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
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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).