CPRB asks if city should be held in contempt

A watchdog organization is asking a judge why the city police chief shouldn’t be held… A watchdog organization is asking a judge why the city police chief shouldn’t be held in contempt of court for refusing to hand over G-20 documents.

The Citizen Police Review Board filed a motion in court last week to have the city, specifically Chief of Police Nathan Harper, say why it should not be held in contempt of court for refusing to produce documents a court order required it to give to the CPRB.

Should the city be found in contempt for refusing to hand over the documents, it would be fined $500 initially and $100 per day after that for not complying with the CPRB subpoena by April 7.

Allegheny County Judge R. Stanton Wettick Jr. ruled on March 18 that the city had to give the CPRB copies of its G-20 documents within 20 days or state why they were protected under law.

The city filed an appeal to the Commonwealth Court April 7, the deadline for handing over documents.

Questions for Harper were referred to City solicitor Dan Regan, who declined to comment on the possibility of Harper being held in contempt of court.

Harper refused to give the CPRB G-20-related documents in January, when it sent the city police a subpoena for the paperwork. The city’s representatives said in court that the CPRB could not initiate its own investigation.

Beth Pittinger, executive director of the CPRB, said the board will continue to push for the G-20 documents.

“We’re going to follow through with this, of course,” she said.

Regan said in a statement yesterday that the G-20 Summit caused the city to review the powers of the review board.

Wettick said in his March ruling that a city ordinance give the CPRB the power to initiate its own investigations into the police.

The city ordinance that established the CPRB said the board must advise the mayor and chief of police on police recruitment, training and disciplinary policies, according to court documents.

Wettick said this ordinance can only be enforced if the CPRB can investigate police conduct without having received specific complaints, as was the case with the G-20.

The state court docket did not contain a date for the appeal, and only said the case was “awaiting original documents.”