After fighting the Pittsburgh police department for access to G-20 summit records, the city's Citizen Police Review Board says it found a new antagonist Tuesday in City Council.

CPRB Executive Director Elizabeth Pittinger was visibly angered by council's non-binding resolution urging her to slow down her pursuit of documents she's seeking for a comprehensive report on police conduct during the summit.

Council President Darlene Harris and members Ricky Burgess, Patrick Dowd, R, Daniel Lavelle, Theresa Kail-Smith and Natalia Rudiak voted for the resolution, Bruce Kraus, Bill Peduto and Doug Shields abstained.

Supporters billed the resolution as a reasonable request to help protect the city from summit-related lawsuits and said it does nothing to stop the board's main work of investigating individual misconduct complaints.

However, Ms. Pittinger accused council of meddling in the watchdog panel's affairs said the resolution may have been intended to head off an escalation of a legal battle over documents the board wants.

Despite the resolution, Ms. Pittinger said, the board will appear at noon Friday before Common Pleas Judge R. Stanton Wettick and argue that many of the 1,000 or so pages of documents the police department released last month under court order were so heavily redacted as to be virtually worthless. She said the board will suggest that police Chief Nate Harper be held in contempt of court because of the "quality of the documents."

"We're entitled to them," Ms. Pittinger said. "The court has reinforced that. Just give them to us."

While praising the review board's work, council's resolution said release of G-20 documents could expose the city to civil liability and hinder representation by the city's insurance company. It says the board should accept documents only as they're parceled out to plaintiffs in civil cases--or withhold its document requests entirely until the statute of limitations for G-20 claims has expired.

Ms. Pittinger said those suggestions could delay the board's work for years.

Mr, Dowd said the board's report doesn't have to be done "today, tomorrow or next year." And he said the board's work, though important, must be folded into council's broader considerations about what's best for the city.

Mrs, Harris said the resolution originated with a request from the city law department.

At issue are arrest reports, police training information, procedures on riot control and other records the board demanded for a comprehensive report on how police handled the summit. The mayor's office and police department opposed the scope of the records demand, saying the board was established to probe only individual complaints of police misconduct.

Judge Wettick, who studied the legislation that created the board, disagreed. He ordered the documents released. On Friday, Ms. Pittinger said, the board will argue that the documents finally provided by the police department weren't sufficient to meet the judge's order.

Vic Walczak, Pennsylvania legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union who's representing two groups in a federal suit alleging harassment by police during G-20, said council's opinion shouldn't change Judge Wettick's mind about board access to police records. He said the ordinance creating the board is more important than current political winds.

Mr. Walczak said limiting the board's access to documents wouldn't protect the city anyway from liability because lawyers in a civil case likely would get the same documents through their discovery process.

"We're asking for and entitled to get more than the CPRB is asking for," he said.

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