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awkward. For example, the chief of police might believe that an <br /> officer's misconduct warrants an immediate suspension; the police <br /> commission might take weeks or months to initiate and complete an <br /> investigation. The individual police officer's rights against <br /> unjustified discipline are protected through the civil service <br /> and collective bargaining grievance procedures. <br /> 2 . Responsibilities of the Police Commission and Chief. <br /> The present police commission complained that its <br /> responsibilities and powers were not well defined in the Charter. <br /> In particular, the sentence: "Except for purpose of inquiry, <br /> neither the commission nor its members shall interfere in any way <br /> with the administrative affairs of the department" had been <br /> interpreted in a way that essentially limited the power of the <br /> commission to include only the power to hire and fire the chief. <br /> Your Committee has added a number of express powers for the <br /> police commission. These are contained in §7-2 . 2 (a) to (f) of <br /> the draft Charter revision and include the power to investigate <br /> citizen complaints. <br /> Your Committee felt that the Charter should retain the <br /> concept that the chief of police controls the department and that <br /> the commission should not interfere with administration. The <br /> police commission should not have the power to direct the <br /> activities of the chief or of subordinate officers or to override <br /> decisions made by the chief. Accordingly, your Committee <br /> retained the "shall not interfere with the administrative <br /> affairs" language. Actually, both the present police commission <br /> 761 <br />