Cincinnati's Citizens Police Review Panel today will demand to know why the police division failed to turn over hundreds of complaints against its officers.

        Members say police officials have for years misled them about minor complaints in order to minimize outside review.

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        “They have avoided any kind of extensive review process,” said panel chairman Keith Borders. “This isn't how it is supposed to work.”

        Despite legislation requiring the panel to receive “a copy of all complaints of alleged police misconduct,” an Enquirer investigation revealed that 855 minor complaints between 1997 and 2000 were rarely seen by anyone outside local police stations.

        Panel members said they were unaware that police supervisors had investigated their officers and dismissed more than 90 percent of the cases.

        At the panel's 6 p.m. meeting, members say, they will question police, public safety and Office of Municipal Investigations officials about changing the system.

        If successful, the panel could end up providing the only outside review on complaints such as discourtesy, improper procedure and other minor offenses.

        In their call Saturday for an international boycott of Cincinnati, a coalition of activists demanded — among other things — that the panel be given subpoena power, investigative power and additional staffing.

        Police officials say no out side review is necessary and that an officer's supervisor is the best person to evaluate complaints. Police Col. Richard Janke also questioned whether the panel will be able to review any more cases given its backlog.

        City Manager John Shirey agreed, saying the citizens panel should stick to reviewing high-profile cases.

        Panel members say the reason for the backlog is the city's failure to provide staff and resources.

        “It's like the person who kills his parents and then pleads for mercy because he is an orphan,” panel member Paul DeMarco said. “I lay all of this completely at the doorstep of the city manager.”

        The minor-complaint system is one of the things being looked at by U.S. Department of Justice investigators, who began a probe of the police division after the April 7 police shooting death of an unarmed African-American man.

        “I think the obvious pitfall is the police policing themselves,” said panel member Steven Tutt. But he said police have convinced him that they do take the minor complaints seriously.

        Police Col. Rick Biehl said the current system, called the Citizen Complaint Resolution Process, was designed to provide closure for residents who file minor complaints.

        He said the division once tried using its internal investigations section to review complaints, but the effect was to cut first-line supervisors out of the process.

        Since 1997, when the process began, complaining residents are given a chance to meet with the supervisor and the officer. Col. Biehl described this as “mediation,” but supervisors usually close the complaints before the meeting takes place.

        Between 30 and 40 percent of complainants opt for the meeting, but even in those cases officers are routinely exonerated.

        Several cities recently changed the way they handle citizen complaints. Some of those cities did so under pressure from the Justice Department.

        In Pittsburgh, the city's Office of Municipal Investigations receives all citizen complaints. Those complaints eventually may be referred to police supervisors, but that decision is left with OMI officials.

        Reporter Dan Horn contributed to this story.

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