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 123 Chapter 7: Monitoring, Evaluation, and Funding Some programs can flourish without any evidence of effectiveness simply because they are seen as politically useful. Certainly, oversight systems can fall into this cat- egory. However, most of the time securing adequate funding for a program depends at least in part on being able to document that it is achieving its objectives. Documenting success in turn can be done only if program activities are closely monitored. This chapter suggests methods of monitoring and evaluating citizen oversight as a prelude to discussing funding issues. KEY POINTS • To justify their funding, oversight bodies need to be able to document their effectiveness.To do so they need to collect monitoring data. • Efforts to monitor oversight bodies should address: — The simplicity, speed, and courteousness of the intake process. — The quality of investigators’ work product. — The performance of board members. • To evaluate the effectiveness of an oversight system, it first is necessary to establish the objectives the procedure is designed to achieve—something few oversight planners have done. • Comprehensive evaluations of citizen review have been rare. However, an evaluation of Albuquerque’s oversight mechanisms is a good example of a thorough assessment. • Jurisdictions can implement inexpensive “customer satisfaction” surveys that can suggest how the oversight process may be improved. • Jurisdictions need to fund their oversight procedures adequately to make sure the mechanisms are effective and respected. • Funding for oversight ranges from $20,000 (e.g., because the effort is run almost entirely by volunteers) to more than $2 million. Determining funding levels depends on the activities the oversight system will undertake and several other considerations. • There is an inconsistent relationship between the type of oversight system and cost, although costs are generally higher when oversight involves investigating citizen complaints. • It is difficult to predict oversight costs before determining what the system’s features and activities will be. • Although more money may not buy more oversight activity, an underfunded procedure may be doomed to failure—and may create more controversy around police accountability than it resolves.