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Oversight offices report rising intake, backlog progress and training, policy updates
Summary
Office of Police Conduct Review told commissioners it is managing a large intake volume and a significant backlog; Internal Affairs and the Implementation Unit reported status updates on investigations, training and policy work including a new peer‑support program pending policy approval.
Staff from the Office of Police Conduct Review, Internal Affairs and the MPD Implementation Unit presented monthly updates to the Community Commission on Police Oversight on Aug. 11 that showed rising complaint intake, continuing backlog work, and a cluster of policy and training items moving through public comment and implementation.
Russ Fujisawa, associate director of the Office of Police Conduct Review (OPCR), told commissioners that OPCR handled 103 contacts in July 2025, compared with about 30 in the same month last year, and that 110 complaints were in the office’s intake queue. Of those 110 complaints, 74 were beyond the 30‑day intake timeline required by the settlement agreement, Fujisawa said. The average time a complaint sits in intake before routing is about 55 days; once a complaint is assigned to an investigator, average investigative time is about 23 days.
"Of the complaints, the ones that do remain in compliance under that 30 day timeline is 36," Fujisawa said, and he described challenges including very old incident dates on complaints and the workload of intake triage.
Internal Affairs presented separate statistics. Miss Hastings, speaking for Internal Affairs, said open administrative investigations totaled 53 as of Aug. 5, with an average age of 221 days. Five of the 53 were considered backlog cases; 13 were noncompliant (older than 180 days). Internal Affairs reported an intake average routing time of 27 days and said 50 of the 53 investigations were assigned.
Commissioners asked about cases sitting at the chief’s office. Commander Wilkes and IA staff explained that, under the settlement agreement, when a review panel completes recommendations the chief has 30 days to review a case file and make a decision; additional administrative steps — drafting memos, review by the city attorney’s office, notifying affected officers and preparing redactions for public posting — contribute to the time between the chief’s decision and public posting.
Implementation Unit staff reported several policy and training items in public engagement or drafting stages. Commander Yolanda Wilkes said the unit is rebuilding community engagement capacity after staff turnover, and that a peer‑support program vendor, Wellness That Fits, has provided training but the peer support program rollout is on hold until a formal policy is approved and community feedback is considered. Wilkes described recently approved and posted policies including use‑of‑force and crisis intervention; she said certain training days had been delayed while a new instructor was acclimated to the syllabus.
The Police Policy Research & Recommendations committee also reported and delivered written feedback on a draft Early Intervention System (EIS) policy. Commissioners recommended stronger oversight and clearer definitions in the EIS draft, suggested third‑party annual assessment, urged disclosure of alert thresholds and algorithm inputs where possible, and asked for more implementation guidance and supervisor training. The committee recommended extending non‑consent‑decree policy comment periods beyond 30 days to 45 or 60 days to allow fuller public review.
No formal policy adoptions occurred during the Aug. 11 meeting. Staff said policy drafts and public comment links are posted on the MPD implementation web page and that commissioners and the public can submit feedback during posted periods.
