Minneapolis police oversight office reports intake delays and rising review-panel workload

The Office of Police Conduct Review (OPCR) told the Community Commission on Police Oversight on Oct. 15 that its intake queue and administrative investigations remain strained, with intake-processing times regularly exceeding the office's 30-day target.

Interim Civil Rights Department official Kayla McCanendera, speaking for OPCR, described the office as "a neutral agency that investigates allegations of police misconduct that are specifically made by members of the public to the city of Minneapolis." She said OPCR's intake unit routes complaints, refers matters outside its jurisdiction and helps people who have general information needs.

Corey Harland, intake supervisor, said OPCR had 121 complaints in its queue at the time of the report, with 43 handled within 30 days and 78 classified as out of compliance (31 days or older). "The average length of time a case sits in intake is about 67 days," Harland said, and added that once a case is assigned to an investigator the typical intake review time is about 21 days.

Harland said the intake team has four staff and is processing between 8 and 15 cases per week while receiving similar numbers of new contacts; year-to-date OPCR has processed roughly 314 complaints and an additional 500 to 600 inquiries for a total of about 800 to 900 contacts. He also flagged a small number of high-volume complainants whose repeated, lengthy interactions with staff take substantial staff time.

"Once a routing decision has been made, all the evidence has been gathered, we present it to the director for a routing decision on whether or not it goes to admin," Harland said.

Nick Poladian, administrative investigation supervisor, summarized the office's case breakdown and progress on a backlog. He said the 180-day statutory window that governs intake plus administrative investigation remains the framework OPCR uses: 30 days for intake and the remaining time for admin work. Poladian reported a mix of cases at different stages and said the office has been prioritizing clearing older backlog cases while working to get current cases back into compliance.

Lalinda Zhong, OPCR policy and research coordinator, told commissioners the review panels have increased their throughput compared with 2024: "Year to date this year, we've reviewed three times as many cases as 2024," she said, though she cautioned that panel work requires hundreds of hours of review and deliberation.

Commissioners asked how OPCR will get intake into compliance with the 30-day standard. Harland said the office plans to redeploy staff from areas with downtime, monitor trends closely, prioritize serious-misconduct allegations, and rely on a new records-management system (RMS) under development to help reduce the queue.

The commissioners received the report for the record; no formal action or vote on OPCR operations was taken during the meeting.

Clarifying details from the presentation: intake had 121 complaints in queue; 43 within 30 days and 78 older than 30 days; average time a case sits in intake ~67 days; average investigator intake work time ~21 days; year-to-date ~314 complaints and ~500'to'600 inquiries; total contacts YTD ~800'to'800.

The report included statistics on administrative investigations and review-panel scheduling difficulties; OPCR said panel rescheduling was mostly due to panelist availability and occasional clerical errors and that the office aims for a 100% conversion rate for scheduled panels.