Charlottesville residents will soon be able to express pleasure and displeasure with their police department online or put their comments on a card and contact a supervisor.
The Charlottesville’s Police Civilian Oversight Board is launching a new online complaint portal for alleged misconduct by city police employees, which would go directly to the board for investigation.
The website would also allow citizens to request board review of police internal affairs investigations, submit recommendations to improve the department’s or the board’s services and submit compliments to police officer.
The website will allow residents to track progress of complaints or requests and access to data relating to the number of complaints submitted in previous years, types of complaints and disciplinary outcomes.
The board is developing videos explaining how the portal will work and how to use it. The site is accessible at charlottesvilleva.siviltech.com.
The board will continue to receive, and process complaints and or allegations via email or fax and the community may continue to make their complaints or compliments to board by phone or visiting the board office in Charlottesville City Hall.
The board is also teaming with the police to create an interaction card that citizens can request from a police officer after interacting. The card may be used for compliments or complaints and includes a space to write down the officer’s name, the reason for the encounter, date of the incident, and a report number.
The card also provides the contact information and a link to the complaint form for the police Internal Affairs Division and the board. Officers will carry cards printed in English and Spanish.
This card is modeled after other efforts around the country and nearby jurisdictions.
The board is also launching a survey to find out what community members’ think about the department and the board and hear their experiences. The anonymous and confidential survey will provide information to the board, city council, city manager, police and the rest of the community on how each entity is performing and their strengths and weaknesses.
Board members will be present at the Soul of Cville Festival from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday at Ix Art Park to promote the board’s recent initiatives and hand out informational literature about the board.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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