Faye Parks / WORT
Robin Copley, Madison's Independent Police Monitor.
Robin Copley, above, cited medical reasons for resigning her position.
After a tumultuous nearly three years on the job, the head of Madison’s police oversight agency has resigned.
Robin Copley served as Madison’s Independent Police Monitor since December 2022. The Police Civilian Oversight Board, Copley’s supervisor, evaluated her performance in a closed session meeting on Oct. 1 and announced her resignation due to “personal medical reasons” in a statement today.
“The Board wants to recognize the contribution Robin made to the office, and Board Chair Maia Pearson indicated she understood the decision and would like to wish Robin well in her future endeavors,” the statement read.
Copley did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a resignation letter attached to the board’s statement, she said she is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The city council created both the board and the office in 2020 to investigate complaints related to the Madison Police Department and issue policy recommendations for better policing. Both the board and office were slow to begin operations. A complaint form for the office was not created until October 2024.
In August, Isthmus found that Copley had ignored records requests submitted by the publication and correspondence from city attorneys and alders.
Shortly after that article’s release, the board began reevaluating Copley’s performance.
Its executive subcommittee met at 6 p.m. on Sept. 5 and voted unanimously to enter closed session around five minutes later. Their sole agenda item was “Considering performance evaluation data of Independent Monitor.” Copley was not in attendance prior to the board going into closed session, though OIM office manager Chioma Njoku, OIM data analyst Gregory Gelembiuk, and City Attorney Michael Haas were.
At the time, Pearson told Isthmus in an email that the board met to discuss Copley’s performance and said she could not comment further, calling it a “personnel matter.”
On Aug. 28, Isthmus reported that Copley had failed to fulfill a records request Isthmus submitted on May 1, and did not respond to multiple attempts to intervene by city attorneys. After waiting four months for the request to be fulfilled, Isthmus received its records from the office on Sept. 4, seven days after the article was published.
Council leadership was also critical of a report Copley was required under ordinance to submit, saying it needed revisions. That report appears on the council’s Oct. 7 agenda and has still not been voted upon by the body.
Copley’s last day was Oct. 3, but she will remain on city payroll until Nov. 4. The board is looking for an interim police monitor; the interim monitor would not be eligible for the permanent position.
