Rochester Police Policy Commission chair: Our recommendations 'make zero difference'

May 12—ROCHESTER — What do you call an oversight commission without actual oversight?

"We could have a unanimous vote that something should be changed and it is going to make zero difference because we are not the decision-makers," Rochester Police Policy Oversight Commission Chair Aurora DeCook said.

The Rochester Police Policy Oversight Commission was created in 2015 as part of a call by residents for civilian oversight over the city's police department. What they got was a policy oversight commission missing the oversight, according to NAACP Vice President W.C. Jordan.

While the Rochester Police Department and Mayor Kim Norton tout the commission as a way for the public to engage with their police department, both Jordan and DeCook have outlined concerns that the commission doesn't have the power to effect change, a barrier that may come at the taxpayer's expense.

"All it's going to take is one shooting to come to light here and it's going to shine a light on all the things that they're not doing here and it's going to make it look worse," Jordan said.

The police department, under the leadership of Chief Jim Franklin, approved only one of the commission's 10 recommendations for the department's policies last year, the addition of an age requirement for the Police Explorers program. In addition, the department recently instituted a policy recommended by the commission concerning the department's use of community service officers.

"While it's true that not many changes have been made," Norton said, "there have been some really interesting and good discussions about why Lexipol and other cities don't do what (the commission) may be suggesting."

Lexipol is a Texas-based company utilized by multiple law enforcement agencies, including RPD, to provide policy templates and training.

In response to an emailed request to interview Franklin for this story, RPD Communications Coordinator Amanda Grayson wrote that Franklin would not be interviewed and called the reporter "anti-law enforcement."

Both Grayson and Franklin have not given answers to questions from the Post Bulletin for this story but did provide answers to questions the Post Bulletin did not ask. Neither government official responded when asked to provide examples of the reporter's bias.

"The Police Policy Oversight Commission provides additional perspectives on policy and enhances understanding and transparency between RPD and the community," Grayson wrote in a statement to the Post Bulletin. "We value the involvement of residents who serve on the Commission and welcome the discussions on police policy."

The commission, inherited by Norton and Franklin, who both came into their positions in 2018, consists of seven members of the public who are appointed by the mayor to review Rochester Police Department policies. One of the members must be recommended by the NAACP and one must be recommended by the Olmsted County Human Rights Commission.

Policies to be reviewed by the commission were initially assigned by RPD, something DeCook put a stop to once she became chair.

Sometimes there are disagreements that boil down to legal interpretations and what's best for the city, Norton said.

Often, the suggestions revolve around word usage such as "an officer shall," versus "an officer should."

"The discussion that happens and the rationale that is given is important to have," Norton said. "Even if they don't prevail, it's important to raise the issue, it's important that the police consider it. It is important that the lawyers look at it. I don't think it's not valuable. I think it is very valuable."

The department has sent a rotating list of police officials throughout the years to the commission's meetings, along with either the department's professional conduct manager or the Rochester City Attorney.

While DeCook is happy with the representatives the department sends, she wishes the commission could be involved in that next step of policymaking that happens behind closed doors.

"I think the way the ordinance is written, the commission is effective in that they review the policies and make recommendations, which is all they can do," DeCook said. "To make it effective as it effects change, there would have to be some sort of teeth to the commission."

Norton noted that the commission can run any concerns up the ladder to her or the City Council, which can vote on a motion regarding the concern, but the commission has yet to do that.

"So my assumption has been that they'd have those robust discussions, they've argued with the police attorney or the professional standards lawyer and have been satisfied with the rationale that they've been given as to why that change is not being brought forward," Norton said.

Lexipol, a byproduct of the lack of national standards for law enforcement in the United States, now works with more than 8,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States. Each agency is able to adjust the templates to align with its needs.

As far as RPD policy is concerned, the department gets to make its own rules as long as those rules adhere to Minnesota statutes and the Minnesota Peace Officers Standards and Training Board.

Police or former law enforcement, from the Lexipol's founder to RPD's professional conduct manager, Rob Jarret, are solely responsible for the content in the department's policies.

This has led RPD to approve negligible policy recommendations such as adding age requirements to the agency's Police Explorer program policy but declining to bar officers from having minors as confidential informants, though an RPD official assured the commission that he was not aware of any officers who do so.

Norton dismissed a question about why only police get to make decisions regarding their policies, comparing it to telling a doctor that they don't deserve to make decisions about a person's surgery.

"I don't think it's fair to dismiss professionals, and the people at Lexipol are people with excellent reputations who are respected in the field," Norton said.

Lexipol has

faced several criticisms over the years

that include discouraging departments from instituting de-escalation techniques, advising officers to

clean up suspects whom the police had bloodied in order to avoid a lawsuit

while also encouraging police to get suspects to smile during their mugshot in order for that to be used as a sentencing enhancement.

In 2018, the city of Spokane, Washington, had to

pay out $49,000 for its police department illegally detaining

someone who was a victim of a car crash after the department relied on a faulty Lexipol policy.

Commission members are given authority to review and make recommendations for complaints against officers, however the commission is hamstrung by the inclusion of the Minnesota Data Practices Act within its ordinance. The act does not allow for the general public to view complaints about government employees unless the complaint is sustained and the employee faced discipline.

"We substantively cannot review complaints," said DeCook, who has asked the department for complaint data for several months.

For example, the commission, if it wanted to, could not look at the complaint filed against former RPD officer Timothy Morgenstern the day before he was fired because the city claims his termination was not due to the complaint. Morgenstern is currently facing charges related to grooming and sexually assaulting a teenage girl while he was employed with RPD.

The commission can look at what type of complaints has been registered, according to Norton. But DeCook said even that has not been provided to the commission.

The department also slow-walked the commission's access to the department's full policy handbook.

Thinking it might be beneficial to review the entire handbook, DeCook said she was rebuffed several times by the department while seeking the document. After DeCook told the department earlier this year that she was meeting with the Post Bulletin, the handbook was posted on the department's website, something other agencies like the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office had already done.

The department's delay to release the full policy handbook is mirrored by a similar struggle by the Post Bulletin to obtain the document. The department eventually complied with state law and provided an electronic version of the manual.

DeCook called the public release of the handbook an improvement and noted that when she has asked the department for specific policies they have been sent to her, often in a matter of hours.

Jordan, who served on the commission from 2015 to 2021, said he sees a concerning lack of transparency coming from RPD leadership.

Franklin has stopped going to commission meetings following several discussions in which DeCook pushed back on Franklin's assertions or explanations.

"I think Chief Franklin came in and immediately tried to hide different things that we already knew about the department," Jordan said. Jordan said the department muddled the diversity rates in the department by not separating out the hiring of women and people of color and the department's fight to keep from the public the race demographics of people arrested.

"It's nothing against women," Jordan said. "I feel like they should have all of those positions, but they don't take the place of people of color."

Franklin did not respond to questions regarding his department's transparency on diversity hiring.

Jordan, DeCook and Norton all welcome more community engagement with the process. The commission's meetings are public and anyone can attend them.

"I might end up regretting asking for this. But it might be nice to have more public involvement and more public commentary," DeCook said. "I know that there have been times when the public has been very involved and meetings get much longer and more complicated but that's fine. Sometimes complicated is what you need to get results and to be more effective."