Jan. 17: Police Policy Committee, Cleveland Community Police Commission
Covered by Documenters Tina Scott (notes) and Christina Easter (live-tweets)
ShotSpotter and Fourth Amendment rights
The Community Police Commission’s Police Policy Committee voted to move forward with potential revisions to Cleveland’s ShotSpotter general police order (GPO). The decision stems from concerns from a commission work group that the GPO may violate Fourth Amendment rights related to protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
Jason Goodrick, interim executive director of the Community Police Commission, said the work group also believes the city’s existing ShotSpotter GPO might violate the city’s own search and seizure policy. He said that the work group members believe the ShotSpotter GPO allows police to stop someone because of a ShotSpotter alert in the area. ShotSpotter is technology the city uses to automatically detect the location of gunshots.
The work group believes the GPO lowers the requirement for police to stop someone, and in doing so violates the city’s existing search and seizure policy, Goodrick said.
Committee members debated whether the revised ShotSpotter GPO should be advanced since there has not been time to gather feedback from Cleveland police and the community. They ultimately decided to approve the revisions, which include language clarifying that a ShotSpotter alert is not a reason to stop someone.
The revised GPO appears on the agenda for the commission’s Jan. 24 meeting. But if commissioners decide to get further feedback from the police or community members, it may push a final vote to February, committee members said.
GPO review
This was the committee’s first meeting reviewing GPOs after the full commission passed a policy requiring that the commission approve GPOs and police divisional notices that touch on police policy.
During this meeting, the committee voted to send most of the GPOs they saw to the full commission.
They approved Transitional Duty and Restrictive Duty GPOs that more clearly define the difference between the two. Commander Brian Carney from the Cleveland Division of Police Bureau of Compliance said an employee needs a medical reason for transitional duty. Restricted duty is intended for employees who may be under administrative or criminal investigation.
The committee also approved an Animal Incidents GPO that touched on animal euthanization and reporting requirements for animal incidents.
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Read the live-tweet thread from Christina Easter:
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