Document of Interest Provided By Councilmember Hamann on Civilian Review Boards

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• Troubled in part by fatal shootings by Albuquerque police officers (31 in 10 years) and extremely high annual payments for tort claims involving police offi- cers (up to $2.5 million per year), the Albuquerque city council hired two consultants in 1996 to evaluate the city’s existing oversight system and recommend alternatives.9 Potential benefits to the community at large Citizen oversight can benefit the entire community, not just individual complainants. Oversight can: 1. Help to reassure the community that appropriate discipline is being imposed. Even when departments are doing a top-notch job disciplining errant officers, the public may lack confidence in the process. An oversight proce- dure that provides citizens with a window into how the department operates can change the opinion of these concerned citizens. 2. Help discourage police misconduct. While there is no empirical evidence that oversight bodies can deter police misconduct,10 there are three ways in which citizen review may help encourage officers to act appropriately. • When oversight bodies recommend that an officer be retrained, the officer may learn how to avoid the type of behavior that led to the citizen complaint. • When police and sheriff’s departments adopt policy and procedure changes that oversight bodies recom- mend, officers may have a better understanding regarding how they should perform their job. • Oversight bodies may discourage some officers from engaging in misconduct by reducing their chances for promotion. I was nervous about whether a sustained case might hamper my promotion to lieutenant. The chief had made it plain that an officer with sustained com- plaints would not be looked at as favorably for pro- motion as officers with no or fewer complaints. If you look at the people he’s passed over, you can see that the officers with complaints have been passed over. —a lieutenant The [review] board influences assignments to [desirable] details. We have supervisors in units now who don’t want “cowboys” in their units, so officers with complaints could get passed over. —an officer 3. Increase public understanding of police policies, procedures, and behavior. Complainants learn about police procedures from oversight investigators, board members, and officers during mediation. Board members themselves become better educated about police procedures and can share their understanding with other members of the community. Finally, by holding special public hearings, oversight bodies may be able to defuse tense community conflicts, channeling anger into constructive solutions. Berkeley’s charter requires the Police Review Commission (PRC) to hold hearings at the request of board members or voters. PRC held a special public hearing after University of California police officers were accused of using exces- sive force against students during a campus demonstration. Although contentious, the meeting resulted in recommen- dations regarding officer conduct during demonstrations— several of which the department implemented—to help prevent future discord. Limitations to Citizen Review As summarized in exhibit 1–3, citizen oversight has several inherent and potential limitations. Citizen oversight systems need to be part of a larger structure of internal and external police accountability; by itself, citizen oversight cannot ensure that police will act responsibly. An evaluation of New York City’s over- sight system concluded, “In general, civilian complaint review procedures appear to be a necessary but insufficient component of the [New York City Police] Department’s approach to controlling officer misconduct.”11 “Supplements C HAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 12 Citizen oversight systems need to be part of a larger structure of internal and external police accountability.