Document of Interest Provided By Councilmember Hamann on Civilian Review Boards

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C HAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 14 SUPPLEMENTS TO CITIZEN OVERSIGHT* Several other procedures for maintaining citizen oversight of law enforcement agencies can supplement a citizen review process. One or more of the alternatives listed below can also substitute for citizen review in certain cases of alleged police misconduct. Legislative Control Legislatures can monitor police behavior through investigations, appropriations pressure, oversight committees, and other means. Civil Litigation Complainants may sue police officers in State court and seek common law tort remedies.They may also sue in Federal court for violations of Federal civil rights. Criminal Prosecution Prosecutors at the local, State, and Federal levels can apply applicable criminal statutes to situations involving alleged police misconduct. Federal Government Suits Under a 1994 law, prosecutors may seek changes in the operations of local police departments in Federal courts. Suits by the U.S. Department of Justice can require reform through court-approved agreements in which police departments agree to change the way they track and handle citizen complaints and disciplinary decisions or by installing a Federal monitor to oversee the department’s activities in these areas. Supervisor Accountability There are several internal actions police and sheriff’s departments can take, if needed, that may make a significant difference in helping to prevent police misconduct, including effective applicant screening, recruit and inservice training, peer review, and, perhaps most important, leadership training. Lt. Bret Lindback with the Minneapolis Police Department emphasizes that chiefs and sheriffs should be given funding to provide: the best leadership training you can find to make supervisors and managers accountable for what their guys do on the street....You need to train them to tell line officers,“You don’t do that [misconduct, discourtesy] on my watch.” A week’s training when you get your sergeant’s bar isn’t enough.You need ongoing training, two or four times a year, to build good leadership skills. Mary Dunlap, director of San Francisco’s Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC), agrees: We need to review higher-ups’ behavior to produce accountability among line officers. Otherwise, the beat officer gets scrutinized and the supervisors are never held accountable, never called to account. * For a more complete discussion of the alternatives, see Perez, Douglas W.,Common Sense About Police Review,Philadelphia:Temple University Press, 1994: 48–63.