Document of Interest Provided By Councilmember Hamann on Civilian Review Boards

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Berkeley helped reduce its backlog of cases by amending its regulations so that it would not be required to hold a hearing on every filed complaint, instead allowing the director to recommend that the Police Review Com- mission summarily dismiss cases without merit. Patricia Hughes, executive director of Minneapolis’Citizen Police Review Authority, came up with the idea of plea bargain- ing cases through a stipulation proce- dure that decreased the need for hear- ings dramatically, thereby reducing delays for other cases. (See the Minneapolis case study in chapter 2.) A citizen advisers’monitoring report to the Portland City Council highlighted delays in processing complaints at the police bureau’s internal affairs depart- ment and provided four strategies for reducing the delay, including improved recruitment and staffing and the estab- lishment of timeliness goals for each stage in the review process. When a delay is inevitable, Felicia Davis, administrator of the Syracuse, New York, Citizen Review Board, sends the complainant a letter explaining where the case is in the complaint process and the reasons for the delay. Davis says, “In effect, I tell them, ‘We haven’t forgotten you.’This helps keep them interested in and willing to pursue the case.” Davis sends the letter after 60 days when she knows the case will take more than 90 days to be decided. C HAPTER 5: ADDRESSING I MPORTANT I SSUES IN C ITIZEN O VERSIGHT 102 • The city council requires the Rochester Civilian Review Board to review cases within 2 weeks of IA’s notification that its investigation is complete, but the board sometimes misses the deadline when a high- profile case takes precedence or it proves impossible to find three board members who can assemble within that 2-week period. • The Minneapolis ordinance requires the Citizen Police Review Authority to complete a preliminary review within 30 days after a citizen has signed a complaint and complete an investigation within 120 days of the signing, with a 60-day extension allowed in rare circumstances. CRA has never missed a deadline because the police union then might argue to have the case dismissed. • As of January 1, 1998, a new provi- sion in the California Government Code requires the Office of Citizen Complaints to conclude investiga- tions of complaints and make findings within a year of filing, absent exceptional circumstances. Some oversight bodies establish internal rules for completing cases. However, according to one activist, “Establishing hard deadlines without adequate money for staff is a setup for failure.” EXHIBIT 5–4. NUMBER OF DAYS EACH OF 10 COMPLAINTS REMAINED AT 3 SAN JOSE POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFICES Patricia Hughes, executive director of Minneapolis’ Citizen Police Review Authority, came up with the idea of plea bargaining cases through a stipulation procedure that decreased the need for hearings dra- matically, thereby reducing delays for other cases. Total Length of Investigation and Case IA Other Bureau Chief Administrative Review (days) 1 582 259 37 878 2 591 57 68 716 3 310 118 105 533 4 230 154 64 448 5 56 41 342 439 6 94 177 163 434 7 176 259 173 608 8 228 136 181 545 9 43 301 139 483 10 125 74 152 351