The community police review commission sees a low voter turnout on Wednesday evening. The community police review commission sees a low voter turnout on Wednesday evening

Evanston’s Citizen Police Review Commission, which reviews citizen complaints to increase public trust in the Evanston Police Department, held its monthly meeting Wednesday.

The meeting lasted 17 minutes, excluding an hour-long private board meeting. Most of the time was spent discussing a June 22, 2023 complaint alleging a neighbor was walking his dog in public off-leash and a service desk employee did not properly address the issue.

The commission, which the City Council approved in November 2019, was originally created to review the city’s Office of Professional Standards’ investigation into complaints about police conduct.

In the past, the Commission received, among other things: low number of complaints. The daily reported in 2022 that the Commission had problems with the committee’s authority to hold EPDs “responsible.”

The committee canceled the last August meeting due to a lack of quorum among voting members.

Tonight, the Commission had no public comments to make during the meeting.

The complainant spoke with a service desk employee who she accused of “making derogatory comments about (her dog’s) leash being invisible,” the department’s investigation states. The complainant also alleged that the service desk representative she spoke with did not issue a subpoena as requested nor contact the complainant as promised.

According to Commissioner Scott Fishman, this type of complaint is not new to the Commission.

“I think we saw this exact case last spring,” he said. “Honestly, the same players, the same belligerent attitude on both sides.”

For Commissioner Blanca Lule, the incident highlighted the importance of proper de-escalation.

“I believe officers had some difficulty communicating with both parties,” she said. “They were constantly interrupting each other, and at some point the officer just has to learn how to deal with people like that and not let things escalate to the point where you’re arguing about whether a piece of paper represents a serious thought.”

A harassment complaint in July against an EPD officer during a traffic stop, which was also on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting, was sent to Police Chief Schenita Stewart. The committee also recommends de-escalation guidelines to the officer.

The commission voted in favor of a recommendation De-escalation training for EPD in 2023, The Daily reported.

The next meeting of the commission will take place on November 6th.

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