Faced with cuts, a Madison police observer shows a complaint form

The complaints will prompt independent law enforcement investigations, bolstered by the Office of the Independent Monitor’s authority to subpoena law enforcement records and collect data from Madison police.

Complaint form asks for the location, time, and date of the incident, as well as the officer’s badge number or physical description. Other fields ask for demographic information from the complainant and how the complainant became aware of the monitor and the supervisory board.

The office will conduct three investigations simultaneously starting next week, prioritizing complaints that are new, actionable and “dangerous,” Independent Monitor Robin Copley said.

“Until now, the community has had very limited control over its police,” Copley said at a press conference on Friday. “But the (Civilian Policing Oversight Board) and OIM are a bridge for the community to participate in creating and changing police policy.”

Complaints can be submitted via the Monitor’s email, [email protected], or in person at the office in Room 501 of the City-County Building.

The end of one of the monitor’s core responsibilities four years after it was created and two years after Copley took office comes amid public criticism of its slow progress and missed goals from Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway and some city council members. advice

Under Rhodes-Conway’s 2025 budget, the monitor and the Civilian Police Oversight Board would be eliminated if voters reject a $22 million property tax referendum in the November election. Even if the referendum passes, Rhodes-Conway wants to redirect $195,000 of the monitor’s budget to the Madison Library’s Far East Side Imagination Center.

The terms of the members of the Civilian Police Oversight Board expired at the end of September, and there was no one to fill them. That prompted a rewrite of the ordinance authorizing the program so the City Council and mayor can appoint new board members through an application process, with new board members slated to be named in the coming weeks.

Amid mounting criticism of her tenure as monitor, Copley reiterated her defense that the office is new and has only recently hired two of its staff.

Copley pointed to civilian oversight boards in Newark, New Jersey, and Rochester, New York, which she said have faced delays of their own.

The Rochester Police Accountability Board, created in 2019, released reports last month of its police investigations that included 23 cases of alleged misconduct, according to media reports.

Newark’s Civilian Grievance Commission, established eight years ago, has faced a lengthy legal battle over its powers that has delayed its work and resulted in the New Jersey Supreme Court stripping it of some investigative powers, according to media reports.

In retrospect, Copley said the Madison office should have been fully staffed before he began a series of public listening sessions late last year.

An office manager hired last summer was fired after three months, Copley said. A new office manager was not hired until this summer.