WHEREAS, in the 2013 Charter Revision, the public voted to institute a Civilian
Review Board.; and
WHEREAS, with this new addition, New Haven can continue to boast of a
trustworthy and efficient corps of peace officers as are to be found anywhere.; and
WHEREAS, the City of New Haven and its residents depend for their peace and
security upon the services of a professional municipal police department employed by
the City of New Haven, and a police department authorized to act with the powers of
a municipal police department employed by Yale University.; and
WHEREAS, it is the unique power and privilege of police officers acting within the
scope and course of their employment in these departments to use force, even deadly
force, in making arrests.; and
WHEREAS, the powers and duties of local police officers to interfere with, to restrict,
and to abridge the liberty of citizens, guests, and visitors to the City of New Haven, by
way of arrests, searches, investigative stops, interrogations, and other means, are
extensive and are securely anchored in state and federal law.; and
WHEREAS, the state and federal courts have shown an increasing reluctance to review
the day-to-day exercise of police powers through the development of legal doctrines
such as qualified immunity, limitations on supervisory liability, and other means that
effectively deprive jurors and ordinary citizens from exercising effective oversight over
police officers in their communities.; and
WHEREAS, public confidence in law enforcement is undermined by secret, nontransparent,
and unaccountable police use of force and exercise of police powers
generally.; and
WHEREAS, police departments generally conduct internal reviews of civilian
complaints in secret proceedings.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDERED, the City of New Haven hereby enacts
a Civilian Review Board, for the sole and exclusive purpose of assuring public
confidence in the use of police powers in the City of New Haven by means of
providing a mechanism for fair, independent, complete, and transparent review of
civilian complaints of alleged police misconduct.
Section 1. Civilian Review Board.
a. The Civilian Review Board has the authority to monitor and to review civilian
complaints of police misconduct by police officers empowered to act with
municipal police powers in the City of New Haven.
b. The office and the professional staff that provides assistance to the Civilian
Review Board shall be a permanent part of, and permanently located in, the
Office of the Commission of Equal Opportunities.
c. The Office of the Civilian Review Board shall be funded permanently by annual
allotments for personnel, services, equipment, supplies, and facilities in an
amount no less than that of similarly sized existing departments, offices, and
agencies of the City of New Haven.
d. The Office of the Civilian Review Board may not be eliminated by any action of
any part of the executive branch of government of the City of New Haven.
Section 2. Objectives.
The Civilian Review Board’s function is to create a public, transparent, and
impartial means by which to review and monitor any civilian complaints of police
misconduct against a police officer employed by a police department
empowered to act with municipal police powers in the City of New Haven.
Section 3. Membership.
a. The Civilian Review Board shall consist of an odd number of members and
shall, at a minimum, consist of members selected as follows: one member from
each of the Police Districts in the City of New Haven, and, at least, three at-large
members selected by the Board of Alders.
b. All members of the Civilian Review Board shall be residents and electors of the
City of New Haven.
c. No member of the Civilian Review Board shall be a sworn officer of any police
department or law enforcement entity.
d. No elected official shall be a member of the Civilian Review Board.
Section 4. Appointment.
a. The Mayor shall nominate all members of the Civilian Review Board, except the
at-large members, who shall be nominated by the Board of Alders.
b. All nominees shall be confirmed by a majority vote of the Board of Alders.
c. Mayoral nominees shall be selected from among the names recommended by
each Community Management Team, which shall make said recommendations
at a mandatory biennial meeting, where it elects officers. Said recommendations
shall be made from among the names submitted to each Community
Management Team by community engagement organizations and similar
neighborhood-based organizations such as Neighborhood Associations and
Block Watches in each respective Police District.
d. The Board of Alders shall maintain a list of community engagement
organizations or similar neighborhood-based organizations, who are interested
in offering names of prospective Civilian Review Board members.
e. If there is no recommendation to the Mayor from a Community Management
Team or a Police District within ninety (90) days of a vacancy, the Board of
Alders in consultation with the Mayor will nominate an eligible resident elector
to fill that vacancy.
Section 5. Term.
Except for the initial term of the representatives for the odd number policing
districts which shall be three (3) years, the term of office for each member shall
be two (2) years. The terms shall be staggered as follows: initial appointments to
odd-numbered police districts shall be for a period of three years only, and all
other and all subsequent appointments shall be for a period of two years.
Section 6. Duties.
The Civilian Review Board shall have the following authority, and such other
authority as may be set forth by ordinance:
a. To examine civilian complaints of alleged police misconduct against any police
officer acting in the City of New Haven pursuant to municipal police powers,
and to monitor and review the processing of Internal Affairs complaints by any
police department acting within the City of New Haven pursuant to municipal
police powers;
b. To receive a copy of any civilian complaint of alleged police misconduct filed
against any police officer acting in the City of New Haven pursuant to municipal
police powers within forty-eight (48) hours of the filing of said complaint;
c. To receive, in writing, a copy of any findings of fact and/or recommended
disposition of a complaint at the same time it is forwarded to Internal Affairs,
before it is submitted for final action to the relevant chief of police and to
interview the officer(s) preparing such proposed findings of fact and/or
recommended disposition;
d. To hear appeals from any civilian complainant within ninety (90) days of the
completion of an internal affairs investigation by any police department acting
within the City of New Haven pursuant to municipal police powers;
e. To require any police department acting within the City of New Haven pursuant
to municipal police powers to investigate civilian complaints of alleged police
misconduct in the event no investigation has been commenced after an initial
complaint;
f. To require any police department acting within the City of New Haven pursuant
to municipal police powers to reopen any closed investigation and to continue
an investigation, if in the judgment of the Civilian Review Board, an initial
investigation was incomplete, unfair, or otherwise unresolved;
g. To recommend revisions to policies, the manner of processing civilian
complaints, training protocols, and/or provisions of general orders or
departmental standards, to any police department acting within the City of New
Haven pursuant to municipal police powers;
h. To develop policies and procedures for the filing and processing of civilian
complaints to the Civilian Review Board, for the operations of said Board, and
for the training of members of said Board and the community-based agencies
and organizations, as selected by said Board;
i. To develop a Memorandum of Understanding with the Yale University Police
Department designed to effectuate the goal of assuring transparent civilian
review of any civilian complaint of an alleged police misconduct by an officer
employed by a police department acting within the City of New Haven pursuant
to municipal police powers.
Section 7. Staff.
The Civilian Review Board shall have the authority to hire, with the approval of
the Board of Alders, such staff as is necessary to perform the duties herein
described and to perform such other tasks as the Civilian Review Board may in
its discretion require with the exception of the first Civilian Review Board
Coordinator, who shall be hired by the Board of Alders
Section 8. — Applicability of other laws.
Nothing in this article shall exempt any person from applicable provisions of
any other laws of the city, state, federal, or other appropriate jurisdiction.
Sec. 9 — Confidentiality of records.
The provisions of this chapter are intended to preserve and enhance the
security of persons and property within the City. Where public release of certain
information may put someone in jeopardy, it shall be the intent of the Civilian
Review Board to preserve the confidentiality, where permitted by law.
Section 10 — Severability.
The provisions of this chapter are declared to be separate and severable. The
invalidity of any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or portion
thereof, or the invalidity of the application of any portion of this chapter to any
person or circumstances, shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this
chapter or the validity of its application to other persons or circumstances.
Section 11 — Conflicting Ordinances.
All other ordinances of the City of New Haven that conflict with this Ordinance
are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict.
Sec. 12. — Effective date.
The ordinance from which this article derives shall become effective upon
passage.
