Committee Description
The Independent Review Committee exists to help ensure confidence in the U’s public safety functions by reviewing complaints made against public safety personnel, evaluating the actions of public safety personnel, and when necessary, making recommendations regarding policies and procedures. It will review complaints made by the public that are directly or indirectly related to issues of excessive force, violation of rights, abusive language or dereliction of duty. The committee is independent from the department and is not intended to replace the existing formal internal review and disciplinary procedures.
Complaints about public safety personnel may be reported to the department, the Independent Review Committee chair, the Office of the Chief Safety Officer, the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, or the Vice President for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. These are referred to the executive officer for investigation. To submit a report directly to the chair of the Independent Review Committee, email irc@utah.edu.
Upon completing an investigation, the executive officer will submit the report to the involved supervisor to determine the findings and then submit to the chief safety officer for final approval before submission to the IRC. Outcomes will fall into one of the following classifications:
- Unfounded: The allegations are not factually accurate; the alleged conduct did not occur.
- Exonerated: The alleged conduct did occur but was justified under the circumstances.
- Sustained: The alleged conduct did occur and was not justified under the circumstances.
- Not sustained: The written record of the investigation does not support a determination of whether the alleged conduct occurred. This classification is used whenever a case involves conflicting stories that are not clearly resolvable on the basis of evidence presented to the committee.
- Administratively closed: No investigation was completed due to the fact that the complainant did not cooperate with the investigation (except in an instance of alleged serious or criminal violation).
In reviewing the executive officer’s determinations, the Independent Review Committee may:
- Agree with the disposition of the complaint.
- Identify an issue not raised in the original complaint that is raised in the report record and ask that the executive officer investigate the issue; the identified issue will be labeled “supplemental.”
- Disagree with disposition of an allegation within a complaint and suggest an alternate disposition.
- Suggest that the department consider different or additional sanctions for the university personnel involved in an incident.
- If warranted, suggest that the department review its procedures and consider amending them to address a particular issue or concern.
- Request information about an officer’s prior record. As part of its review, the committee may ask for a summary of past disciplinary action against an officer, as well as a summary of past commendations an officer has received.
- Request to see department procedures related to recurring problems relevant to the complaint under review.
Read the full regulations and procedures here.
An annual report of all incidents, as well as any recommended changes to policies or procedures, will be produced annually for the CSO and will be made available to the campus community at this page.
Committee Members
The committee is comprised of faculty members, students, and staff members: