City Manager Doug Elliott said the city and the two unions went to a fact finder after failing to come to terms on a number of issues including pay and sick leave in addition to the notarization requirement. Only the complaint process was discussed at a city council meeting when the fact finding report was eventually accepted.
“There were several outstanding issues which the parties could not agree on,” Elliott said. “Thus, it was a combination of outstanding issues that led to fact-finding.”
The unions’ most recent contracts expired at the end of 2022, and during negotiations this year, the city suggested getting rid of the notary requirement because it could have a chilling effect on people who have complaints. According to the fact finding report, OPD argued that notarization “insures that the complaining citizen is bringing an honest and accurate complaint.” The fact finder sided with the department, writing that the city’s argument was “not based on any actual evidence that the requirement has ever deterred any citizen from filing a complaint.”
OPD received just two formal complaints in 2022. Its online feedback form got nine total responses, including one negative complaint about a specific police officer and three negative comments about police generally.
While the department requires notarization for formal complaints, OPD Chief John Jones said he tries to make himself available to the public and is open to having conversations with people informally if they have any concerns.
“If [people] feel like they were wronged by the police, I don’t want them to stew on that issue,” Jones said. “I would much rather have a conversation and kind of clear that up, and certainly if we did something wronged, we want to know, whether they want to fill out a formal complaint ... or they just want us to address the issue.”
If someone does want to file a formal complaint, the city provides notarization services free of charge at the Oxford Police Station and the Municipal Building.
During an Aug. 1 city council meeting, the city accepted the fact finder’s report on a 4-3 margin. Councilor Amber Franklin voted against accepting the findings because the Ohio Revised Code already specifies that filing a false complaint against a police officer is a first degree misdemeanor, which she says should be enough deterrence.
Councilor Jason Bracken and Mayor Bill Snavely joined Franklin in voting no on the resolution to accept the findings.
Franklin used to serve on Oxfords Police Community Relations and Review Commission before joining city council. She said the commission discussed getting rid of the notarization requirement to remove barriers to reporting police misconduct, but the issue had to wait until the union contracts were up for renegotiation. Though the city ultimately accepted the fact finder’s reports and won’t remove the notarization requirement this time around, she said she spoke up against it at the meeting to be consistent in her beliefs.
“I think it’s a little bit of circular reasoning, because if one of the concerns is that requiring notarization is a barrier to complaints, legitimate complaints, then the fact that there’s not much evidence for it, I mean, that’s what a chilling effect does,” Franklin said.
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