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Police Review Board sets public forum dates

By Public Affairs

UC Berkeley student members of the Police Review Board (PRB) announced today (Monday, Feb.6) that two public forums will take place on campus, providing students and others with an opportunity to share their accounts of the events of Nov. 9, 2011 and the conflict between police and Occupy Cal protesters on Sproul Plaza.

Public forums geared toward students and other community members will occur Monday, Feb. 13, and Wednesday, Feb. 15. Both will run from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at UC Berkeley School of Law’s Booth Auditorium. Participants will have five minutes to speak, and they may submit photos, video, written statements or other relevant information. Individuals may also choose to submit information anonymously or otherwise at prbinvestigations@berkeley.edu.

At a later date, the PRB will conduct a hearing in which faculty, campus police and students will present their accounts of what occurred on Nov. 9. The hearing date has not yet been determined, but will occur shortly after the February public forums, according to the PRB.

Student PRB members Omar Kunbargi, an ASUC representative, and Eve Weissman, a Graduate Assembly representative, made the announcement in an email to the campus community today. They also spelled out the scope of their inquiry, how it would be carried out, and invited the public to share their thoughts about the process during a meeting tonight at 7 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union’s Madrone Room, fourth floor.

According to the students’ email, the goal of the PRB investigation is to determine what happened on Nov. 9 and whether the police conduct was consistent with campus norms and the campus administration’s established policies. In addition, the email stated, the investigation will seek to determine who authorized the police conduct that occurred that day.

In addition to the two student representatives on the PRB subcommittee conducting the inquiry, other subcommittee members include UC Berkeley law professor Jesse Choper, chair of the PRB; Tyler Nagler, a campus staff representative; and Ronald Nelson, a retired city of Berkeley and UC San Francisco chief of police.

Following its investigation, the PRB will publish a written report of its conclusions and recommendations. For more information about the board, visit the PRB website. Individuals may also email questions or comments to the board via prbinvestigation@berkeley.edu.