Kalamazoo PCR board reviews 2024 complaint totals; Inspector Mason to publish fuller analysis in March

The Citizens Public Safety Review and Appeal Board on Jan. 14 reviewed a year-end police-citizen relations (PCR) report for 2024 and heard that roughly 48–50 complaints were recorded, with 45–46 sent to the chief for review.

The report matters because the board asked for detail on complaint patterns, racial breakdowns and repeat complainants — issues board members said could affect community trust and how investigations are prioritized.

Inspector Mason, Department of Public Safety, told the board the year-end PCR tally is not final and that “there's 1 or 2 more that I've sent down to divisions for some initial investigation that may add to those stats.” Mason said the office expects a fuller professional standards report in March that will include summaries and analyses of use-of-force reports, pursuits, internal investigations, citizen complaints, officer-involved crashes and on-the-job injuries.

A board member who asked about the racial breakdown read figures from the report, citing “37 African Americans, 7 [unclear category], 5 whites and 1 other,” and asked whether patrol patterns or repeat stops could explain the distribution. Mason said several factors could be involved, including where contacts occur, community trust and repeat reporting by the same individuals. “I simply I simply don't have a good answer for it,” Mason said, adding that a small number of reporting parties generated multiple complaints and that repeat reporters can skew counts.

Mason explained how the office handles complaints that turn out to involve employee-on-employee matters: they are sometimes referred to human resources rather than handled as internal investigations. “That was a complaint where it ended up being after some brief investigation determined that we had an employee on employee complaint that met the standard for shipping it over to human resources,” Mason said, adding the item retained its PCR number because it was initially entered as a citizen complaint.

Board members also asked whether officers are consistently assigned to particular zones. Mason said officers bid annually for shifts and zones but rotations occur because of sick leave, vacations and other staffing changes; the department tracks repeat complaints against individual officers and addresses sustained findings.

The board briefly discussed how PCR numbers should be interpreted in context: while total complaints were relatively low compared with calls for service, Mason said fluctuations year to year make a single-number comparison incomplete. He said he expects the more detailed annual analysis to be available in March.

Votes at a glance: The board approved the minutes of Dec. 10 by voice vote and later adjourned by voice vote; neither motion was recorded as a roll-call tally in the transcript.

Ending: The board scheduled its next regular meetings for March 11 and April 8, 2025.