Review board sustains complaints against officers

The Iowa City Community Police Review Board recently sustained allegations against Iowa City officers regarding an interrogation in February.

The five-person board met May 23 and June 7 to discuss complaints of questionable interview and interrogation tactics and unlawful seizure of a complainant's cellphone, according to a report issued by the review board.

The report says officers failed to advise the complainant, who is not named, of her Miranda warning rights, and failed to end an interrogation when the complainant requested a lawyer. It also says an officer unlawfully took away her cellphone.

Police Capt. Troy Kelsay declined to comment on the situation before the Iowa City Council has an opportunity to review it but said complaints to the review board trigger internal affairs investigations inside the Police Department.

"Based on the findings, if there's a finding of a policy violation or law violation, certainly, there would be corrective measures taken," he said.

Kelsay said the internal affairs investigations and names of officers involved in the complaint process are confidential and said details about "any disciplinary or corrective measures taken are not released."

The review board has no authority to discipline officers, the report says.

The City Council meets next on Tuesday.

According to the report, the complainant alleged Feb. 8 that officers two days earlier met her at her residence and took her to the Police Department in a squad car to look at pictures pertaining to a Feb. 6 armed robbery that occurred at her place of employment.

The report says that 10 minutes into the interview, one of two officers made a statement about having information from many sources and about the importance of the complainant being honest.

The complainant alleges that the interview then became an interrogation.

"A reasonable person in the complainant's position would not have felt free to leave," the report says.

The report says that about 19 minutes into the interview, the complainant requested a lawyer, saying "you're interrogating me too much, and I already told you I don't know anything about that."

One of the officers disregarded her request and continued to interrogate her, the report says.

An officer later took away the complainant's cellphone, began looking through it and returned it to the complainant, the report says. It says the other officer took the phone from her before she left and said she could pick it up at a later time, according to the report.

The review board, appointed by the Iowa City Council, was established to provide a complaint process to address claims of misconduct on the part of Iowa City police and to ensure that investigations occur in a "fair, thorough and accurate" manner, according to Iowa City's website. The board also assists the police chief, city manager and council in evaluating the performance of the Police Department, the website says.

Reach Holly Hines at  hhines2@press-citizen.com or at 319-887-5414 and follow her on Twitter: @HollyJHines.