Civilian Police Review & Advisory Board

MINUTES CIVILIAN POLICE REVIEW AND ADVISORY BOARD Regular Meeting December 9, 2024 In Person at the Morgantown Public Library, and by Zoom Members Present: Rich Burks, Bob Cohen, Catherine Fonseca, Rachel Fetty (by Zoom), Bryan Church (by Zoom) , Dady Dadyburjor (by Zoom), Megan Gandy (by Zoom) Also present: Megan Williams, Ben Conley (by Zoom) 1. Call to Order: 12:08 pm 2. Minutes of the regular meeting held on November 14, 2024 and the special meeting held on November 21, 2024 were approved. 3. COMMITTEE REPORTS – A. Statistics and Reporting Committee To attempt to set up a meeting to discuss our proposals for the Police Department’s reporting of statistics, Rich has called Deputy Chief Ruehmer multiple times by telephone and has also gone to the Public Safety Building. There has been no response. Rich also put in a call to Chief Powell before the meeting today. It was noted that the only statistics published on the MPD website are for arrests in 2018-19. Members of the Board questioned why there has been no substantive response from the Police Department since the Committee’s meeting with Chief Powell and Deputy Chief Ruehmer in May. Regarding the Board’s Annual Report for 2024, Catherine is working on a draft which she will circulate to the Committee and then to the full Board. She expects to have a final version of the Report for the January meeting. B. Community Outreach Committee Megan reported that she had been in touch with the City about the Board having a Facebook page. The procedure is that the Board must submit a request for a social media account to the City’s Communications Director. A motion made by Megan, seconded by Rachel and Dady, to request a social media account from the City passed unanimously. Megan will follow through. Megan noted that the Board’s email address is CPRAB@Morgantownwv.gov. 1 4. OLD BUSINESS A. Regarding the Police Department’s citizen complaint form and instructions, prior to the meeting Bob had circulated a new draft which incorporated the changes suggested at the Board’s November meeting by Dady, Catherine and Megan. Rachel moved to submit the new draft to Chief Powell, the City Manager and City Attorney Ryan Simonton, with the additional suggestions (a) that it be accessible from a link on the first page of the Police Department’s website, and (b) that the complaint and commendation forms be set up so that they can be filled out and submitted online. Bob seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. It was agreed that Bob, with Catherine’s help, would prepare a final draft (with the two forms able to be filled out online) and a cover letter to Chief Powell, the City Manager and City Attorney, would circulate these documents to Board members and – upon email approval – send them to Chef Powell, the City Manager and City Attorney. B. Regarding the application to the City for funding of the budget proposal for the balance of the Community Survey, Megan reported that she had obtained a form from the City Manager and that the deadline for submission of the budget proposal was December 30. Megan further stated that the revised request would be for $13,632.10. Rachel moved to approve the changes and have Rachel submit the application to the City Manager before the deadline. Bob seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Rachel noted that John Evans, who worked on Phase 1 of the Community Survey, was going to receive his Bachelor’s degree in Social Work in May, and was applying to a number of graduate schools including WVU. If he ends up at WVU for graduate work, Megan wants to hire him for continued work on the Community Survey. The Board discussed writing a letter of commendation for John to use in his graduate school applications. C. There was discussion of the need to increase membership on the Board. Rachel reported that she had spoken with City Councilor Bill Kawecki, who recommended that the Board encourage people to apply for membership. 5. NEW BUSINESS A. The Board discussed priorities for2025, a list of which will be included in the 2024 Annual Report. Suggestions included: - Finalization of the revised MPD complaint and commendation forms, and instructions 2  - Publication of a statistical report relating to operations and activities of the Morgantown Police Department - Establish a workplan for conducting a systematic review of MPD policies and procedures - Continuing attendance at neighborhood association and relevant community organization meetings in order to build cooperative relationships and promote understanding of the Board’s purpose and scope Catherine will draft the list of priorities for 2025. 6. OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT Megan Williams, who attended the meeting, told the Board that she had had an interaction with the Morgantown Police Department which caused her to file a complaint. In brief, on a very cold (24 degrees) Friday night at about 7 pm, she was dropping off her Middle School daughter and a friend for a sleep-in at Wesley United Methodist Church. A police car drove up, and Ms. Williams hoped that they were there to help. However, an officer came up to her car and asked her to produce her driver’s license. Then another officer came to her car and said that she was obstructing traffic. However, there was no traffic at that time. Ms. Williams explained that she was dropping her daughter and a friend off for a school sleep-in. The officers then accused her of escalating the situation. A third police car came up. Ms. Williams was asked for her insurance card and instructed to get it using both hands. She produced the card. Ultimately, Ms. Williams was given a warning. Ms. Williams said that the officers’ behavior was unprofessional and that it created a frightening situation for the children and parents in front of the church. She said that she usually donates to organizations in the City but won’t donate anything this year. Rachel invited Ms. Williams to come to future Board meetings. Ms. Williams said that she is interested in digging into MPD statistics. Catherine said that we are interested in hearing the outcome of her complaint. 7. The meeting was adjourned at 1:55 pm. Minutes prepared by Bob Cohen 3