Opinion ID: 472982
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Inadequate attention to complaints

Text: 36 Through statistical proof and evidence of specific instances, plaintiffs attempted to show that complaints of police brutality would languish at the MPD, so that officers could act in derogation of constitutional rights without fear of sanction. Plaintiffs' statistics, however, were too general to prove any pattern or policy, and their specific instances were too scattered and lacking in detail to build a case. We describe first plaintiffs' numerical submissions, and then consider the specific instances they presented. 37 Plaintiffs offered the following figures: (1) from 1974 to 1979, officers were exonerated in 92% of the misconduct investigations MPD conducted; (2) in 1983, the MPD Service Weapon Review Board cited 26 officers for using weapons unjustifiably, but the police chief took adverse action against only one of them and merely reprimanded the others; and (3) of 21 cases in which the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) recommended adverse action against police officers since 1982, the police chief took such action in only five cases. These statistics are conspicuously wanting in detail. They do not speak for themselves. The first item, for example, lumps together all investigations of whatever kind; it tells us nothing separately or specifically about excessive force complaints. The second does not inform us of the nature of the cases in which service weapons were improperly discharged. Concerning the CCRB's recommendations, Chief Turner explained that in 16 cases, the necessary proof was missing; he faced conflicting versions of the events, no fact findings, and no confirmation of the complainant's account. Tr. 867-68. 38 Turning to specific instances put forward by plaintiffs to show slack or superficial investigation, two involved officer Vanderbloemen. One was a charge that he had unjustifiably hit two persons with a nightstick; the other was a complaint that he had verbally abused an individual. The first took two years to conclude and ended with the Chief's reduction of the recommended penalty from 15 days suspension to five. The second resulted in a reprimand letter, although a more severe course had been recommended to Chief Turner. Explaining at least part of the delay in the first case, the MPD had initially referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney for prosecution--hardly a mild response to the complaint. The reduction of the suspension sanction occurred in that case, Chief Turner testified, because the complainants had not been located to testify under oath. Tr. 894-95. 39 Plaintiffs referred to other instances, including the death of Darrell Rhones in custody, the abuse of a prisoner by officer Anderson, and witness Scott's testimony about physical abuse upon his arrest. The first two matters, however, were referred to the U.S. Attorney for prosecution, again, not a tepid response, and Anderson ultimately was indicted for obstruction of justice. Tr. 970-71. Scott filed a lawsuit complaining of his treatment, and MPD responded in accordance with its standard practice; plaintiffs submitted no evidence on the outcome of Scott's action. 40 The very cases on which plaintiffs place primary reliance, we conclude, show what is missing here. In Fiacco v. City of Rensselaer, 783 F.2d 319 (2d Cir.1986), plaintiff presented a parade of witnesses, each an excessive force complainant before the police chief himself, each relating first hand and in detail both the brutal incident and the chief's stock response. 8 Grandstaff v. City of Borger, 767 F.2d 161 (5th Cir.1985), involved a catastrophic incident. The entire night shift of the city police had opened fire and recklessly killed an innocent man. In the aftermath, there were no reprimands, no discharges, and no admissions of error. The officers testified at trial that no changes had been made in their policies. Id. at 171. Fiacco and Grandstaff presented concentrated, fully packed, precisely delineated scenarios. The pattern or policy a trier could see etched sharply in those cases simply is not discernible here. Instead, the record shows scattered fire smouldering in smoke from which no policy or custom emerges.