Civilian Police Review & Advisory Board

MEETING MINUTES CIVILIAN POLICE REVIEW AND ADVISORY BOARD July 19, 2023, 12:00 p.m. Public Safety Building, Main Level Conference Room 300 Spruce Street, Morgantown, WV 26505 CALL TO ORDER: Richard Burks motioned to call the meeting to order. Nikki Lauffer seconded. The vote was unanimous to call to order. Members present included Richard Burks, Bryan Church, Dady Dadyburjor, Robert Cohen (on Zoom), Rachel Fetty, Catherine Fonseca, Megan Gandy, and Nicole Lauffer APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES: May, June There was discussion of official meeting minute drafting falling behind. Nikki Lauffer will have meeting minutes from, May, June, and July ready for review and approval in time for the August Board meeting. NEW BUSINESS i. By-Laws Committee-Progress on drafting of by-laws. Bob Cohen gave an update on the progress drafting by-laws for the Board. The first seven sections of the by-laws have been drafted. Another twelve sections have been outlined. The by-laws drafting is based on examples from other cities and counties and on the ordinance that established the Board. There are several remaining questions open that will be discussed as drafting progresses. There was discussion as to the best collaboration format for moving forward, including just the committee meeting to draft and review, the whole Board meeting, and the committee plus any interested Board members. The Board decided on a rough timeline for by-laws implementation, with a three month timeline to full completion and passing of the by-laws, with milestones for a final draft to be presented to the Board for review before voting at the two month mark. The below timeline will be implemented. 1. Completion of first round draft and review with By-Laws Committee. -A special committee meeting was set for August 9th at noon on Zoom to be posted with public notice. 2. Review of second round draft in a special committee meeting with other’s interested-One month. 3. Finalized by-laws draft for final review-September. 4. Final vote on by-laws-October Board Meeting. There was discussion as to the overall working purpose of by-laws, with the approach of the by-laws representing a “how to” approach for different processes such as how we communicate with the MPD, the structure for public meetings, how recommendations are made to the MPD etc. This approach needs to be balanced with not bogging down the Board with so much detail or process minutiae that action is inhibited. The goal is for a high-level focus on process. We will need a few review rounds for the by-laws, with a review by the City’s legal counsel in the 2nd month (September). ii. Training Committee Rich has not heard anything back from NACOLE regarding training cost or opportunities still. Their annual conference has training opportunities and is November 12-16 in Chicago. The Board previously discussed requesting a funding line (mostly for training) from the Council. A rough cost estimate includes conference registration of $675 per person, as the Board would only request overage of the registration and be responsible for their own lodging expenses. Rachel Fetty will make this request soon. iii. Community Outreach Committee-Progress on establishing a public feedback form. The feedback form is on hold, as we need to decide on next steps or priorities. Possible next items could include a County Kickoff Meeting, the feedback form, and the previously discussed survey with Doctor Nolan. Megan Gandy will work on drafting a Google Form to collect community feedback and aim to present it at the next Board meeting in August. iv. Statistical Data Reporting Committee-Feedback on reporting examples shared by the MPD and Annual reporting models. Rich met with Deputy Chief Scott last week to see system capabilities and reporting options. In the past, there was yearly external reporting, but that is not currently active. Rich will provide examples and screenshots of the reporting dashboard and possibilities to the Board members for review in helping to plan reporting needs. Rich will also send the last available annual external report and other previous reporting examples to the Board members for review and reference. Rich discussed the possibility of the MPD starting to run the reports again and posting them publicly. All reporting is based on data collected in MECCA 911. Once the Board decides what data they want, the admin can create a reporting queue for the group. There are limitations to the data, as it doesn’t capture if an officer comes across a crime that isn’t reported through 911. It will be important to look at reporting models for other police departments or civilian police review boards to see what general/best practice is to include. Catherine will research these comparison models to present to the Board. One reporting option discussed was an annual fact sheet. Once we have decided on reporting parameters, the system can handle any frequency the Board would like, as it was suggested to report more than annually. One question when considering reporting data will be how the different police departments interact and who has jurisdiction where between the MPD, the University Police, State Police etc. The usefulness of auditing MECCA 911 calls to get an idea of what is reported and what could be missing was discussed.  Bodycam footage is also stored indefinitely and could be reviewed if needed. When considering reporting, the Board will also need to consider that we are charged with advising the MPD on trends that we see in order to make recommendations. The Board will need to consider how we can track and report on data trends. For the first year, the focus will be on the required annual reporting, with plans for more frequent reporting after. OLD BUSINESS i. Police Response Case Study - Discussion of materials needed for the preparation of meeting with MPD to discuss MPD response to 8/24/21 incident at downtown Morgantown Sheetz. Materials needed for review will include several items. The Board would like to review the actual call from Sheetz. The Board would also like to know the protocol for that type of situation, as there were several officers who responded to the call. The Board would also like to review what the goal of the encounter was, including whether the goal was de-escalation or removal of all parties. The disposition of the incident, such as whether the individual was trespassed, will also be important to review. The Board would like to review any bodycam footage associated with the incident. The Board would also like to review all written record materials such as case reports. Disability may also have played a role in this incident, as the individual had difficulty communicating, so the Board will want to focus on how that impacted the situation and any recommendations related to this etc. The goals for this exercise will be to understand police procedure, understand the role of MECCA 911 and the information collected and relayed and to make recommendations. Nikki will draft a memo requesting the identified materials to make a request to MPD leadership. The discussion will be structured around the following items: 1) What went well? 2) What didn’t? 3) Clarifying questions etc. NEW BUSINESS-Establishment of a standing meeting schedule for Board Meetings and discussion of Work Plan possibilities for 2023 and 2024. Standing meetings will be scheduled for the 2nd Thursday of the month from 12-1:30 pm. Work plan items will include the goals discussed for each committee during this meeting. ADJOURNMENT: Rich Burks motioned to adjourn the meeting. Dady Dadyburjor seconded. The vote was unanimous to adjourn the meeting.