MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A revised version of civilian complaint forms related to interactions with Morgantown police officers is set to be submitted by the Morgantown Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board.
Members of the board agreed to prepare a submission of the new forms to Morgantown Deputy Police Chief Chris Ruehmer, which would expand on the categorized options in which citizens wishing to file a complaint could classify their specific issue. This comes after the board agreed on the parameters of what is proposed to be a two-form submission that would include separate complaint and commendation forms and that would also include a request to Morgantown Police Department administration for assistance in reviewing the forms before they are officially released to the public.
“This document is approved to forward to the Deputy Chief to say, ‘Hey, this is where we have gotten with this, can you help us with the primary allegations list?'” said Board Vice Chair Rachel Fetty. “We’re addressing and concerning their review of the form internally.”
According to the Morgantown Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board, the expanded list of complaints would focus on direct constitutional rights-related violations. This includes complaints involving any alleged improper searches conducted by Morgantown police officers as well as any personal conduct during interactions that might blatantly violate any civil rights (i.e., First Amendment rights related to filming an incident or any improper arrests due to Fifth Amendment violations). With discussions on how thorough the complaint forms are reaching a near stalemate for board members, the hope is that an initial revision suggestion would lead to a jumping-off point for conversations with MPD administration.
“What I’m going to suggest is that we add to this list improper search and seizure, sexual misconduct, and constitutional violations and then just call it a day,” said Fetty. “This is our recommended form that we’ve come up with, (we’ll request MPD) to please take a look at it and help us with that.”
During the meeting, there was some disagreement between board members over to what degree the revised civilian complaint form should have in regard to the list of potential formalized complaints that could be filed by a citizen. For Board Chair Richard Burks, he requested a more thorough list of complaints related to potential constitutional rights violations. Fetty advised three additional suggestions, which were ultimately agreed upon, with board member Megan Gandy suggesting a form that was more in line with violations in accordance with the conduct code of the Morgantown Police Department. With plans to potentially readjust the complaint forms, it was determined to keep the suggestions within the aspects of alleged constitutional rights violations ahead of any future discussions.
“All of their internal categories of allegations are present there so that there will be no confusion when the complainant was submitting a complaint,” said Gandy. “To be able to identify the primary allegation that they’re alleging.”
The plan for the Morgantown Civilian Police Review and Advisory Board is to present the detailed proposed and revised civilian complaint and commendation forms to the Morgantown Police Department in the coming weeks. This will be coincided with separate requests to receive updated criminal data reports as well as further discussions related to the MPD body camera policy, which is expected to be explored further once the newly installed cameras are given a sufficient amount of time to be utilized by officers. With several items in line to be discussed with the board and MPD in the near future, the hope for the board is that the suggestions will be considered as part of a collaborative effort to create forms that both complement and thoroughly allow for residents to complain about officer interactions if need be.
“This is just to give the police department a heads-up about the things that we’re concerned about,” said Fetty. “And that we know for a fact, it’s things that we are including in this that have to be addressed in the department, and that we also want to make sure that it’s broad enough so that we can avoid fraudulent complaints.”