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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000 CPB Annual Reportt COMMUNITY POLICE BOARD Report of Activities and Summary of Complaints; Year 2000 Commendations: The board wishes to acknowledge the many fine officers of the Ithaca Police Department who routinely perform their duties in an exemplary manner. To that end, during the year 2000, the Board received reports of 47 letters of appreciation sent to the IPD from members of the community, commending various officers for their high degree of professionalism. Many of those letters commented on the extremely courteous and sensitive conduct of officers in highly emotional and sometimes tragic circumstances. The Board compliments the department and, speaking for the community, adds its gratitude to the officers who perform their duties daily "above and beyond ". Complaints: As per the attached chart, the year 2000 saw a continuation of the gradual increase in the number of complaints handled by the Board from 11 in 1997 to 22 in 2000. As per a request from the Neighborhood and Community Issues Committee during the presentation of last year" report, the board has reviewed complaints going back to 1997 to try and determine any significant trends /findings. A total of 66 complaints were filed during the past 4 years. Of those, the names of the officers involved were not identified on the original complaint form in about 50% of the cases. Of the 32 cases where the officer was identified, 28 (72 %) of the officers were the subject of a complaint only once. There were 7 officers (22 %) who were the subject of multiple complaints; 4 who had 3 complaints and 3 who had 2 complaints. Types of complaints included the following *: 1. Excessive force -9 2. Harassment /rudeness /bad attitude -30 3. False arrest -16 4. Predjudice /discrimination -8 total (3 racial;4 disability;1 sexual orientation) 5. Questioned procedure -5 6. Denial of taxi license appeal -2 7. Aggressive/ threatening behavior -1 *Total exceeds 66 because some complaints involved multiple charges. 2 Report of Activities and Summary of Complaints; Year 2000 - continued It is the impression of the board that officers continue, in their zeal to `take control' of a situation, to sometimes approach people with a degree of authority that is interpreted as unnecessarily `tough', resulting in response from the complainant that the officer has been `rude' or `harassing'. Skill in identifying situations where such an approach is warranted, versus those where a more courteous approach would serve, is difficult to develop. The board commends the department for its efforts to move toward a more holistic, community - policing orientation under the current administration and feels that officers who are trained in and committed to the concept of community policing will be better able to make those sensitive judgment calls as needed. The board continues to support the implementation of ongoing diversity training in the department, noting that attention needs to be addressed to the multiplicity of diversity issues that officers may encounter in their work. Community Police Board Composition: At the request and recommendation of the CPB, because of the steadily increasing case load, Council supported a change in the city charter to add one adult member to the board. The youth position remains unfilled to date. Community Outreach Efforts: Community outreach is a continuing focus of the board's efforts. To that end, the board has engaged in the following events activities in the year 2000. Tabling this year has included the distribution of brochures and helium balloons printed with "Community Police Board ".: Pud Run at Stewart Park Latino Celebration on State Street Neighborhood Day at Human Services Juneteenth Celebration at Southside Community Center Craft Fair at GIAC GIAC Festival Earth Day at Stewart Park A CPB Open House is planned for January 29th at Titus Towers. Organizational Connections: Individual Commissioners are taking on the responsibility of regular contact with various community organizations with which they are affiliated. Additionally, contact is planned with neighborhood associations and /or service organizations which would like to hear more about the work of the CPB. This project will continue into 2001. Summary of Complaints: See attached chart M a� c� a 0 u a a H z I U U Q H at Ca O� C OA 0 m a H � A� rn O H ril zz �O to O U OU >4 H w ~ N ,in-+ H A z O N o 0 Ox HCl) N M �A A W O O O O A o�w O q a� a U A D A a A w w U W O O O O a z w z O ►n M M M w z 0 w z Z M N ►n O N i i a o N o 0 U z O U F, O N C7 N vF� r-' M O AWE O o o�+ o00+ off+ ai o+ o+ LecJlte Common Council, 4/12/2000 Neighborhood and Community Issues Committee agenda item • Community Police Board Request to add one youth and one adult commissioner Background information As per the 1999 end -of -year report from the Community Police Board (CPB), two trends have emerged in the activities of the board: • The presence of an independent office in the community has supported the CPB in expanding its educational and outreach efforts in keeping with its charge to be a liaison between the police and community. • The number of complaints processed has shown an upward trend each of the last three years. (1997 -11 complaints; 1998 -15 complaints; 1999 -18 complaints) Also, the time necessary to investigate each complaint has increased as commissioners strive to resolve complaints through mediation, whenever possible, rather than just issue a finding. The CPB has had several discussions over the past year regarding the desirability of supporting positive relationships between youth of the community and the police. To that end, and to hear directly from young people about their needs and concerns, young people were specifically invited to the board's December meeting. Dialogue during that meeting indicated an interest on the part of both young people and the CPB in maintaining ongoing communications and assuring that the CPB complaint process is known to and accessible to the youth of our community. To facilitate regular • communications, the CPB is planning outreach sessions in the high schools and local community centers during the year. To further assure a regular voice for youth in CPB deliberations, the board recommends that Council amend the city charter to include a youth representative on the board. It is the intent of the board that the" youth representative would be seated through the same process as other commissioners; recommendation by the Mayor and approval by Council. The youth representative would serve the same functions as an adult commissioner with one exception; that being that the youth commissioner would not conduct complaint investigations. The youth commissioner would assist with community liaison efforts and have voting participation in monthly public meetings and executive sessions. Further, to assure the number of adult commissioners necessary to fulfill the increased work load of the commission and to maintain an odd number of commissioners for voting purposes, the CPB recommends the amendment of the city charter to add one adult commissioner to the board, bringing the total number of commissioners to nine (eight adults and one youth). Because the 4/12 Council meeting conflicts with the regularly scheduled NCI meeting and because this was the only agenda item for NCI, if Council concurs, the attached resolution could be acted on at the 4/12/00 Council meeting. • Community Police Board Addition of one youth and one adult commissioner • Whereas: Section C -16. A. of the City of Ithaca Charter establishes a Community Police Board made up of seven (7) Commissioners, and Whereas: it is recommended by the Commissioners that a Youth Commissioner be added to the Board to better represent the voice of youth in discussion and decision making, as well as in community liaison functions of the board, and Whereas: the workload of the present Community Police Board and its Commissioners has increased greatly each of the last three years due to; • increased efforts to fulfill the charge to "act as community liaison to the Police Department, actively fostering positive communications between police and all segments of the community." • increased attention to the settling of complaints through the use of dialogue and mediation, which effort is more time consuming than simply investigating and issuing a finding regarding the complaint, and Whereas: efforts to better serve the needs of the community as described above have resulted in an increase in the number of complaints each of the last three years (1997 -11 complaints; 1998 -15 complaints; 1999 -18 complaints), making it difficult for seven Commissioners to adequately handle the workload, • Therefore,. be it resolved: that Section C -16. A. of the City of Ithaca Charter be amended as follows: A. The Mayor shall appoint a Community Police Board, subject to the approval of the Common Council. The Commissioners shall be chosen from a range of culturally and economically diverse community groups with consideration given to the effect each appointment will have on the diversity of representation, including geographic representation, on the Board. The Community Police Board shall consist of nine (9) Commissioners, including eight (8) Adult Commissioners and one (1) Youth Commissioner. Adult Commissioners will be eighteen (18) years of age or older. The Youth Commissioner will be sixteen (16) or seventeen (17) years of age. The Youth Commissioner will fulfill all functions of the Adult Commissioners except that of investigating complaints against police officers. The term of office ... (same as current language).