Civilian Police Review & Advisory Board

MINUTES CIVILIAN POLICE REVIEW AND ADVISORY BOARD Regular Meeting October 28, 2024 In Person at the Morgantown Public Library, and by Zoom Members Present: Rich Burks, Bob Cohen, Dady Dadyburjor, Catherine Fonseca, Bryan Church (by Zoom) Also present by Zoom: Ben Conley 1. Call to Order: 12:10 pm 2. Minutes of the regular meeting held on September 12, 22024 were approved on motion of Bob, seconded by Dady 3. COMMITTEE REPORTS – A. Statistics and Reporting Committee Rich reported that he has been trying to set up a meeting with Deputy Chief Ruehmer. He noted that the latest statistics published on the Police Department website are for 2018-19. B. Community Outreach Committee Dady reported that he attended the Suncrest Community Association meeting. People there were supportive of the Board. Rich said that he would attend the neighborhood association meeting in Norwood when it is scheduled. The Board approved the request of Board member Megan Gandy (who was unable to be present at today’s meeting) for a Special Meeting to review the results of phase 1 of the Community Survey (focus groups) and to discuss funding of phase 2. The meeting will be at 11:30 a.m. on November 21, 2024, and will be a virtual meeting only. It will be open to the public. 4. OLD BUSINESS A. Regarding citizen complaints to the MPD and the complaint form, Rich reported that the workgroup has looked at procedures and complaint forms in four other cities. We have not heard back from Ryan Simonton about the necessity of including warnings about false reporting on the instructions and/or the complaint form. Various other issues were discussed and suggestions made by members of the Board. The workgroup is to bring  specific recommendations regarding the instructions and the form to the next Board meeting. B. Regarding the need to increase membership on the Board, Bob noted that according to Minutes of the City Council Special Meeting on August 27, in Executive Session the Council considered an applicant for membership. From information on the internet, it would appear that this person would be a good addition to the Board. It was agreed that Rich would contact Mayor Joe Abu-Ghannam to inquire what steps City Council was taking to appoint additional members. C. Rich reported that Chief Powell is amenable to having regular quarterly meetings with the Board. In view of the timing of the season, it was agreed to seek to have the first quarterly meeting in January. 5. NEW BUSINESS The Board considered the problem of people in the community contacting the Board in the mistaken belief that the Board had power to investigate complaints of improper behavior by the MPD. It was decided that there should be clear language on the City’s website about this issue. Language that Megan had previously suggested was adopted: "The Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board doesn’t have the power to investigate specific incidents of police misconduct. The Board looks at the overall policies and practices of the police department. We meet every month, and you can find the dates and what we’ll talk about on the city’s website. Everyone is welcome to attend and share their thoughts during the public comment part of the meeting. Thank you for being interested in the Board, and we hope you can join us at our next meeting!" Bob is to contact the City Clerk to have this language put onto the Board’s page on the City website 6. OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT There were no public comments. 7. The meeting was adjourned at 12:57 pm. Minutes prepared by Bob Cohen