Schenectady committee reviews revisions to police complaint form, keeps perjury notice

The Schenectady City Council Public Safety Committee on June 9 reviewed proposed revisions to the police department's complaint packet, including removing a notary requirement and personal identifiers, adding a language-preference prompt and assistance resources, and clarifying which fields are for office use only, while retaining a city-code warning about false statements.

The committee said the changes are intended to make the form easier to complete and to increase transparency about how complaints are handled. Staff and police department representatives discussed moving any 'office use only' fields to the bottom of the form, making employer information optional, removing an unnecessary request for Social Security numbers, and replacing the notarization step with a simple attestation.

Chair of the Citizen Police Review Board (CPRB) Miss Tomter urged a broader conversation with the public-safety committee to ensure revised language is clear and accessible. Captain Mallard of the Schenectady Police Department described the department's language services and evidence-review practices, and said the department uses contracted interpretation services for criminal and internal compliance matters.

"In the event that it's a third party's completed this for somebody to speak English and we need to speak to them, we have a language service that we contract with at the police department for a variety of reasons," Captain Mallard said. "We do that with criminal and internal compliance."

A staff member cited city code 93-13(b), noting that the code requires complaint forms to include a statement that filing a complaint does not bar a separate lawsuit and that false statements may result in prosecution. "The city code 93-13(b) 'complaint forms should include a statement that the filing of the complaint is not a bar to file the lawsuit for injury or damages, nor a bar to prosecution for perjury or filing a false statement," the staff member said. Committee participants agreed that the perjury-related notice should remain even if notarization is removed.

Committee members and CPRB representatives also discussed language access. Staff said a Spanish version of the form is in editing and will be assigned a form number before release; Detective Cunyonez, described in the meeting as bilingual, volunteered to assist with translation. The committee discussed the cost and technical limits of providing an online form in dozens of languages and noted the department's current vendor options.

Members proposed adding a cover page or resource page that lists organizations and translation services that can help residents complete a complaint. CPRB members said the board would also pursue outreach materials ' including pamphlets and a logo ' using money previously allocated in the city budget. A committee member said $5,000 was allotted for the CPRB in the current budget and that proposed materials would need to be drawn from that amount.

No formal motion to adopt the new packet language was taken at the meeting. The committee chair asked staff to compile notes of the discussion, edit the form accordingly, and circulate the revised packet to committee members for further review; staff said they would seek to expedite the edits and public release "as soon as possible." The committee adjourned after the discussion.