A REPORT ON CITIZEN AND POLICE INTERACTIONS August 12, 2020 CHIEFS OF POLICE ASSOCIATION ?5n uu't? awn Community? This report contains information regarding Citizen Complaints, Quality Control and Citizen Perception of their Police Department. Mark A. DiLuzio Chief of Police HANDLING CITIZEN COMPLAINTS A 5 YEAR REPORT (2015-2019) The City of Bethlehem is the 7?h largest city in the Commonwealth of Bethlehem is located in both Lehigh and Northampton counties. We are the only City in located in two different counties. The Bethlehem Police Department is the 8th largest police department in the state. Our budgeted strength is 154 sworn of?cers. The Bethlehem Police Department is a progressive and diversi?ed police force. Over the past five years, we have made great strides in increasing the number of minorities on the police department to ?t the overall diversity of our city and the needs of our citizens. Please see the diversity breakdown of the department below. BETHLHEM POLICE DEPARTMENT DIVERSITY BPD-2020 White Black Hispanic Asian Middle Eastern Other Male 125 5 l2 0 2 0 Female 9 0 1 0 TOTAL 134 5 12 1 2 0 154) The Bethlehem Police Department is a nationally and state accredited law enforcement agency. As indicated in prior police activity reports, that means that the Bethlehem Police Department utilizes the best and highest standards and procedures available at the present time. Why do we do this? The answer is simple; to provide the best professional service available to the citizens and visitors of Bethlehem and to be the best and most professional police department in the state. One of those standards relates to the investigation of citizen complaints or allegations of misconduct against police of?cers. Any complaint or allegation ?led directly or indirectly against a Bethlehem Police Of?cer is taken seriously and fully investigated by the Department. The complete protocol of how complaints are handled is listed in Police Directive 1.3.3, entitled ?Allegations of Misconduct and Internal Investigations.? As in any profession, complaints are sometimes made. Police Of?cers are human and humans are imperfect and sometimes do make mistakes. Most complaints or allegations of misconduct are ?led by a citizen coming into Police Headquarters and submitting a written complaint with a Supervising officer. Some complaints are also received by email, phone and letter. A complaint can be filed anonymously. Anonymous complaints are dif?cult to investigate. Follow up conversations with the complainant are dif?cult to do because the preliminary information given is all you have. Either in person or anonymously, all complaints are investigated. When a complaint is received by the Police Department, the complaint form entitled ?Employee Misconduct Allegation Record? (PD-92) is immediately forwarded to the Professional Standards Division (PSD) for review, assignment and investigation. A complete copy is provided to the citizen ?ling the complaint. If the complaint is one of a minor nature, the of?cer?s immediate supervisor is assigned the investigation. These types of allegations involve issues like the of?cer was rude, poor demeanor, officer failed to take any action, smoking etc. This supervisor conducts the investigation to establish if the of?cer?s actions were proper, and in compliance with department directives and procedures. Misconduct allegations of a serious nature, like gross misconduct, use of excessive force, death, injury, violations of criminal law or violations of a highly sensitive manner are investigated by Supervisors in the Professional Standards Division; either a Captain, one of the two Sergeants or all depending on the nature of the investigation. Because of the serious nature of these violations, the District Attorney?s of?ce is usually involved. When a complaint is alleged against an of?cer, a supervisor always does the investigation. When an allegation is ?led against a supervisor, the Of?ce of the Chief of Police will assign the Deputy Chief, a Captain or Lieutenant to conduct the investigation depending on the seriousness of the investigation. Either minor or serious, all allegations are assigned and investigated by a Supervisor and/or our Professional Standards Unit. All complaints or allegations are tracked by PSD. When the investigation is complete and reviewed by PSD, all reports are forwarded to the Chief of Police and Deputy Chief for administrative review. A ?nal disposition on the allegation will be made by the Of?ce of the Chief and Deputy Chief after a thorough review of all reports, evidence and police body camera footage. When the administrative review is complete and a disposition rendered by the Chief?s Of?ce, PSD will advise the complainant of the disposition of the investigation and its conclusion. All complaints or allegations of misconduct are taken seriously by the Police Administration. If a complaint is substantiated, that of?cer faces disciplinary action and re-training to correct what he or she is doing wrong. If the violation is criminal in nature, the District Attorney?s of?ce is involved in the internal investigation. Disciplinary actions for violations of department directives range from mandatory re-training to written reprimands in an of?cers personal ?le, suspension without pay, discharge and arrest. During my 7 year tenure as Chief of Police, 11 of?cers have either resigned or have been discharged or have been arrested for serious misconduct. An annual summary report of all citizen complaints is maintained by PSD and forwarded to the Of?ce of the Chief of Police each year for review. The Bethlehem Police Department holds its of?cers accountable for their actions on duty and off duty. Being a police of?cer is a 24 hour a day job and under our departmental standards, we expect our of?cers to be professional and a role model in their communities. GENERAL COMPLAINT DATA A FIVE YEAR STUDY Complaints Received concerning Bethlehem Police Of?cers 2015 - 2019 Complaints Received 2015- 40 2015 NOTE Over a 5 year period, 125 total complaints/allegations were received2019 24 11 )?iT 2018 2019 In that 5 year period, we saw a 10.6 overall decrease in complaints. 2015 2019 CITY 911 CALL VOLUME COMPLAINTS YEAR 911 CALLS NON-EMERGENCY TOTAL CALLS CALLS 2015 44,131 155,207 199,338 2016 40,872 148,416 189,288 2017 38,871 144,966 183,837 2018 31,144 111,187 142,331 2019 61,471 NC 911 DOES NOT COUNT unavailable TOTAL 216,489 calls - In a 5 year period, BPD of?cers responded to 216,489 911 calls. 125 Complaints were ?led by citizens. That is a .057% citizen complaint rate. Of those 125 complaints, 9 were found to be sustained. That is a rate of .004%. In a 5 year period, BPD of?cers made 13,650 arrests. 125 Complaints were ?led. That is a .91% complaint rate. Of those 125 complaints, 9 were found to be sustained. That is a rate of .065% PAST YEAR - 2019 CALL VOLUME ARRESTS Total 911 call volume for 2019 - 61,471 calls (*24 complaints out of 61,471 calls .039 complaint rate) Average calls per month in 2019 - 5123 calls 4 NATURE OF COMPLAINTS ALLEGATIONS FILED An of?cer can have a complaint ?led against him or her for a variety of reasons. Complaint topics range from allegations that the police of?cer damaged personal property, to use of force allegations, to complaints of being targeted by police and racial pro?ling. The Bethlehem Police Department considers any and all complaints allegations a serious matter. The majority of complaints that police receive are in two categories: Disputes with Police and Rude or Unprofessional behavior. Over 5 years, these two categories account for 72.8% of all complaints. A Dispute with the police can be any situation where the citizen wants the Of?cer to do something and the of?cer does not do it. Examples can range from want my neighbor arrested,? want this vehicle moved.? In these cases, the citizen wants the of?cer to do something that the of?cer cannot and that leads to a dispute over the action or in-action. Rude or unprofessional conduct occurs when a citizen believes the of?cer?s conduct, actions, facial expression or words were rude, in-appropriate or unprofessional. Use of Force complaints involve just that. A citizen believes the level of force used by the of?cer was not appropriate for the situation. With the use of police body cameras, these complaints and others, can be analyzed to verify if the of?cer?s actions were in compliance with the department directive on use of force. Over 5 years, use of force complaints accounted for 12.8% of all complaints. Racial pro?ling is also a serious allegation. These allegations involve a complaint that a certain of?cer did a certain action because of the race of a certain person. In 5 years, we had one citizen ?le a PD-92 alleging racial pro?ling. Complaints about being targeted or harassed usually involve an allegation that an of?cer gave a ticket or made an arrest because the of?cer and citizen had prior contact and that the of?cer does not like the person. The rest of the categories involve complaints or allegations that an of?cer damaged personal property, an of?cer drove his Police vehicle improperly and theft. Damaged property complaints involve any action by the of?cer during a call that results in damage to personal property. This may involve damage to a cell phone, clothing, etc., that occurred during an arrest or physical action. Improper use of a police vehicle are those complaints that a citizen ?les when they observe a police of?cer driving improperly. This may concern driving to a call in emergency mode or just plain driving around town. In these cases, the in-car dash video system is very helpful. Allegations of theft involve the loss of personal property. They range from missing cell phones, keys, cash or jewelry that a citizen claims he or she had in their possession. An intoxicated person arrested may claim that police took his cash or a wristwatch when they arrested him. Police videos such as police body cameras, in-car dash cameras and department cameras are very helpful in these investigations. NATURE OF COMPLAINTS 2014 2019 Complaint 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 TOTAL Damage 1 0 3 reperty Dispute Police Harass/Targe 0 5 0 5 ted Improper Use 2 1 0 I 5 Vehicle Racial 0 0 0 1 ro?ling Rude/Unprof 23 18 12 6 ll 70 essional Theft Force 3 5 1 1 6 16 TOTAL 38 32 20 11 24 125 Nature of Complaint 2015?2019 3?955$ - (33? $63? ?063 6N (fa ?th" 19'} ?51 Q3362, {7ng ?qu?t 26" ?37 Q9 no as Findings Dispositions of Complaints 2015 - 2019 The majority of complaints ?led against of?cers failed to show that the officer acted or performed contrary to department regulations or state law. Police body cameras, city surveillance cameras, in-car dash cameras and even videos from citizens were very important in the investigation of these complaints and allegations. Just because a complaint is alleged does not mean it is true. As in our criminal justice system, an individual is innocent until proven guilty. The same is true for police of?cers. Of the 125 complaints ?led in 5 years, 9 or 7.2% were sustained. 92.8% of complaints were unsubstantiated, meaning the of?cer was found to have followed policy or the complainant made up an allegation against an of?cer. Some complaints are simple misunderstandings about how an of?cer handled a call. Many citizen?s knowledge of Police policy is from what they View on TV or read on social media. What they want the police to do and what in reality the police can do may be completely different. These complaints can simple be handled by a Supervisor speaking with the citizen and reviewing what the issues are. False allegations do occur. When an allegation is investigated and found to be false, the internal investigation is usually then reviewed by the District Attorney?s Of?ce and criminal charges of Unsworn Falsi?cation (Pa. C.S. Title 18, Sec.4904) can be ?led against the individual for the false statements to Police. During my tenure as Chief, several individual have been charged with this. All legitimate complaints ?led against a Bethlehem Police Of?cer will be investigated and taken seriously. The ?ling of false allegations against a Bethlehem Police Of?cer is also a very serious matter. False allegations will be not tolerated and will be prosecuted like any other criminal offense. After an investigation is complete, a complaint or allegation can be resolved in four ways. It can be Sustained, Not Sustained, Exonerated or Unfounded. Below are the de?nition of each of these results as utilized by this department. DEFINITIONS Sustained: The alleged act did occur, and there was deviation from Department directives or other misconduct. Not Sustained: The investigation failed to produce a preponderance of evidence to prove the allegation. Exonerated: The alleged act did occur, but the of?cer?s actions were legal, justi?ed, proper, or in conformity with the law and Department policy and procedure. Unfounded: The alleged act did not occur, or when an anonymous complaint or allegation is made against an of?cer and no corroborative evidence exists. 5 YEARS 2014 - 2019 FINDINGS DISPOSITIONS Year Sustained Not Exonerated Unfounded Sustained 2015 2 7 15 14 2016 2 4 9 17 2017 2 6 5 7 2018 1 2 8 2019 2 9 5 8 TOTAL Sustained Findings 2015-2019 9 Not Sustained Exonerated 5 YEARS 2014-2019 DISOSITIONS Unfounded Race Findings 2015-2019 Black Hispanic Midde Eastern Refused White Sustained .1 Not Sustained Exonerated Unfounded Nature of Complaint Findings 2015?2019 30 25 25 20 1920 0.10 oi 00 E011 0010 Gee} ?656; 04?" 4% ?0 3&0 49? ?33, .306(55(359 $~52 mSustained Not Sustained Exonerated Unfounded COMPLAINTS DEMOGRAPHICS -- GENDER, RACE AGE The following is a breakdown of ?who? ?led a complaint or allegation of misconduct. Bethlehem has an estimated population of 76,370 people. Our daily service population, which includes two major Universities, Industrial Parks, Arts zone and the WindCreek Casino Complex, increases our daily population to approximately 100,000 people. Bethlehem is a diverse community. 59.4% of the p0pulation is White. 7.52% is Black. 28.65% is Hispanic. 3% is Asian and 5.5% is other. The 2018 poverty rate in Bethlehem is 15.8%. Females make up 51.4% of the population of Bethlehem while males make up 48.6% of the population. Gender of Citizens who filed Complaints Year Male Female 2015 23 15 2016 19 13 2017 6 14 2018 5 6 2019 14 10 TOTAL 67 58 0 Sex of Complainant 2015?2019 I: Male Femaie 14 Race of Citizens who ?led Complaints Allegations Year Black Hispanic Middle Refused White Eastern 2015 4 7 0 2 25 2016 7 5 0 0 20 2017 4 2 1 0 13 2018 2 2 0 0 7 2019 5 3 0 0 16 TOTAL 22 19 1 2 16 10 Race of Complainant 2015?2019 00-} 00 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 r. Bla-k Hispam- Middle Eastern Refused 7.. White YEAR TOTAL ARRESTS TOTAL USE OF FORCE USE OF FORCE 2015 3308 129 3.9% 2016 2575 104 3.8 2017 2527 128 5.0% 2018 2501 131 5.2% 2019 2639 143 5.4% 5 YR. TOTAL 13550 635 4.6% *Of 635 use of force actions by police in a 5 year period (2015-2019), 16 complaints were received and addressed. That is a rate of *Of 13,650 arrests by police in a 5 year period (2015-2019), 16 complaints were received and addressed. That is a rate of . 12% . Age of Citizens who ?led Complaints Allegations Year 14-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61+ Refused 2015 2016 2017 2013 2019 TOTAL 21.6%) Juveniles (Parents) account for 8.8% of all complaints allegations. Adults accounts for 91.2% of all complaints allegations. ll Age of Complainant 2015-2019 712015 2016 2017 2018 2019 .14 20 .21-30 '31-th 4150 .5160 lit-31+ Age 82 Findings 2015?2019 14-20 21-30 31-4 . 41- 50 51- 60 61* Refused ISustaIned I Not Sustamed Exonerated Unfounded 12 Age 81 Nature of Complaint 2015-2019 18 16 5 4 33 Igloo 00" 100 10001 11 11oo @cwho \g14-20 l21-30 31-40 41-50 I 61+ lRefused Sex Nature of Complaint 2015?2019 if";k - QCFL ?04) 497?} ?0?96Male Female 13 Nature of Complaint 8L Findings 2015-2019 9?5} 4'90 i6?? 355(6.3. ,30 as? 0,540 80933' nSustainecl Not Sustained Exonerated Unfounded QUALITY CONTROL SURVEYS Every year, as part of our efforts to continuously improve our service to the community, the Bethlehem Police Department mails out a brief 7 question customer service survey to citizens with whom the police had interactions. These interactions include simply reporting a crime or incident, or a person involved in either, or an automobile accident. This quality control measure helps us maintain the standards we strive for under CALEA and PLEAC Accreditation. The survey consists of 7 easy questions. There is a self-addressed stamped envelope with the survey for the individual to mail the survey back to the department. This survey is both English and Spanish. These Surveys and the results received are very important to us. We want to know how we are interacting with citizens and if citizens are happy with those interactions. This survey is a gauge by which we can rate what we do and what we can do better as police of?cers when dealing with the citizens in our community. The survey also includes an invitation to make comments, recommendations and suggestions to the Bethlehem Police department. When an issue is raised by a citizen, either positive or negative, that issue is addressed with the of?cer who handled that call. SURVEY NUMBERS 2018 6/ 2020 SURVEY YEAR SENT BACK RETURN RATE 2018 130 44 33.8% 2019 154 54 35% 1-6/2020 71 18 25.3% TOTAL 355 116 32.6% Bench mark for a good survey is between 23% to 32% 14 2 1/2 YEAR STUDY OF SURVEY RESULTS The 7 questions asked in the survey are: l-What was the nature of the contact? Reported a Crime__ Motor Vehicle Accident Other Q-1 Crime MVA Other 2018 16 19 6 2019 22 27 5 1-6/ 2020 7 5 4 TOTAL 45 51 15 2-Is this the ?rst time you have spoken to a Bethlehem police Of?cer? SURVEY YEAR YES NO 2018 16 26 2019 20 34 1-6/ 2020 5 11 TOTAL 41 71 *36.6% of people reported this was their ?rst time. *63.4% of people reported it was not. 3-Did the of?cer conduct himself herself in a professional manner? Yes_ No__ Q-3 YES NO 2018 42 0 2019 53 0 1-6/ 2020 15 1 TOTAL 110 1 *99.0% of people reported of?cer was professional. reported officer was not. 15 4-How would you rate the of?cer?s appearance? Professional satisfactory_ Q-4 EAT SATISFACTORY POOR 2018 38 3 0 2019 52 1 0 1-6/ 2020 16 0 0 TOTAL 106 4 0 *96.3% of people reported officer?s appearance was professional neat. reported of?cer?s appearance was satisfactory. 5-In general, how would you view your safety and security in our community? Extremely safe/secure generally safe/secure_ Not safe/secure? Extremely unsafe/secure? Q-5 EXTREMELY GENERALLY NOT SAFE EXTREMELY SECURE SECURE SECURE 2018 13 25 2 0 2019 16 31 1 0 1-6/ 2020 7 7 1 0 TOTAL 36 63 4 0 *34.9% of people reported they felt extremely safe/secure. *61.1% of people reported they felt generally safe/secure. of people reported they felt not safe/secure. 96.1% of people indicated they felt safe/secure. 6-Were the officers instructions questions clear and understandable? Yes_ No? 0:6 YES NO 2018 46 0 2019 52 0 1-6/ 2020 16 0 TOTAL 114 0 16 7-How would you rate the entire experience dealing with a member Of the Bethlehem Police Department? Excellent professional Above expectation As expected Expected more Poor disappointing Q-7 EXCELLENT AND ABOVE AS EXPECTED EXPECTED POOR AND PROFESSIONAL EXPECTATIONS MORE DISAPPOINTING 2018 32 6 4 0 0 2019 42 7 3 0 1 1-6/ 2020 13 2 0 0 0 TOTAL 87 16 7 1 78.3% Of people reported their experience was excellent and professional. 14.5% of people reported their experience was above expectations. 6.3% of people reported their experience was as expected. of people reported their experience was poor. OVERALL, 99.9% reported their experience was satisfactory with 92.7% indicating it was above and excellent. COMMENTS AND CONCLUSION In summary, 1 was motivated to prepare and submit this report, along with other reports (Annual Policing report and Use of Force report), to underscore the excellent Police Department and Community?Policing we have in Bethlehem and tO answer questions about Bethlehem Police policy and Police Department functions. A review Of statistics provided in this report clearly show low incidents Of citizen complaints relative to the large number of police calls handled by the department each year. The statistics do not occur by accident. They are a direct result of the use of the best and most current policing standards and practices available today as evidenced by the department?s continued dual accreditation through CALEA and PLEAC. As Chief Of Police, I am very proud Of our diverse Police Department, all our Police Of?cers and personnel, and the job they perform every day. I have always been transparent and I will continue to be transparent so that citizens are aware Of how their police department performs and functions. There can be no doubt, that even in today?s climate, we can all be very proud Of our Police Department in the City Of Bethlehem. Mark A. DiLuzio Chief of Police 17