NEWS RELEASE
City of Takoma Park Police Department
• 7500 Maple Avenue • Takoma Park, Md 20912
For more information contact:
Public Information Officer (PIO)
Catherine Plevy, 301/891.7142 or 240/338.2901
May 2, 2008 (4:10 p.m.)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INTERNAL AFFAIRS COMPLAINT INVESTIGATIONS
Chief Ricucci of the Takoma Park Police Department announces that, in keeping with our written policy directives that require investigations of all complaints against the department or its employees, and that annual statistical summaries of such investigations by the internal affairs function be made available to the public, the following is the Takoma Park Police Department’s Statistical Summary of Complaints for calendar year 2007.
Twenty-three (23) formal complaints were recorded and twenty-two (22) were subjected to internal affairs investigations. One (1) complaint was not investigated because the employee was terminated as a consequence of the investigative finding of a prior complaint. Seven (7) complaints were submitted by citizens and sixteen (16) were generated internally by the Chief of Police or the Command Staff. Subjects of the complaints included twenty-five (25) sworn officers and five (5) civilian employees.
One (1) of the formal complaint investigations remained in a pending status at years-end, i.e., a disposition had not been made. Six (6) investigations determined there was insufficient evidence to sustain the charges made in the complaints and one (1) investigation determined the charges were unfounded. Thirteen (13) formal complaint investigations resulted in findings of improper conduct by departmental personnel and disciplinary measures were taken in ten (10) of those cases. The disciplinary measures included three (3) for verbal counseling, one (1) for written counseling, seven (7) letters of reprimand, four (4) suspensions ranging from one day to twenty days, one (1) demotion and one (1) termination.
Citizens are reminded that the process for making a complaint against a police employee is detailed on the City Police Web Page and in flyers available to the public in the Police Department lobby.
Posted by Plevy at May 2, 2008 04:08 PM