CITY OF ITHACA 108 East Green Street, Ithaca, New York 14850-5690 MAYOR’S OFFICE SVANTE L. MYRICK, MAYOR Telephone: 607-274-6501 Email: mayor@cityofithaca.org Fax: 607-274-6526 The Ithaca Police Department recently identified in the IPD Investigations Division a deeply troubling failure across nearly a decade to investigate a broad array of cases. Most heartbreaking amongst these inadequately-investigated cases is an array of reported sex offenses; the impacts of these investigatory failures were by definition deeply traumatic for victims who came to the IPD seeking help and justice, and found none. The Department has provided detailed records of this failure to both the District Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Attorney General and will of course cooperate in any further investigations that they may choose to pursue. The IPD is also taking appropriate action with respect to officers involved in this failure at that time, including seeking the termination of the officer directly responsible for these failings. The Department also asks any members of the public to come forward in the event that you feel your previous complaint—particularly of a sex offense—went unanswered by the IPD. Mayor Myrick notes “I am shocked and saddened by these revelations, which can easily erode public confidence in the IPD. I do, however, draw encouragement from the confidence that I have in the IPD’s current leadership, including a new Chief, a new Deputy Chief for Professional Standards, and new policies established by new leadership in the Investigations Division, under which the IPD is proactively ensuring that a failure of this sort will never happen again.” Key proactive steps so far taken include:       New expectations have been disseminated to the Investigators. All open cases require an update every two weeks unless a Division supervisor approves otherwise (due to vacations and/or other time off). The Division holds daily briefings in an effort to increase communication, efficiency, and teamwork. All cases are tracked from the time they are assigned to the time that they are closed. The Division has established via County IT a new module of the Spillman CAD system for Investigations. This case management module is now the method for tracking all investigative efforts involved with every new case assigned. It allows for custom searches and reports and custom Excel Spreadsheets, helping to eliminate the possibility of human error when tracking case activity. The Technical Sergeant has been retitled as a second Criminal Investigative Sergeant, and now works under the Investigations Division umbrella. This Sergeant provides for an additional layer of supervision and oversight. "An Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to workforce diversification."    The Division is also implementing monthly supervision meetings with each investigator. During these meetings, the supervisor will pull a report of the open and assigned cases and review the progress and status of each case with the Investigator. The supervision team for Investigations includes a Lieutenant and two Sergeants. The three supervisors are responsible for direct supervision of the Investigators, as well as oversight of all department Evidence, the Body-Worn Camera Program, warrants, the Crime Scene Unit, and the management of confidential funds and informants. All investigators are now generalists to ensure equitable work distribution. This means that Investigations no longer has single designations for the Investigators, such as Juvenile or Sex Crimes. All Investigators assigned to the Division will receive appropriate training and will handle all varieties of cases. "An Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to workforce diversification."