Public Safety Section Annual Report 2023

Executive Summary

This work has brought issues within policing and police accountability into view and has created opportunities for improvement. Among others, the Public Safety section’s 2023 inquiries and reviews included:

• Enforcement of CPD’s rules requiring CPD members to report misconduct in order to break down the code of silence, where a mechanism for anonymous reports is required by law but anonymous reports purportedly do not satisfy members’ reporting obligations;
• Enforcement of CPD’s rule against false reports, where the credibility of CPD members is crucial to the efficacy of the criminal justice system; and
• The police-community mediation pilot program and its potential to include the community in the police accountability process.