Police Complaints Board Meeting

DRAFT

Police Complaints Board

Minutes of Regular Meeting

Meeting Date & Time:                       Thursday, November 21, 2019

                                                6:00 p.m. 

Location:                                Office of Police Complaints

                                                1400I Street NW, Suite 700

                                                Washington, DC 20005

PCB Members Present:

• Paul Ashton, Chair
• Commander Morgan Kane (via phone)
• Bobbi Strang

PCB Members Absent:

• Jeffrey Tignor
• Kurt Vorndran

OPC Staff Present:

• Michael G. Tobin, Executive Director
• Rochelle Howard, Deputy Director
• Alicia Yass, Legal Counsel
• Mona Andrews, Chief Investigator
• Anthony Lawrence, Investigator
• Samantha Jeffrey, Investigator

Public Members Present:

• None

Meeting Agenda:

1. Call to Order

Mr. Ashton called the meeting to order at 6:01 p.m.Board roll call.Mr. Ashton and Ms. Strang were present in person, and Commander Kane was present via phone.

1. Public Comment Period
2.  

1. Adoption of Minutes:

The Board reviewed the minutes from the September 19, 2019 PCB meeting.Ms. Strang made a motion to approve the minutes.Commander Kane seconded.The minutes were unanimously approved.

1. Old Business
2.  

1. Agency Report

Director Tobin gave a summary of the agency report.

Legal Counsel Alicia Yass is working on reviewing the current status of FY 18 policy recommendations to issue the implementation update.

Outreach to ANC meeting is resuming.The past few months outreach has been focused on career fairs and street fairs.

New Investigator Brittany Clift started on October 15.New Research Analyst Yan Li started on November 12.Two investigators have recently resigned, and there is currently a job posting to search for the replacements.

Training update: the annual NACOLE conference was in Detroit September 22-27. Mona Andrews and Natasha Smith were presenters and Mr. Ashton, Mr. Tobin, and Ms. Howard attended.

The regional NACOLE training was hosted in DC on November 15.It was a success with over 100 attendees.Councilmember Cheh sponsored the event that was held at GWU. The day was largely planned by the OPC investigators.

Mr. Tobin gave testimony at the Council hearing on BWC on October 21.Mr. Tobin expects that the Council will make some modifications to the BWC legislation to respond to public concerns over FOIA and public access to video footage.

Ms. Andrews presented the investigations statistics. OPC continues to monitor all statistics monthly.  Numbers are slightly higher than this time last year, but closures are also higher.  OPC is looking to increase the use of the rapid resolution program. 

Commander Kane asked that the Board be given a refresher on the investigation process.  Mr. Tobin agreed that this could happen at a future meeting, and/or that Board members are always welcome to visit OPC and can follow an investigator as they work on a case.

1. New Business

Mr. Tobin proposed two new mediators for approval by the Board: Walid Abdul-Jawad and Merrick Hoben.

First the Board considered Mr. Abdul-Jawad. Ms. Strang moved to approve, and Mr. Ashton seconded.The Board unanimously approved.

Then the Board considered Mr. Hoben.Mr. Ashton moved to approve, and Ms. Strang seconded.The Board unanimously approved.

1. Adjournment and Next Meeting

Commander Kane moved for the meeting to be adjourned.It was seconded by Mr. Ashton, and the motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 6:22 p.m.The next Board meeting will be held on Thursday, January 16, 2020 at 6pm.

Due to technical difficulty there is no audio recording of the Police Complaints Board Meeting for Thursday, November 21, 2019.

Minutes prepared by Legal Counsel, Alicia Yass