Civilian Police Review & Advisory Board

MEETING MINUTES CIVILIAN POLICE REVIEW AND ADVISORY BOARD Regular Meeting September 12, 2024, 12:00 p.m. Hybrid: Zoom & Morgantown Public Library Meeting Room B Minutes by Catherine Fonseca Members present include: Richard Burks, Catherine Fonseca, Dady Dadyburjor, Robert Cohen (Virtual), Rachel Fetty, Megan Gandy (Virtual), Bryan Church (Virtual) Guests in attendance, Zoom and in-person 1) CALL TO ORDER: Call to order at 12:04pm 2) APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES August 8 minutes will be revised to reflect updates to item 4B regarding Chief Powell’s public comments on crime downtown. Motion to approve August minutes pending changes; Rachel motions, Dady seconds. Motion passes unanimously. 3) COMMITTEE REPORTS i. Statistics & Reporting Committee The committee has been appointed a new contact: Asst. Chief Ruehmer, who has an ongoing statistics project that may align with the Board’s plans for data publishing. Action: Catherine to confirm her availability for the week of October 7th with Rich. Rich to follow up with Asst. Chief Ruehmerto schedule a meeting time. ii. Community Outreach Committee Dady reported on his efforts to conduct Board outreach to the Suncrest neighborhood community. He attended a neighborhood picnic and presented to around 30 attendees, outlining the history and charge of the Board and recommending participation in the focus groups that are part of the larger community survey project. He provided handouts, but did not have sufficient and would like a digital file to follow up with. Dady also attempted to attend a Suncrest neighborhood association meeting, but it was canceled and the upcoming one may conflict with Dady’s schedule. Now that focus groups are no longer recruiting, the need to attend this meeting and provide Board messaging is less of a priority. Focus Groups Megan reported on the focus group work and progress. She and her team have collected data from 36 people, across 7 focus groups, totalling 11 focus group hours. Additionally, they interviewed 10 more individuals, for 6 more additional hours. A survey link was also sent to  other individuals unable to interview in-person. This represents a substantial and rich dataset that meets the researcher’s expectations for this first phase of the community survey project. The Board expressed gratitude for Megan and her research team (particularly John Evans) for their diligent and excellent work, relaying great satisfaction with the breadth of focus group attendance. Funding Proposal For additional phases of the community survey project, the Board will have to make a formal budget request in December. Megan indicated she has heard no additional word from the City Manager on a special funding request, so is planning to make a formal budget request during the normal cycle in December. She will likely obtain another quote from material vendors to ensure pricing is still accurate. Action: Megan to resend digital file for Dady to forward to folks at the meeting who did not receive a handout 4.) OLD BUSINESS A. Update on review of procedures for citizen complaints to Morgantown Police Department A workgroup composed of Rachel, Rich, and Bob met to discuss the current MPD complaint form. Bob sent to all Board members a First Report of Workgroup on Civilian Complaint procedures, outlining recommendations made by the workgroup to improve the complaint form and process. Included in that report were recommendations related to improving access to form on MPD's webpage, clarifying contradicting information in the instructions, and revising language or process that might intimidate or discourage complainants. Discussion ensued regarding the warnings against submitting an untrue or inaccurate complaint present throughout the form, including the end statement: Having been duly sworn, I hereby state under penalty of Falsely Reporting an Emergency Incident (61-6 -20), West Virginia Code, or 501.08, Morgantown Municipal Code, that I am the complainant in this complaint, that I have prepared, read, fully understand all matters set forth in this complaint, that this investigation is an official proceeding is confidential to the degree required by law and that all information provided in this complaint is true and complete, to my knowledge. Members commented that in practice, unintended or otherwise, this kind of language creates a “chilling” effect that likely discourages use or submission of the form. Members also questioned the legal accuracy of this statement and whether it indeed constitutes “false reporting”. One Board member recommended that the workgroup seek out other examples beyond just Fairfax, Virginia police department’s complaint form. By looking at more than one example, this may lend some additional weight to our recommendations for changes if those changes are based on similar patterns across multiple model complaint forms. Fairfax was chosen as a focus of study since they have a similar board as ours and helped to model earlier work of forming the  present CPRAB. The same Board member indicated we may consider sending Fairfax VA’s complaint form as an appendix to formal recommendations to provide it as an ideal exemplar from which we would like to see our own modeled. The workgroup also recommended that the complaint form be revised to serve dually as a commendation form. Presently there is no commendation function or form available on MPD website. Members of the Board agreed with this recommendation, noting that a police commendation mechanism is necessary for a more holistic approach to improving civilian-to-police communications and relational environments. It also helps civilians take a more active role in cultivating a responsible police force by ensuring professional police conduct is recognized externally, and hopefully awarded internally at the department level. The Board commented on their own recent observations of excellent policing and the utility of such a commendation form to express those impressions. Action: The workgroup shall meet again to look at additional examples beyond Fairfax and draft formal recommendations to MPD. Board members not part of the workgroup shall send any additional thoughts in response to the First Report. B. Update on workgroup to address the camping ban ordinance A workgroup composed of Bryan, Bob, and Catherine met to discuss the possibility of adopting and presenting a public statement weighing in on the camping ban ordinance that came before City Council. In August, the working group met, discussed the merits and challenges of making such a statement and developed a plan for facilitating a wider board vote for/against issuing a public statement. That facilitated vote was to take place during the present September 12 CPRAB meeting. However, the workgroup’s charge was rendered moot by how fast the ordinance moved through City Council. Considering that the ordinance already passed at last City Council, the workgroup no longer has work to accomplish since it was merely charged with working on the possible adoption of a statement to City Council by the larger CPRAB. One aspect that did emerge was the importance of the work of the standing Statistics & Reporting Committee. More regular reports of data relating to Morgantown Police Department operations and crime would have been useful to civilians, since there was little statistical evidence to corroborate some common public comments (e.g. spiking levels of crime downtown, non-residents flocking to Morgantown and committing crimes, etc.). 5) NEW BUSINESS A. Proposal for regular meetings with Chief Powell The Board discussed improving communications with MPD, as a key stakeholder for our work. One mechanism to investigate are more regular meetings with Chief Powell. These would be in addition to our regular board meetings. Rich to gauge Chief Powell regarding his availability and make a request to regularly meet with us every 3-4 months.  Discussion was had on what type of meeting this would be. An executive meeting likely would not be suitable in this case, even if it would lend to more frank discussions. The Board ultimately agreed these meetings should resemble a special, public meeting. Bob to refresh on rules for Special Meetings: including agenda setting, public comment portions, and quorum thresholds. A motion is introduced to approach Chief Powell to coordinate regular meetings with CPRAB. Bob motions, Megan seconds, the motion passes unanimously. B. Other items Rachel made the recommendation that our Board consider in an upcoming meeting scheduling of a training on community resilience and action, focusing on specific factors of restorative justice, integrated social services, community driven policy, and fair policing. She herself is undergoing training on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and could connect the Board with trainers to ask for a targeted session for our group. The suggestion was made that the Board could undertake a primer on the model and then a fuller, more in-depth training on the topic next year as part of our annual requirement. 6) OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT A member of the public by the name of Jason Gavril noted that the false reporting and attestment portion of the current MPD complaint form may be a state requirement. He noticed that same statement was present in various complaint forms across other West Virginia cities. 7) ADJOURNMENT A motion is introduced to adjourn the meeting . Rachel motions, Dady seconds, the motion passes. Meeting adjourned at 1:07pm. Upcoming meetings: General Board Meeting on Thursday, October 17, 2024, Hybrid (Zoom & Morgantown Public Library Meeting Room B) from 12:00-1:30pm General Board Meeting on Thursday, November 14, 2024, Hybrid (Zoom & Morgantown Public Library Meeting Room B) from 12:00-1:30pm General Board Meeting on Thursday, December 12, 2024, Hybrid (Zoom & Morgantown Public Library Meeting Room B) from 12:00-1:30pm