Special Master Bieder’s second report is titled Recommendations and Findings of Fact Re: Firearms Discharge Board of Inquiry Issues. It concerns the investigations of three shootings: the Murtha Shooting in 2003, the South Whitney Street shooting in 2003, and the Zion Street shooting in 2004. More details provided here. Each failed to fully follow the procedures set out in 1-21 and 1-22, as the plaintiffs alleged in motions for contempt beginning in 2004. (Source) Bieder’s findings of contempt primarily concern a provision of 1-22 which requires that the FDBI “take all appropriate action to assure a complete investigation” of the shooting itself and/or of “systematic or tactical, procedural, equipment, or training failures.” In other words, 1-22 requires that the FDBI investigate the conditions of the shooting and the police operations which led to it, beyond simply the act itself. The plaintiffs had alleged eight other instances of contempt, three of which Bieder agreed with. These include: abdicating responsibility, in reference to inappropriate union involvement in investigations; refusal to call witnesses in FDBI proceedings; and the chief’s delayed and inadequate response to FDBI report.  

Bieder’s recommendations are all approved by Judge Burns, as well as his recommended sanctions. These essentially ensure that the parties meet on their own and develop guidelines and training aimed at fixing the issues that constituted the findings of contempt; in short, they must sort out the investigatory process for Major Crimes Division Investigators following an officer-involved shooting, the kinds of inquiries made within the FDBI, and the timeline of the Chief’s responses to FDBI reports. Settlement conferences are held throughout the year remaining.