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 79 apologized for the mistake and sat down and talked with the children so they would not be scarred by the experience to always be afraid of police officers. • Just as mediation can give complainants an understand- ing of police behavior, some officers can benefit from learning the reasons citizens behave they way they do. For example, officers may learn that the only thing that upset the citizen was not immediately being given an explanation for why he or she was detained. As a result, mediation can enable some officers to learn what they can do differently that may reduce friction with the public. Mediation may also benefit the community at large. According to Andrew Thomas, executive director of the organization that operates the Rochester Civilian Review Board: Since IA and the Civilian Review Board both fail to sustain allegations in so many cases, it is important to move beyond assessing guilt or inno- cence in cases of alleged police misconduct to building a better understanding among citizens of what officers do and why they do it. If citizens gain an understanding about an individual offi- cer’s behavior, they may begin to understand all officers’ behavior better. Furthermore, if mediation results in improvements in officer conduct, the entire community benefits. Finally, mediation saves taxpayers the expense of an investigation and a hearing, or at least enables oversight and internal affairs staff to devote more time to more serious cases or reduce their backlog of cases. MEDIATION IS NOT ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL A woman filed a complaint with an oversight body because an off-duty officer checking ID cards at the door of a night club had confiscated her driver’s license. He concluded it was fake because the woman could not identify the color of her eyes or the address listed on the card. Without the card, the woman was unable to pick up her dis- ability check the next day. As a result, the woman filed a complaint. She wanted an apology and her license back. After introductions, the complainant explained why she felt the officer had treated her disrespectfully by not believing the license was hers and, in general,“giving me a tough time” trying to enter the club. She said she wanted her license back. (The mediators felt she looked young enough to have possibly been underage.) The officer talked for 3 minutes, saying that he was doing his job and was convinced that the ID was fake because the photo did not match the woman. He turned the ID in to the police department because it was standard procedure, and he no longer had the authority to retrieve it for her. The mediators rephrased both their statements; for example, noting to the woman,“It’s very important to you to get your license back.” The woman explained that she had been caught up in the Department of Motor Vehicles bureaucracy trying to get it back, and began to cry. The mediators caucused, taking her in the hallway to give her a chance to calm down and telling her,“We understand that this was very upsetting for you.” Back in the meeting, the mediators asked the parties what they wanted to happen to have a satisfactory settle- ment. The woman repeated that the officer did not need to treat her the way he did and that she wanted her license back. The officer said again that he could do nothing about retrieving the license. The mediators then caucused with the officer, who repeated that, because the ID was clearly fake, he would not apologize and he was justified in seizing it. Upon returning to the meeting, the woman became teary again and asked to end the mediation. Everyone stood up, the mediators thanked the parties for coming, and the officer and woman left.