(Washington, DC) The Office of Police Complaints (OPC) and its governing body, the Police Complaints Board (PCB), today released their fiscal year 2009 Annual Report. The agency conducted the largest number of mediations and outreach events, and also issued a record number of recommendations for police reform.
In all, over 1000 people contacted the agency to inquire about filing a complaint. OPC received 550 complaints from the public.
In addition, the agency prepared 301 investigative reports and conducted over 800 interviews with citizen complainants, police officers, and other witnesses.
OPC also conducted 41 mediation sessions, the highest ever in the agency’s history. An agreement was reached in 33 of the sessions between the complainant and subject officer. Successful mediations comprised 9.9 percent of the complaints resolved by the agency.
Besides investigating and resolving individual complaints of police misconduct, the agency issued a record number of five policy recommendations. These reports dealt with issues ranging from proposals for how the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) can improve police services for people with limited English-speaking ability to recommendations for how MPD and OPC can collaborate on the development of a system for identifying and tracking complaints about police responses to reports of hate crimes.
The agency conducted extensive outreach, which included visits to forums targeting the District’s ethnic minority populations and residents of the District’s public housing properties.
To view a full copy of PCB’s 2009 Annual Report, click the links below:
- OPC 2009 Annual Report [PDF]
- Appendix A [PDF]
- Appendix B [PDF]
- Appendix C [PDF]