Community Police Board debates complaint process and appointment concerns, moves to executive session

The Community Police Board met to review several procedural and oversight matters, focusing on public access to complaint channels, board appointments and training for police responding to mental-health crises.

Chair members opened the meeting with a motion to approve the previous month's minutes, which was seconded and approved by voice vote. A council liaison reported that filling vacancies remains a priority but emphasized that the mayor makes appointments; the liaison also said Charter Commission conversations about reforming appointment processes were underway.

Board members pressed the city for clarity on how many mayoral appointments can be made in a year, noting the charter text that limits certain appointments to three per calendar year. One member noted the board currently has six members and that five members constitute a quorum, and members asked the liaison to follow up on pending applications to avoid quorum fragility.

The board briefly discussed requests to review materials from an incident at Wegmans. One member urged caution, saying some case materials have been sealed and that the board should not let media-driven speculation dictate its work. "Things have been sealed, and we're in an open meeting right now," City Attorney Jim Kinnett said, advising care about what can be discussed publicly.

Members and a police representative described the department's approach to mental-health and de-escalation training, including reality-based scenarios, academy instruction and continuing professional development. The police representative reported staffing and training updates: "We had four officers injured just since we last met — two during arrest and two in training," and said the department has two officers in the academy, one in field training and expects five new hires (two lateral hires and three new academy recruits) with the next academy starting Aug. 4.

A member of the public asked how to file a complaint or compliment with the board. Alan from the clerk's office explained the options and how confidentiality is handled: "If someone goes to the online form in OpenGov ... all it does is come into the clerk's office, which I then validate and provide to the chair. The police department doesn't see it. The whole group doesn't see it." He added that people may also download a PDF or drop a handwritten complaint at the clerk's office, but that the board needs some contact information to follow up.

Board members debated whether CPB email submissions and complaints should be distributed broadly (including to the police department and clerk) or routed only to board members to protect complainants' sense of confidentiality. After discussion, staff agreed to change the distribution so that complaints sent to the CPB email can be directed to board members only, with the chair responsible for logging a complaint into the official tracking system when formal investigation is required.

Before moving to a closed session, the clerk noted the city has hired a permanent clerk, naming Britney Greed, who is expected to begin in the coming month and be introduced to the board. The chair moved — and a member seconded — to go into executive session to consider an important complaint; members confirmed the public livestream would end for that closed session.

The board recorded two formal motions during the meeting: approval of the prior meeting's minutes and a motion to enter executive session. The transcript does not record a public roll-call vote on the executive session motion in the portion provided.