Police Commission pushes to clear years-old disciplinary cases; agrees targeted calendar effort

The Police Commission spent significant time on July 7 addressing a backlog of disciplinary cases, some dating to 2004'006, and agreed on a targeted approach to set hearings and reduce the docket.

Commissioner James Hammer said the commission must "set trial dates" and described multi-year cases as an "embarrassment" that undermines department discipline and public trust. Commissioners and staff reviewed a chronological list compiled by Lieutenant Riley and discussed reasons some matters remained unresolved, including turnover among commissioners, writs and pending criminal cases that toll administrative progress.

The commission coalesced around a practical plan: identify the 10 oldest cases that do not yet have hearing dates, require counsel and officers to appear so the commission can set firm trial/hearing dates, and address hearing-officer assignments that have "disappeared into a black hole." Several commissioners recommended resolving the assignment question in closed session to review case-specific constraints and then order parties into open or closed calendaring where permitted.

Lieutenant Riley agreed to compile histories for the oldest cases and to present a subset of unset matters for the commission to calendar; commissioners volunteered to assume cases where necessary and to coordinate outreach to the POA and defense counsel to secure availability. The commission scheduled further discussion in closed session and indicated it would return to open session with calendar actions as allowed.