Complaint Procedures for IAD. 23 1. On or before December 1, 2003, OPD shall develop a policy so that, with the 24 exception of the provisions listed in paragraph E (2), below, OPD personnel who become aware 25 that a citizen wishes to file a complaint shall bring such citizen immediately, or as soon as 26 circumstances permit, to a supervisor or IAD or summon a supervisor to the scene. If there is a 1 delay of greater than three (3) hours, the reason for such delay shall be documented by the person 2 receiving the complaint. In the event that such a complainant refuses to travel to a supervisor or to 3 wait for one, the member/employee involved shall make all reasonable attempts to obtain 4 identification, including address and phone number, as well as a description of the allegedly 5 wrongful conduct and offending personnel, from the complainant and any witnesses. This 6 information, as well as a description of the complaint, shall immediately, or as soon as 7 circumstances permit, be provided, in writing, to the unit commander or, in his/her absence, the 8 Watch Commander, and shall be treated as a complaint, as specified in this paragraph. The 9 commander notified of the complaint shall ensure that IAD is notified.
Complaint Procedures for IAD. Task 4.5 requires that OPD personnel do not unduly influence persons making a complaint to consent to the informal complaint resolution (ICR) process. Task 4.6 requires that IAD have a central control system for complaints and Departmental requests to open investigations. OPD is in compliance with each of these tasks. Task 4.7 requires that every complaint received by any supervisor or commander be reported to IAD on the day of receipt. If IAD is not available, IAD must be contacted at the start of the next business day. Overall, 100 of the 112 (87%) field complaints were in compliance with Task 4.7. The IMT found OPD in conditional compliance with Task 4.7. Under the guidance of OIG, OPD developed a Daily Incident Log and accompanying policies and protocols. The IMT noted the striking cultural shift the implementation of this process reflected from years earlier when complaints not received directly by IAD were often lost or ignored. Even where cases listed on the DIL were out of compliance, in all cases, IAD learned of them eventually, usually fairly rapidly, and in most cases, a field supervisor had already contacted the complainant, or attempted to contact the complainant by the time IAD learned of the complaint – a striking and laudable contrast to past practice within OPD. Task 4.8 requires that OPD ensure that all complaints received are actually processed and tracked as such. In contrast to the practice a few years ago, when hundreds of complaints a year were not assigned an identifying number and were effectively lost, a review of all 1,662 matters entered into the IAD database between December 1, 2007, and November 19, 2008, demonstrated that all but four had received an IAD case number, which is assigned to all misconduct complaints, or an IAD intake number, which is assigned to all matters that OPD determines are not misconduct complaints. OPD is in compliance with Task 4.8. Task 4.9 requires that OPD personnel notify IAD and the Chief of Police, or designee, as soon as practicable, in cases likely to generate unusual interest. The IMT determined that there were nine such cases during the time period under review and that OPD was in compliance for each of these cases. Task 4.10 requires that OPD comply with criteria it has established when resolving complaints via informal complaint resolution, administrative closure, or summary finding. This subtask is meant to ensure that OPD provide the proper level of investigation for each complaint and no...
Complaint Procedures for IAD. January 2010
