[CPRB] next meeting, effectiveness

[Ricky Baldwin]

Hi folks -

Just a reminder that we're not meeting this Tuesday
Aug. 30 but next Tuesday Sept. 6, according to our
regular schedule (which may be changing, depending on
your input).

And I wanted to share this resource:
http://policeaccountability.org
- highly recommended by the folks at NACOLE (National
Assoc for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement).  We
were discussing what counts as effectiveness at a
recent meeting, so I include the following from the
recommended website.

See you soon-
Ricky

DOES CITIZEN OVERSIGHT WORK?

Is Citizen Oversight Effective?

It depends on how you define effectiveness.  There are
many different criteria for measuring the
effectiveness of oversight.

What are the Different Criteria for Effectiveness?

The effectiveness of citizen oversight can be measured
in different ways.  It is necessary to recognize the
different goals of oversight.  These goals include:

1. Providing thorough and fair investigations of
citizen complaints.

2. Sustaining more complaints than internal affairs.

3. Deterring police misconduct.

4. Providing a satisfactory experience for
complainants.

5. Building public trust in the police.

6. Helping to develop greater police professionalism.

Do Citizen Oversight Agencies Sustain More Complaints
than Internal Affairs Units?

Not really.

Q: What Percentage of Complaints do they Sustain?

10-13%

Q: Where Can I Get Some Data on That Issue?

The most comprehensive national data is in the report
Anthony M. Pate and Lorie A. Fridell, Police Use of
Force (Washington, DC: The Police Foundation, 1993).

Additional data can be found in the annual reports of
both oversight agencies and police departments.  For
links to oversight agencies [Click here].  For police
department web sites, go to www.officer.com and click
on "Agencies".

Q: Why Don't Citizen Oversight Agencies Sustain More
Complaints than Internal Affairs Units?

Most citizen complaints against police officers are
difficult to sustain.  The typical complaint involves
rudeness, discourtesy, some low-level use of force by
the officer (e.g., without injury), or a failure to
provide service.  Frequently, there are no independent
witnesses.  When there is no physical injury to the
citizen, there is no medical evidence.  Consequently,
the majority of complaints are "he said - he said"
situations.  Like any accused person, the officer is
innocent until proven guilty.  As a result, complaints
without any evidence to prove the allegation(s) are
resolved in the officer's favor.

It is important to recognize the at the factors
discussed above are inherent in the nature of
complaints, and not the fault of the investigating
agency.

The more serious complaints are much easier to
sustain.  If the citizen has been the victim of
excessive physical force that required medical
attention, there are medical records that can help
sustain the allegations.

Q: If Oversight Units Don't Sustain a Higher
Percentage of Complaints.  Then Isn't Oversight
Unnecessary and Wasteful?

Oversight agencies do (or can do) a lot more things
than investigate complaints.  They can engage in
Community Outreach [click here] and Policy Review
[click here].

First, citizen oversight agencies tend to encourage
more people to file complaints because they are
perceived as being more open and independent.  Thus,
the denominator is larger, with the result that
sustaining 10% of 500 complaints means twice as many
disciplinary actions against officers as 10% of 250
complaints.

Second, citizen oversight agencies have many roles to
play and should be evaluated in terms of these other
goals.  See the list above.

Do Citizen Oversight Agencies Provide a Satisfactory
Experience for Complainants?

Some do, some don't.  It depends on the quality of the
agency.

Q: Are there any examples of a successful oversight
agency on this issue?

Yes, the Minneapolis Civilian Review Authority.  The
CRA surveys all citizens and officers regarding their
perceptions of how they were treated.  It receives
high ratings from both citizens and police officers. 
These data are contained in the CRA's annual reports.

Does Citizen Oversight Deter Police Misconduct?

There is no solid evidence that it deters misconduct
more effectively than investigation by police internal
affairs units.

Q: Why Isn't There Any Evidence on This?

It is both very difficult and expensive to measure
basic police performance.  It is additionally
difficult to measure changes in police officer
performance over time and to specify the causes of any
changes that occur.

Q: If Citizen Oversight Does Not Deter Misconduct Any
More than Investigations by Internal Affairs, isn't it
pointless to create an expensive oversight agency?

No, oversight agencies have many goals (see above) and
should be measured by other criteria.

How Can Citizen Oversight Contribute to Police
Professionalism?

It depends on what role an oversight agency plays.  If
an agency merely investigates complaints and does
nothing else, then the impact is likely to be fairly
limited.  At best, it will sustain more complaints and
this will result in more disciplinary actions.  But
keep in mind that, to date, oversight agencies have
not sustained complaints at a significantly higher
rate than internal affairs units.

A more significant contribution to police
professionalism is likely to be made through the
policy review process.  As explained in detail on this
site [click here], policy review looks at the
underlying circumstances of a complaint to see if
there is a need for the police department to have a
formal policy on situations of this sort or to revise
its existing policy.  The oversight agency might
choose to hold public hearings on particularly
important or controversial issues.  When the review is
completed the oversight agency can then send a policy
recommendation to the police department.  Click on the
web site of the San Francisco Office of Citizen
Complaints [click here] for examples of the kind of
policy recommendations it makes.

Policy review can contribute to police professionalism
in several ways.

First, the policy recommendations, if adopted,
represent a form of "house keeping," in which policies
and procedures are kept up to date.  The special role
of citizen oversight is that all organizations can
benefit from an outsider's perspective.

Second, the process of an on-going dialog with an
external oversight agency can help to change the
organizational culture of a police department, and in
particular break down the isolation that historically
has characterized policing.

Even if the police chief rejects some policy
recommendations, the policy review process represents
an informed, civilized, public dialog over police
issues.  This is a more professional approach to
running a police department than exchanging charges
and counter-charges in the news media.

But don't the police hate citizen oversight?  How can
something they oppose contribute to the
professionalism of their departments?

The experience of several cities has shown that, over
time, the police can learn to accept the role of an
oversight agency and relate to it in a professional
manner.  For example, some of the recent annual
reports of the San Francisco OCC
[http://www.ci.sf.ca.us/occ/] mention the fact that
the OCC is receiving good cooperation from the police
department.  And in Minneapolis, officers who are
subject to complaint investigations by the CRA give
the agency high ratings for being fair and respectful.

The development of a more favorable attitude toward
oversight has not occurred in every city, of course. 
But the fact that attitudes have changed in some
suggests that it can happen.  The task now is to
determine what factors help to bring about that
change.

OPENING A "WINDOW" INTO THE POLICE DEPARTMENT

One of the functions of citizen oversight is to build
community trust in the police and the complaints
process.  Oversight agencies can do this by making
available information about the police department and
controversial incidents in particular.  In this
regard, oversight agencies provide a "window" into the
police department.  This function helps to overcome
the historic "closed" nature of police departments
that has been the source of much public distrust.

The reports of the San Jose Independent Police Auditor
[http://www.ci.san-jose.ca.us/ipa/home.html] and the
Special Council to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's
Department [http://www.co.la.ca.us/bobb.html] are
particularly valuable in terms of the information they
provide.

For examples of reports on specific controversial
incidents, see the reports of the Boise Ombudsman
[www.boiseombudsman.org] and the report of the Seattle
Office of Police Accountability (OPA) on the
International District Incident in 2001 [http://www.pan.ci.seattle.wa.us/police/].

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