Review‑panel analysis shows clusters in conduct, equipment and use‑of‑force; commission orders survey of panel participants
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Summary
A policy-and-research report presented Dec. 15 found allegations concentrate in a few MPD policy chapters and that IA-origin complaints show a higher share of merit findings; the commission adopted a resolution to fund expanded analysis and a survey of review‑panel participants with a report due March 31, 2026.
Policy and research staff presented a descriptive analysis of civilian and IA review‑panel recommendations covering January 2024 through September 2025 and the commission voted to pursue further research and a participant survey.
Linda Jean of the commission’s policy and research team told the commission that review panels, which include a police lieutenant and two civilian CCPO members, issued recommendations that fall into broad categories (no‑merit; merit with non‑disciplinary corrective action; merit with recommended discipline; and remand for further investigation). Jean said about half of allegations in the dataset were recommended to have merit when aggregated and that allegations clustered in a few policy chapters: Code of Conduct (chapter 5 100, 88 allegations), Equipment & Supplies (4 200, 37 allegations), Use of Force (5 300, 35 allegations) and Vehicle Operations (7 400, 28 allegations).
Jean described a divergence between IA and OPCR cases: IA‑origin matters showed a higher proportion of merit and discipline recommendations, while OPCR‑origin matters had a larger share of no‑merit recommendations. She urged commissioners to consult the appendix for section‑level breakdowns and recommended monitoring chapters with uniformly no‑merit findings to determine whether policy or practice revisions are warranted.
Commissioner Shanfield and others praised the report as a useful baseline for policy review and training prioritization. Commissioner Smith introduced a resolution to expand the work into a program of research and to survey all participants in the review‑panel process, both sworn and civilian, with draft survey and research plan review planned in January and a draft report to the full commission by March 31. The commission adopted the resolution by roll call (8 ayes).
The research directive asks staff to coordinate with the civil rights department, designate a PPRR chair as liaison, and produce a summary report with recommendations for the full commission. Commissioners indicated they will use the expanded analysis to identify policy chapters for review and potential training interventions.
