Responsible City Agency: Management Services
Key Words: Police, civilian review, investigation, complaint
1. General
Salt Lake City has created a Police Civilian Review Board. A purpose of the Board is to conduct investigations independent of the Police Department in response to allegations of police misconduct. A full-time investigator is responsible for conducting the investigation and reporting to a panel of the Board. The Board serves a strictly advisory role in assessing citizen complaints of police misconduct and has no independent disciplinary power. All disciplinary authority is retained by the Police Chief, but he/she is obligated to consider the recommendations of the Board.
If a person has filed a complaint with the Police Department alleging misconduct by a police officer, he or she is also entitled to request an investigation by the Police Civilian Review Board Investigator. The Board will automatically receive all complaints of use of excessive force by police officers and an independent investigation will always be conducted. Therefore, it is not necessary for a person alleging excessive use of force to request an investigation by the Board.
The purpose of this rule is to provide information to the public and employees regarding the process used to request an investigation of alleged misconduct by a police officer. A copy of this procedure will be provided by the Police Department to every person filing a complaint against a police officer.
2. Process to Request an Investigation by the Civilian Review Board
2.1 A person may request an independent investigation of an allegation of misconduct by a police officer by contacting the Civilian Review Board Investigator, at 451 South State, room 512; or by phone (535-7230).
2.2 The Investigator will provide the complainant full information about the Police Civilian Review Board process.
2.3 The Investigator may, at the Board’s direction, investigate complaints about alleged police misconduct not involving the use of excessive force. The Board’s decision of whether to conduct an investigation on such complaints is completely discretionary.
2.4 The request for an investigation by the Board of cases not involving excessive use of force must be filed with the Investigator within 4 calendar days (96 hours) after a complaint is filed with the Police Department.
3. Language Assistance
3.1 This document has been translated into Spanish. To ensure that a translator is available when requesting an investigation, Spanish speaking persons should call 535-6333.
3.2 Assistance in other languages may be obtained by having an English speaking friend or relative contact the Investigator.
Current Reference: Salt Lake City Code 2.72
Effective Date: 5/6/03