Document of Interest Provided By Councilmember Hamann on Civilian Review Boards

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For community policing to be effective, the integri- ty of the agency and the community’s trust in it are critical. The CRB [Citizen Review Board] con- tributes to the trust because nonsworn citizens are involved in reviewing the agency. —Kevin Beary, Orange County (Florida) Sheriff 4. Improve the quality of the department’s internal inves- tigations of alleged misconduct. The board has improved our professional standards’ investigative reports because investigators get dressed down and embarrassed at hearings for any sloppiness, such as drawing conclusions on flimsy evidence. As a result, if there is any litigation on the complaint, the report will enhance the agency’s position. —Capt. Melvin Sears, Orange County Sheriff’s Office adminis- trative coordinator to the Citizen Review Board Informally in discussions after hearings and in the questions board members ask of PSD [professional standards division] investigators during hearings, [board] members have made observations about deficien- cies in the investigators’ reports that have resulted in improved reporting. For example, board mem- bers kept objecting to the way officers and investi- gators included opinions in their reports, rather than just the facts. —Maj. Karon LaForte, Orange County Sheriff’s Office IA commander Investigators do a better job investigating cases because they know that PIIAC [Police Internal Investigations Auditing Committee] will be looking at their work product, so they are less likely to take shortcuts in their research and reporting than in the past. —Charles Moose, former Chief, Portland Police Bureau 5. Help reassure the public that the department already investigates citizen complaints thoroughly and fairly. Even when the department is capable of imposing appropriate discipline without citizen review, an oversight procedure can reassure skeptical citizens that the agency is doing its job in this respect. —Douglas Perez, former Deputy Sheriff, Professor, Plattsburgh (New York) State University 6. Help some subject officers feel vindicated. The St. Paul oversight board exonerated an officer after a citi- zen complained about an allegedly offensive remark the officer had made to a block party. When the officer and Donald Luna, the board chair, happened to meet at a graduation ceremony, the officer said: I want to thank you for the letter to the chief. I’d put in a lot of time and felt I had deescalated a tense situa- tion. I couldn’t believe there had been a complaint; I felt I deserved an award. I felt the commission understood me. 7. Help discourage misconduct (see below). If I live a normal lifespan, I’m a citizen longer than I’m a cop, so I want a system of checks and balances to help prevent police misconduct. —Trevor Hampton, former Chief, Flint Police Department 8. Improve the department’s policies and procedures (see chapter 3, “Other Oversight Responsibilities”). Potential benefits to elected and appointed officials By establishing or improving a citizen oversight mecha- nism, local officials can demonstrate their concern to eliminate police misconduct—or publicize a department’s existing exemplary police behavior. Officials may also be able to reduce the number of civil lawsuits (or successful suits) against the city or county or the dollar value of successful awards. These suits can be expensive.6 During C HAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 10 Investigators do a better job investigating cases because they know that PIIAC will be looking at their work product. —Charles Moose, former Chief, Portland Police Bureau