Civilian Police Review & Advisory Board

MEETING MINUTES CIVILIAN POLICE REVIEW AND ADVISORY BOARD July 11, 2024, 12:00 p.m. Online via Zoom Minutes by Catherine Fonseca Members present include: Catherine Fonseca, Dady Dadyburjor, Robert Cohen, Rachel Fetty (Chairing), Megan Gandy, Bryan Church Guests present include: John Evans, Mike Nolting, Troy Ball 1) CALL TO ORDER: Call to order at 12:04pm Rachel provided a disclaimer that last month’s posting of the meeting agenda did not happen properly. As such any action taken during that meeting will be revisited during today’s regular meeting. 2) COMMITTEE REPORTS i. Statistics & Reporting Committee Catherine reported that the committee last met on May 23 where they discussed revisions to the data point wishlist based on input and feedback from the Chief of Police. Catherine reported no response has yet been received to our committee’s request to meet with the database technician, given The committee sees no use in meeting again just as a group, until they have had the opportunity to view & query the database system. Action: Catherine to send a follow-up email to MPD requesting a meeting with the database technician iii. Community Outreach Committee Megan provided an update to progress made with the community survey on policing. She clarified that the MOU for the community survey is a more informal document, rather than a formal contract. Megan indicated that she is in the focus group phase of the project. Focus groups will be the pre-cursor to the broader anonymized survey to ensure questions are relevant and universally understood. Megan has already reached out to various community stakeholder groups, including advocacy groups, business owners downtown, police officers, as well as the general public. Megan’s research team held the first focus group last week with social services providers. Four participants were in attendance and the research team obtained useful data. Megan indicated she is still in the process of acquiring software for data analysis, but will provide the Board with preliminary, broad strokes once she has dug into the data. Megan hopes to continue soliciting wider audiences. Megan welcomes ideas and efforts to connect with folks outside our own direct social networks.  Another Board member inquired what has been done thus far to solicit participation. Megan indicated that promotion efforts have included targeted cold calling, reaching out to the neighborhood associations, posting via social media, posting flyers on public bulletin boards. Dady to attend the upcoming Suncrest Neighborhood Association, Megan and Dady attended the South Park meeting, Catherine promoted the focus groups at the previous Woodburn meeting. Dady made the recommendation to post and promote via the NextDoor app. Rachel suggested reaching out to the City’s social media and communications department to help promote. Rachel confirmed that the committee has created a facebook page for our committee: https://www.facebook.com/MorgantownCPRAB 3.) OLD BUSINESS A. Community Survey Re-vote on approval of Memorandum of Understanding with WVU (Megan recused) Rachel reviewed the MOU, Bob moved to approve, and Dady seconded. The motion passes unanimously. Re-Vote on approval of proposal for funding - Progress on creation of focus groups B. Rachel reviewed the most recent funding request, up to $9,241.10 to be sent to City Council. Member commented on the necessity of having this community survey on policing and public safety meet scientific validity, and that the proposal reflects such a high scientific standard. Another member commented on the economic viability that the proposal provides as well, and the partnership with WVU allows for both generosity of funding as well as research expertise. Another member noted the thoroughness of the proposal. Bob moved to approve, Catherine seconded. The motion passes unanimously. Action: Rachel to sign the MOU, as a representative of the Board. Once signed, she will send it on to Megan. B. Procedures for citizen complaints to Morgantown Police Department Rachel proposes to table this discussion item to the August meeting until Rich (who is recovering from surgery) can be in attendance. There is agreement from other Board members. C. Review of progress toward meeting goals for 2024 Most of this year’s goals have been accomplished. Those that are still in progress include:  ● Goal #5: Publish the inaugural statistical report relating to operations and activities (incomplete, in progress) ● Goal #7: Proactively recruit to fill board vacancies (currently two), with the assistance of City Council (incomplete, in progress) ● Goal #9: Attend neighborhood association and relevant community organization meetings in order to build cooperative relationships and promote understanding of the Board’s purpose and scope (incomplete, in progress) ● Goal #10: Establish a workplan for conducting a systematic review of MPD policies and procedures – incomplete, not started There were some modifications to Goal #8: “Hold internal training for Board members to orient them to a shared drive and file library, supplied by the City.” As a result of new security authentication measures, however, this goal is no longer feasible and has been modified and is completed. Instead, the Board has created a different workflow for this priority, with Bryan now monitoring the email. There is not the ability to create a shared drive given security measure limitations of the Microsoft account assigned to the Board. The Board discussed those not yet complete goals. Regarding filling board vacancies (Goal #7), Rachel shared that she reached out to the City Council and made the suggestion to have a business member perspective join the Board. Rachel also recommended prioritizing folks of marginalized identities. Another member noted that we have actively sent a few folks to City Council but there has been lack of transparency as to why Council has rejected those handful of folks we have attempted to recruit. We have only received a subjective response that those potential candidates they’ve interviewed are ‘not suitable’ for the position. 4) NEW BUSINESS A. Document request by Bryan Bryan was unsure if there was a designated liaison for requests to the Chief. Board confirmed that is Rich and that the requesting Board member should work with Rich or craft language that Rich can then forward. B. Future Meeting Location Bob raised Heather’s email inquiring if we would like to use Council chambers in August and whether the Board would prefer meetings to be live-streamed or just recorded. The Board agreed to try Council chambers for the upcoming August meeting, but we can always revert to the public library should Council chambers not suit our needs. Action: Bob to confirm with City Council that our August meeting will be held in Council chambers and to be live-streamed. Action: Catherine to cancel our reservation at the public library 5) PUBLIC COMMENT None made 6) ADJOURNMENT Dady moves to adjourn, Bob seconds. Meeting adjourns at 1:40pm. Upcoming meetings: General Board Meeting on Thursday, August 7, 2024 (hybrid) from 12:00-1:30pm