MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The proposed civilian complaint form related to the Morgantown Police Department will include opportunities to compliment interactions with officers.
The Morgantown Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board unanimously agreed to move forward on the adjustments made to the proposed form, which include a combination of language clarity as well as the addition of an accommodation portion for citizens to praise officers doing their duty. Board Vice Chair Rachel Fetty discussed the details on the adjustments during their regular meeting Thursday.
“The primary changes that were made were done to simplify the form in the instructions,” said Fetty. “As well as remove any language that might be unnecessarily discouraging to someone who wanted to raise an issue, or even an accommodation to the police department,” she said.
The changes to the form have been under discussion for several months, with the proposed addition of a complimentary section taking place during meetings hosted in the summer. Along with the details on how to formally file complaints and a list of contacts within the Morgantown Police Department, the new form will offer opportunities to point out when a Morgantown police officer has warranted praise, which is expected to be located somewhere near the bottom of the form. Fetty added that they hope to expand on the contact list for citizens who have questions related to the form.
“We should also provide an alternate contact for people to talk to, probably someone in the city, or possibly someone not in the police department,” said Fetty. “So that is an area where we need to talk ostensibly about who needs to be available to help if there are questions,” she said.
The proposed form currently has Morgantown Police Department Social Worker Kelly Rice as the main point of contact for the department.
Members of the board also supported offering contact information with the City of Morgantown as well as the Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board itself for citizens wanting more clarity on the form. This is aimed at increasing informational access to citizens wishing to file a complaint, or now an accommodation, in the event questions are brought forward that can’t be answered by the Morgantown Police Department itself.
“I do agree that it would be a good idea to have us listed as a resource,” said board member Megan Gandy. “We can’t investigate any of these complaints, but we can assists citizens with filling out the form or give them guidance,” she said.
The board also agreed to try and have a finalized version of the proposed civilian complaint form up for a vote by the end of the year. City officials are expected to be contacted to review any legalese ahead of a formal vote that will take place during an official Morgantown Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board meeting.
“Let’s try to get that done in the next couple of weeks, get your grammatical recommendations in as soon as you can, and then in the next couple of weeks we’ll need to get in touch with MPD and the city to try and figure these things out,” Fetty said.
The proposed civilian police complaint form will be found on the City of Morgantown’s website when it’s formally finalized.