Fresno Police Department Ignores Citizen Complaints

Fresno Police Department Ignores Citizen Complaints
By Mike Rhodes

Ellie Bluestein, a spokesperson for the Central California Criminal Justice Committee (CCCJC) says that the Fresno Police Department (FPD) has stopped responding to citizen complaints. She said “the complaint process employed by the city of Fresno is unfair, inadequate, secretive, not impartial, not consistent even with its own listed procedures, and not generally made known to the public.”

Bluestein and the CCCJC have been working for years on police accountability issues and they favor the establishment of an Independent Police Auditor. “We need some transparency and accountability with regard to the police department,” Bluestein said. In an effort to get the FPD to respond to citizen complaints the CCCJC contacted the northern California office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

On Thursday, February 21, Mark Schlosberg, on behalf of ACLU notified FPD Chief Jerry Dyer of his violation of California Penal Code § 832.7. According to Schlosberg’s letter, Penal code § 832.7 requires the FPD to inform complainants as to findings made upon completion of the investigation. Section (e) (1) provides that “the department or agency shall provide written notification to the complaining party or disposition of the complaint within 30 days of the disposition.”

Bluestein said “the Fresno Police Department instead sends out a printed form stating that ‘pursuant to California Penal Code § 832.7 it is unable to provide the complainant with the disposition of the complaint.’ This is in clear violation of the Penal Code and the ACLU has requested that chief Dyer rectify this situation within three weeks.”

Below you will find a copy of the letter from the ACLU to chief Dyer, a sample of the letter sent to complainants by the FPD, and a complete video of the CCCJC press conference held on Tuesday, February 26, 2008. For more information about the CCCJC, go to: http://www.cccjc.org

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