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 117 each police academy to explain to recruits how to stay out of trouble and what the citizen review process is. Hughes presents eight sustained cases that have come before CRA, asking the recruits what they would do in each situation. She com- pares their responses with what the police officers actually did in the situations. An example of a case Hughes presents is described below. After several squad cars responded to a gang shooting, the last officer to arrive saw a male in the back of a cruiser; the officer pointed his flashlight at the man, and the man made an obscene gesture to the officer. “What would you do?” Hughes asks. After getting the recruits’ responses, Hughes continues. “The officer walked around the car, opened the door, and punched him. Later, he learned that the other officers had stowed the man in the cruiser because the person had witnessed the shooting and was terrified he would be retaliated against if the gang members knew he was going to testi- fy. So, the man overreacted when the officer made him visible with his flashlight.” Hughes then explains how citizens feel when officers engage in misconduct. — According to Orange County Deputy Patrick Reilly, “All deputies know the [Citizen Review] Board [CRB] exists—it is discussed in the acade- my and during supervisor tests.” In addition, CRB is the subject of an entire general order dated August 7, 1997, that begins, “The purpose of this policy is to ensure all agency employees are aware of the Orange County Citizen Review Board (CRB).” After describing the board’s composition, the bulletin goes on to observe, “All agency employees shall appear before the CRB when for- mally notified in writing. Failure to appear may result in disciplinary action.” Other departments have gone out of their way to show good faith in working with their oversight systems. • Lt. Robert Skomra, former commander of the Minneapolis Police Department’s IA unit, on his own initiative, went to every Civilian Police Review Authority meeting, bringing a different IA investigator with him each time. “You can’t tell people [i.e., CRA] you’re a valuable asset unless you go in person.” • Robert Duffy, when he became chief of the Rochester Police Department, came to a meeting in which his IA investigators were training Civilian Review Board members to introduce himself and to explain how valuable the board’s work was to the department. Working With the Union The local officers’ union can be more important than the chief or sheriff—and have different concerns than the chief or sheriff—in making sure citizen oversight func- tions properly. The union can challenge the process in the courts, influence line officers to cooperate with or hamper the procedure, and expedite or delay proceedings when it represents subject officers during interviews and hearings. It is therefore crucial for oversight planners, staff, and volunteers to address union concerns about the review process. Historical conflict between most police unions and citizen oversight bodies Most police unions have traditionally opposed citizen oversight—often successfully—through litigation or lob- bying. In one jurisdiction, the union asked city council members to vote against renewing the appointment of a board member who had had the highest rate of recom- mendations for sustaining complaints. However, police unions have increasingly been unable to defeat citizen review proposals. In some jurisdictions, unions have either chosen not to oppose oversight pro- posals or even supported them. Opposition has declined in part because leaders have decided that a review system was inevitable and because, as one union president said, “We’re not getting gored by it.” According to a union treasurer in another city, “If there had been no sworn [officers] on the board, the union would have opposed it. But we knew we could not litigate it—oversight was inevitable—so we wanted to make the best of what could have been a bad situation.” (See “Not All Police Unions Have Opposed Citizen Oversight.”)