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POAC to form ad hoc subcommittee to overhaul complaint intake and public portal
Summary
After extensive public comment and presentations from VPD staff, the commission asked staff to return with and ultimately approved creating an ad hoc subcommittee to redesign complaint forms and improve the complaints portal and related outreach.
Commissioners, staff and community members spent a substantial portion of the meeting on the police complaints intake system and the new IAPro public portal.
Deputy Chief Knight described the department’s current workflow: complaints can be taken verbally, via a written form, or through the IAPro public portal, which feeds directly into Professional Standards Division tracking. He said the portal provides complainants with a unique link to check complaint status, and that it reduces manual handling because entries flow directly into the agency’s IAPro system. He also said the public portal feature is relatively new and that some agencies use it more widely than others.
Residents and commissioners said many complainants distrust filing complaints directly with the police and urged alternate intake options: a separate POAC intake, paper forms available at meetings, staffed reception for confidential intake, clearer plain‑language language about confidentiality, and user testing with community members. Several commenters suggested bifurcating intake so POAC can serve as the first point of contact while ensuring complaints are tracked in IAPro.
The commission voted to bring a future agenda item to create an ad hoc subcommittee to work on complaint forms, educational materials and processes; the motion was seconded and carried unanimously. Staff said they would explore options including providing screenshots of portal workflow, posting materials to the POAC website, and whether POAC could obtain its own IAPro instance (costs unknown).
