Document of Interest Provided By Councilmember Hamann on Civilian Review Boards

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C ITIZEN R EVIEW OF P OLICE: APPROACHES AND I MPLEMENTATION 97 department. Citizens in Omaha may pick up forms in any library branch. Melvin Sears, the Orange County Citizen Review Board administrative coordinator, set up a Web site citizens can access to get information about the board or to file a complaint online. The Web site on the city page set up by Liana Perez in Tucson also allows citizens to file complaints electronically. Most oversight bodies lack the resources to set up satellite offices. According to Mary Dunlap, director of the Office of Citizen Complaints in San Francisco, “We should set up office hours in communi- ties that are poor, young, and otherwise likely to underreport alleged police mis- conduct, like satellite mayor’s offices, where we wouldn’t take complaints but could explain the complaint process.” Referrals by the police According to Mary Dunlap, “Every district station should also have a display at the window and a sign on the wall, along with brochures and complaint forms.” A sign to the right of the Berkeley Police Department receptionist desk in fact says the following: If you have a complaint regarding a Berkeley Police Officer’s conduct or need an explanation regarding a department practice, policy or proce- dure, you can either 1. Contact the Watch commander or Senior Officer in charge. 2. Contact the Internal Affairs Bureau of the Berkeley Police Department. The phone number . . . is 664–6653. 3. Contact the City of Berkeley Police Review Commission. The PRC is a civilian review board independent of the Berkeley Police Department. It is located at 2121 McKinley Avenue, phone 644–6716. A brochure that Berkeley’s internal affairs investigators give to complainants includes a four-paragraph descrip- tion of PRC with its address and telephone number. The SAN FRANCISCO’S OFFICE OF CITIZEN COMPLAINTS MONITORS SELECTED PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS At the director’s instruction, Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC) staff attend situations where there has been a public perception or actual history of police misconduct.Wearing OCC hats or jackets, they regularly monitor bicycle rallies, community fairs, and public demonstrations. A group sponsoring an Immigration Pride event wrote OCC asking staff to monitor the event because it claimed there had been problems with the police in the past; OCC agreed to go. No complaints resulted, and OCC staff did not observe any situations that required investiga- tion of alleged misconduct. OCC staff believe that the observations can serve to document, interpret, and evaluate the potential merits of OCC complaints, including establishing that there is no basis for a complaint. The agency has developed a written policy for monitoring demonstrations (see appendix D) that specifies that “it is the policy of the OCC to monitor demonstrations when it is determined to be consistent with OCC’s mission, and feasible and advisable to do so, in the joint determination of the Director and Chief Investigator.” At least one monitor and a supervisor observe each demonstration. Staff do not hand out intake forms and, except in emergencies, do not take complaints at the scene. If a civilian wishes to make a complaint, a monitor offers to provide the person with an OCC Incident Information Card (see exhibit 5–2) and, when appropriate, a business card. After gathering as much information as possible about the complaint, the monitor suggests the person contact OCC during business hours for followup. The Web site on the city page set up by Liana Perez in Tucson also allows citizens to file complaints electronically.