Auburn Human Rights Commission presses for police accountability, opposes another voluntary community meeting

The Auburn Human Rights Commission spent the bulk of its meeting on repeated concerns about the Auburn Police Department’s handling of several summer incidents and on proposed community-engagement work paid for by an outside contractor.

Lehi, commission member, told colleagues the Human Rights Commission investigated three episodes over the summer in which minority residents were aggressively handled by officers. “Three black folk,” Lehi said, “one of them was knocked unconscious,” and the commission’s review found the disciplinary responses inadequate.

The commission criticized outcomes in multiple cases: several officers received light discipline or were reassigned (one lieutenant was demoted and another officer received a day without pay), while Lehi said the incidents involving minority residents resulted in no meaningful accountability. Lehi and other commissioners said one juvenile had been handcuffed so tightly his hands “turned purple and blue” and that the medical staff on duty had pleaded with officers to loosen the cuffs.

Commission members said city leaders and police managers at times described use-of-force decisions as “justified.” Lehi said the department had not consistently cited the penal code or the policy the city previously discussed when explaining the decisions. “They could not justify. They did not give us the penal code for justification,” Lehi said.

The commission also discussed a forthcoming RFP-funded program that would bring a Rochester organization to lead community meetings about police–community relations. Lehi urged members not to support another voluntary meeting, arguing voluntary community sessions and light penalties will not address structural accountability. “I will not support another community meeting because it is not necessary,” Lehi said, adding that the commission should instead pursue stronger remedies such as firings where the evidence warrants and a standing accountability body.

Commissioners debated forming a police accountability task force attached to the Human Rights Commission to recommend processes for discipline, oversight and reporting. The group discussed obstacles to stronger action, including union protections and the department’s internal culture; Lehi said unions and family relationships within the force complicate efforts to discipline officers.

Commission members said they want more transparent reporting from the department on arrests, incident responses and officer-level discipline (who disciplined whom, the basis for discipline and the number of officers responding to calls). “We don’t need as many police officers as y’all say we do,” Lehi said, arguing that large officer responses to single calls justify rethinking staffing and oversight.

The commission asked members to attend a city meeting on the RFP and related agenda items on the 13th and told staff to circulate the RFP and related materials to commissioners ahead of that date. No formal vote on a resolution or on disbanding the proposed community meeting program was recorded at this session.

Background: Commissioners said the complaints prompting this work began with three incidents in the summer involving a juvenile and two adults; staff and commissioners reviewed video and medical records as part of the Human Rights Commission inquiries. Commissioners also said there was a separate downtown incident involving off-duty officers; the off-duty officers received discipline the commission described as lenient compared with responses to the incidents involving minority residents.

The commission closed the discussion by asking for a short interim report to the city manager and mayor summarizing the commission’s concerns and planned next steps.