • Appointment of subcommittee members (?) • Draft of Findings • Filing with City Manager's Office, Police Chief and City Clerk Lt. Broderick stated again that Police Services would take responsibility for filing minutes with the City Clerk. Lt. Broderick and Dave Evans will discuss a flow chart in order to keep track of timelines and this will be added to the regular agenda for review at each regular meeting. City Public Calendar - Lt. Broderick distributed the new calendar entry form that will be used to update the public calendar on the City's web page. He would like to use this form as the public notice for posting as well. The section for "Details" will include the case number. Police Services schedules the meeting room and can then print this out and walk it over to City Hall for posting. Title will change to reflect the type of meeting. Contact will be listed as the Chair for regular meetings and subcommittee chair for subcommittee meetings. It was discussed that special accommodation language can be added in the "Details" section, along with the agenda if it is prepared. 2 I NACOLE — Lt. Broderick asked if the Board was interested in a membership to the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. He stated there is an upcoming conference in Chicago that Board members may be interested in attending. This organization was a resource to this CRB when it was created. It issues a quarterly review that can be accessed for free. Dave Evans will download a copy and bring it for review at the next meeting. Another resource is the National Institute of Justice, which gives an overview of citizen review boards across the country. If Board members would like copies of its publications, Lt. Broderick can obtain them. Discussion items: Dave Evans raised a question regarding the Use of Lethal Force policy and what information can be considered by the Board in reviewing these types of cases. His concern was regarding the receipt of information in a case that exceeded the information that the officer in question had at the time of the incident. He felt the Board receives information that expands this and questioned whether this is appropriate. Lt. Broderick stated that the criminal investigation and the administrative investigation of a case occurs at the same time. The public file at the DA's must be the same as what is contained in the IA investigation. He stated that the Police Directive and the criminal statute contain exactly the same language and, therefore, language cannot be taken out of the Directive. Dave Evans was concerned that the objectivity of the Board may be tainted by receiving information in addition to what the office had at the time of the incident. Greg Tempel stated the CRB is expected to filter out irrelevant information. He also stated that the Board is responsible for reviewing an investigation for its accuracy and sufficiency, so the Board should review the complete IA file. Harry Edwards felt that the Board's charge was to consider the body of information presented as to whether it is true, correct, and complete, not to determine whether the conclusion of Police Services is a correct conclusion. Greg Tempel stated that accuracy of the investigation would include determining the accuracy of Police Services' findings. Harry Edwards felt that the Board's charge was to consider the body of information presented as to whether it is true and correct, not to determine whether the conclusion of Police Services is a correct conclusion. In the past, if the Board has determined that an investigation was sufficient and it did not agree with a conclusion, it has stated this in the Findings memorandum. Pending Cases — Case # 2004-3 — Delivered on 4/7/04. Due on 5/24/04. Extension will be needed. Monica Garcia still attempting to schedule a meeting. Dave Evans will email Monica Garcia regarding this meeting. Case # 2004-7 — Not delivered yet. Case #2004-9 — DA has finished review. Will draw subcommittee members at next meeting. Case #2003-25 — Still being reviewed by chain of command. Will need an extension. Adjournment: Becky Richardson moved to adjourn the meeting. Maria Martinez seconded the motion. There was no discussion and the motion carried 4-0. The meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m. Next Meeting: Wednesday, June 16, 2004, at 6:00 p.m. in the CIC Room, 300 Laporte Avenue. C it 3