Memorandum                    

City of Lawrence

TO:	City Commission
FROM:	Tony Mitchell, Chair, Community Police Review Board
DATE:	January 24, 2019
CC:	Community Police Review Board Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager
RE:	Proposed changes to Community Police Review Board Ordinance

At our meetings on December 5, 2018 and January 24, 2019, the Community Police Review Board discussed the ordinance creating the board.

Of specific discussion were three sections of the ordinance, Section 1-2504 a(8), Section 1-2504 D and Section 1-2506 A. 

Section 1-2405 a(8). The Board recommends the third sentence to read “Board members shall receive the complaint in a confidential manner” (remainder of sentence deleted).  The Board did not feel it had the authority to ensure that the complaint form was properly processed. 

Section 1-2504 D involves how evidence is weighed during a review by the Board, based on an appeal.  The Board discussed that there appears to be an internal conflict with the wording of this section.  We do not believe that the evidence can be reviewed without reweighing it.  We also have concerns about the intended meaning of the language “will not make witness credibility determinations.”.  Based on this discussion, we unanimously passed a motion to recommend that the third sentence in Ordinance 9324, Section 1-2504 D be amended to read “In its review of the Police Department’s factual findings, the Board will review the evidence”, striking the remainder of that sentence.  

Section 1-2506 A outlines the qualifications of the members of the Board.  The Board generally believed that it was not sufficient for someone to own a business and not be a resident of Lawrence to be on the Community Police Review Board.  Therefore, the board unanimously approved a motion to recommend deleting the language about owning a business in the City of Lawrence from the membership qualification in Section 1-2506 a2.