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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CPB-2002-02-28II • ITHACA COMMUNITY POLICE BOARD MEETIN M INUTES: Ithaca Community Police Board L' 5 32 CITY CLERK'S OFFICE PLACE: City Hall, 108 East Green St. third floor conference room at Council Chambers TIME / DATE: February 28, 2002 at 3:30 p.m. PRESENT: Commissioners Killeen, Wigden, Laskowitz, McGruder, Nelson, Passmore Alderperson Pryor, Chief Basile, Deputy Chief Barnes, staff Nancy Falconer. Guests: Sgt. D. Wright, Pres. PBA. Excused: Commissioner Rovelstad 1. Approval of Minutes of January 24, 2002 Approved unanimously It was decided that agendas will hereafter be emailed only to those who can receive and print them, and that Commissioners Passmore, McGruder and Nelson will receive agendas by regular mail. It was also decided that Commissioner Laskowitz will continue to assign new cases as they come in. Copies will be sent by staff to him and to Chair, Commissioner Wigden. 2. Guest Speaker, Sgt Wright: Sgt. Wright was introduced and a discussion began between him and the members of the Board.. Sgt Wright explained that he had grown up locally, and became PBA president in 1999. The PBA is a closed shop, and all sworn officers belong unless they opt out. It is the official bargaining unit for IPD officers. Discussion followed about how the PBA members view the CPB Board. Sgt Wright pointed out that officers do not see or hear the end results of investigations, and do not know what complainants are told at the completion of the investigations. Officers are also not aware that commendations of the officers are a regular part of the Board's information sharing, nor that most of the complaints have been decided unfounded after investigation.. A motion was made and passed for a written request to Chief Basile that he share all reports made by the Board with the officer involved. The PBA's official position, not a compulsory one, is for officers not to cooperate with investigations of complaints. Concern about the lack of a sworn statement under penalty of perjury by the complainant is the difficulty for the PBA. It was pointed out that the Board had been advised that it does not use a legal document as the complaint form, but the PBA feels it should be held to the higher standard. Alderperson Pryor said she would obtain a current legal opinion on this and bring it back to the Board. Sgt Wright was asked if he would return to a future meeting for further discussion and agreed. 3. New Business The letter that was received from Albany about the existence of a National Association of Police Boards was presented. This will be discussed at a later meeting. 4. Old Business a)The proposal for conducting a food drive was presented by Commissioners McGruder and Passmore. Members questioned whether this was an appropriate venture for this Board, and decided that it is not going to be pursued at this time. Staff is to write Red Cross and state that we will not be able to pursue this venture. b)Chief Basile reported that he has talked with officers about being especially sensitive to incidents that could be considered bias related and to be aware of this aspect in reporting. • c) The March meeting will be the 21 st, and Commissioner Wigden will ask Prosecutor McCarthy to attend. The remainder of the topics on agenda were tabled. The meeting was adjourned to Executive session.