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PCIARC Ordinance and Authority

The PCIARC Ordinance, City Code Chapter 102 (Ordinance), outlines which complaints alleging police misconduct can be reviewed through the PCIARC process:

"The Commission shall review all complaint investigations concerning members of the police department who are certified by the Minnesota Board of Peace Officers Standards and Training, completed by the internal affairs unit of the police department and subsequent investigations thereof related to alleged acts of excessive force, inappropriate use of firearms, discrimination, as defined in Chapter 183.02 of this Code, racial profiling, poor public relations, and such other complaints as may be referred to it by the Mayor, the Chief of Police, or the director of the Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO). The commission shall also collect and review summary data on complaints received and report to the mayor and council any patterns which may merit further examination.”
(City of Saint Paul § 102.01(b))

Civilian Oversight in the United States

In 1969, the first civilian oversight board in the nation was created in Kansas City, Missouri. That board is still in operation today.

Saint Paul’s Mayor, City Council, and Chief of Police were early adopters of civilian oversight of policing policies, establishing the PCIARC in 1993.

According to the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE), there were only 13 civilian oversight agencies in 1980. In 2020, there were more than 100. Today, there are more than 250 across the nation.

NACOLE outlines the four general models of civilian oversight used today:

  1. Review-focused
  2. Investigation-focused
  3. Auditor/Monitor-focused
  4. Hybrid of the three models

PCIARC’s Review-Focused Model

The PCIARC falls under the review-focused model because:

  • The SPPD Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) conducts all investigations into community complaints against SPPD officers;
  • PCIARC Commissioners review case materials, hold case deliberations, and recommend a determination on complaints, known as a disposition. The PCIARC may also recommend disciplinary action and make policy recommendations to SPPD; and
  • The Chief of Police makes final decisions on dispositions under the review-focused model and assigns any discipline.

2001 DOJ-Mediated Agreement

In 2001, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) mediated an agreement between the SPPD and the Saint Paul Chapter of the NAACP to address concerns related to biased-based policing and to improve relations between police and community.

As result of the DOJ-mediated agreement, changes were made to the PCIARC’s complaint and intake process, and the Commission was mandated to hold community meetings.

As part of this agreement, community complaint intake centers were created. A list of the active complaint intake centers is available on the PCIARC website.

2015–2016 PCIARC Review and Reforms

In 2015 and 2016, the City of Saint Paul partnered with the University of Minnesota Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking to review the PCIARC.

Following an in-depth review and several community meetings, the University of Minnesota offered comprehensive recommendations to update and evolve the PCIARC.

Several recommendations from the report were implemented by the city, including:

  1. Moving management of the PCIARC from the SPPD to the Department of Human Rights & Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO)
  2. Giving the Director of HREEO the authority to:
    • Refer matters to the PCIARC
    • Recommend the appointment and removal of Commissioners to the PCIARC to the Mayor
    • Appoint and supervise the PCIARC Coordinator, in consultation with the Chief of Police and the Chair of the Commission
    • Hire a private investigator on behalf of the PCIARC
  3. Adding two additional civilians to the Commission, increasing the number of civilian commissioners to nine
  4. Removing the two Saint Paul Police Federation positions from the Commission
  5. Notifying complainants when a case they have filed will be heard by the PCIARC and allowing them to provide a statement
  6. Removing any type of recommendation from IAU in the case review materials given to the PCIARC
  7. Giving the PCIARC the explicit authority to recommend policy changes for consideration by the Chief of Police

2022 Addendum to the DOJ Agreement

In 2022, Mayor Carter, along with city leaders, SPPD, and the Saint Paul Chapter of the NAACP agreed to an addendum to the agreement mediated by the DOJ in 2001.

The goal of the addendum was to “strengthen their relationship and expand on their commitments to one another.”

While the addendum focuses on increased reporting, data sharing, and communication between SPPD and the NAACP, it also requires SPPD to provide information on how to file a PCIARC complaint to community members who “submit criticism” of an officer through SPPD’s community feedback survey.