Board won’t subpoena cops

Keith Paul

Thursday, March 29, 2001 | 11:01 a.m.

The Metro Police Citizen Review Board won't force officers to appear at its hearings, it decided Wednesday.

The new group instead appointed a five-member subcommittee to meet with the police officers' unions to answer questions and try to quell any misunderstandings.

John Dean Harper, attorney for the Police Protective Association, has advised union members not to testify at the hearings. Officers have either refused to appear or refused to speak at the board's three hearings so far.

The decision to seek officers' willing cooperation instead of issuing subpoenas did not come easily.

"It's in the interest of justice for the police officers to come forward and give information," said Ikram Khan, a board member. "They are forcing the hand of the board, making us" decide to issue subpoenas.

Members acknowledged, however, the more adversarial approach might cause confrontation and may not be the best way to get the officers to appear.

Representatives from the Police Protective Association and the Police Managers and Supervisors Association, who were at the meeting, welcomed a chance to meet with board members.

The review board has created so much concern and questions from officers, that last week when, Sheriff Jerry Keller and Undersheriff Richard Winget met with 10 newly promoted sergeants and 19 officers next on the list to be promoted, the pair spent most of the time talking about the review board and answering questions.

Keller is planning on holding two meetings to answer officers' questions about the review board. Patrol commanders are also attending all of the officer briefings to talk about the review board, Winget said.

The unions still have some concerns about the board's hearing, since it offers the officers none of the protections in internal investigations they have under the police officers' bill of rights.

Harper said meeting with the board could be the first step.

The 25-member board was formed in October and has reviewed about 40 complaints, agreeing with the department's internal investigation or dismissing the complaint as without merit in a majority of the cases. Three cases have been reviewed in hearings, with a complaint sustained in two of the cases.