Upset by the city's lack of response to the recommendations it issued nearly a year ago after the death of Michael Carpenter, the Citizens Police Review Panel grilled a city official Monday night to try to get some answers.

        What the panel got, though, was a lesson in city bureaucracy.

        For months, panel members have openly bristled at the city's lack of reaction to the group's six recommendations. They were written after its review of the March 1999 police shooting of unarmed motorist Michael Carpenter.

        Assistant Safety Director Greg Baker denied Monday that the city is withholding a reaction to the group's recommendations. Rather, the city, he said, is still trying to finalize its response.

        “The document has been going back and forth for several months” between city offices, including that of City Manager John Shirey, Mr. Baker said. “The document is still in draft form. It's still a work in progress. It's not being withheld. It's being completed.”

        Once the document is in an “acceptable form” it will be presented to Cincinnati City Council, Mr. Baker told panel members Monday night.

        His response did not sit well with some panel members.

        “So, after John Shirey says we took a year to release the results of an investigation, he is taking nearly a year himself to respond to our recommendations,” said panel member Paul DeMarco.

        One recommendation was that the police department develop policies for disabling a vehicle during a nonroutine traffic stop and for discharge of a firearm into a vehicle's windows.

        The first of this month's two CPRP meetings resulted in the largest citizen turnout since the group's inception in January 1999, officials said.

        The CPRP is reviewing the 1998 police shooting death of Randy Black, accused of robbing a bank.

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