Civilian Police Review & Advisory Board

MINUTES CIVILIAN POLICE REVIEW AND ADVISORY BOARD Regular Meeting May 9, 2024 In Person at the Morgantown Public Library, and by Zoom Members Present: Rich Burks, Bob Cohen, Dady Dadyburjor, Catherine Fonseca, Megan Gandy, Bryan Church (by Zoom) Also present by Zoom: Mike Nolting, John Evans, Brandon Viola 1. Call to Order: 12:09 pm 2. Minutes of the regular meeting held on April 11, 2024, were approved on motion of Megan, seconded by Dady 3. COMMITTEE REPORTS – A. Statistics and Reporting Committee Rich and Bob reported on the meeting with Chief Eric Powell and Deputy Chief Chris Ruehmer on May 7, 2024. Chief Powell went through the “Proposed Data Points for Statistical Reporting” which the Board had previously prepared and given him. Chief Powell identified which data points could be readily given to the Board and which ones would be more difficult. For the data points which are not readily available – e.g., arrests broken down by race and residential status of arrestee, traffic stops and searches broken down by race and gender, stops where contraband is found, use of force incidents broken down by race and gender – Chief Powell indicated that the Board could review the individual reports in order to obtain the statistical information required by Ordinance section 178.06(b). B. Community Outreach Committee Cathrine presented a list of neighborhood associations and meeting times. Board members indicated which neighborhood association they would take responsibility for being in contact with. Catherine will circulate the list of neighborhood associations by email. 4. OLD BUSINESS A. Procedure for Responding to Emails sent to the Board Bryan is taking charge of responding to emails sent to the Board. Megan accessed the login to the email and changed it to Bryan’s phone number so that he could login. In responding to emails, Bryan will follow the procedure which Bob previously suggested: He will separate substantive emails from non-substantive emails. He will respond to the non-substantive emails himself and will refer the substantive emails to the Board for consideration and response. B. Community Survey Megan reported that she has received a grant for $1000 from the WVU Center for Resilient Communities. This will cover costs for the Phase 1 Focus Groups of the Community Survey. Megan will check with City Attorney Ryan Simonton to make sure that there is no problem with the Board obtaining a grant of this nature. Megan plans to recruit focus groups by the end of May and run the focus groups from June through August. It was further decided that Megan would update Proposal No. 1 and that Megan and Rachel will put together a proposal for funding to present to City Council. 5. NEW BUSINESS – Need for Additional Meetings Board members expressed a willingness to have meetings in addition to the Board’s regular monthly meetings provided that they are scheduled on a regular basis. It was decided to hold a meeting of the Statistics and Reporting Committee on May 23 at Noon in the Library. Bob is joining that committee and Dady is replacing Bob on the Community Outreach Committee. 6. OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT There were no public comments. 7. The meeting was adjourned at 1:21 pm. Minutes prepared by Bob Cohen