Resources For Civilian Oversight

Links and Resources For Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement

American Civil Liberties Union www.aclu.org

The ACLU's Website includes their index on police practices materials, and links to other police practice websites.

American Friends Service Committee www.afsc.org

AFSC monitors the US Mexican Border for abuse allegations. Website includes data on immigrant fatalities, and federal and local law enforcement interactions with migrants.

Amnesty International www.amnesty.org

Amnesty International is an agency dedicated to the protection of human rights throughout the world. Their concerns include accountable policing; they publish periodic reports on human rights and policing.

Best Practices In Police Accountability http://www.unomaha.edu/criminaljustice/walker.php

This is the website of Dr. Sam Walker, Professor Emeritus, Criminal Justice Department, University of Nebraska, Omaha. Includes invaluable Mediation Manual, among other resources.

Investigating Citizen Complaints is Different: The Special Challenges of Investigating
Citizen Complaints Against Police Officers - By Jayson Wechter

This report is designed to initiate discussion and policy development related to the
investigation of citizen complaints against police officers. As this report argues,

citizen complaints are different from complaints or allegations in other areas of life.

This report discusses those differences and suggests several
ways in which complaint investigations can be improved.

This report is one of a series of reports and policy papers sponsored and published by the
Police Professionalism Initiative (PPI) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Professor
Samuel Walker is the Coordinator of the PPI.

Jayson Wechter, a licensed Private Investigator for over twenty-five years and a Certified
Legal Investigator, campaigned for and helped establish the San Francisco Office of Citizen
Complaints (OCC), where he worked as a supervising investigator during its first year of
operation, from 1983 to 1984. In 1998 he returned to the OCC, where he has investigated
officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths (among many other cases), coordinated
monitoring of police crowd-control activities and written policy recommendations
concerning officer-involved shootings. While in private practice, he specialized in civil and
criminal defense investigations and internal personnel investigations for government
agencies, corporations and city managers. He can be contacted at 415-664-3900, or by email
at Jayson@well.com.

“Bias Based Policing”

Ronald L. Davis, 2001, Regional Vice President of NOBLE (the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives) authored this paper which discusses racial profiling as an symptom of bias-based policing.

This paper is important for the issues it raises, and the false solutions it asks us to avoid. It is useful as both a training document and as an organizational planning document. A copy is available at NACOLE.org

British Police Complaints Authority

Go to www.pca.gov.uk

CACOLE: The Canadian Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement www.cacole.ca

NACOLE's sister organization to the north.

Civilian Oversight of Police in the US. Merrick Bobb, 2003.

This important paper includes the history of policing and police reform in the United States and explores approaches to civilian oversight, including independent monitors, civilian review boards and "pattern or practice" consent decrees.

Mr. Bobb's article first appeared in the Saint Louis University Public Law Review, Volume XXII, Number one, 2003. Access it though the website for Police Assessment and Resource Center; download it using this internet address: http://parc.info/pubs/pdf/SLUmerrickpaper.pdf

Edge of the Knife, Police Violence in the Americas

Paul Chevigny, 1995, includes chapters New York City; Los Angeles City and County. Analyses police management, misconduct and civilian oversight in the US and places them in the context of policing in western hemisphere.

This book remains a tutoring document for police reform in the US and the rest of the Americas. Its especially useful concluding chapter suggests a tri-part oversight system could be most effective (fair internal affairs unit; external citizen complaint oversight and Inspector General-type process with ability to compel information and require policy change), and that real progress requires both internal and external oversight.

“Fighting Police Abuse”

American Civil Liberties Union, Manual; available in English and Spanish:

English: http://www.aclu.org/library/fighting_police_abuse.html

Spanish: http://aclu.org/library/police_abuse_spanish.pdf

Guidelines for Investigating Allegations of Racial Discrimination

The British Police Complaints Authority’s model for investigating race-related complaints.

Go to www.pca.gov.uk

It is under "New Items" in the upper right hand corner.

Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org/

Like Amnesty, Human Rights Watch is dedicated to monitoring human rights issues throughout the world; their reports periodically examine police conduct.

Investigation, Monitoring and Review of Complaints: A Practitioner’s Guidelines, NACOLE Conference, 1999

Obtain this document on the NACOLE website,

NACOLE.org

Jail Suicide/Mental Health Update www.ncianet.org/ncia

A resource for any group overseeing/monitoring jail conditions and complaints. Contact staff for explicit models of

- jail suicide investigations;

- jail suicide prevention policies and

- assessment protocols for determining the adequacy of jail mental health programs / policies.

Lindsey Hayes, Project Director, Nat. Center on Institutions and Alternatives,

40 Lantern Lane, Mansfield, Mass. 02048. 508-337-8806; Fax 508-337-3083

email: lhayesta@aol.com

Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman www.policeombudsman.org/

This office, established in 1998, provides independent, impartial complaint investigation for citizens and police.

As Northern Ireland has dealt with political terrorism for much of the last century, this office is a significant resource to those in the US grappling with policing oversight issues since the September 11 attack. See Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan’s 2002 Keynote Address, “Independent Investigation into Police Conduct in an Environment of Terrorism,” at

www.Nacole.org

Police Accountability: The Role of Citizen Oversight, 2000, and

The New World of Police Accountability, 2005

Samuel Walker, Ph. D.

Both Dr. Walker’s books belong in the libraries of all persons and jurisdiction considering or conducting oversight. The books outline the different models and identifying what model will be most appropriate for its needs. The varieties of oversight are outlined, information rich in resources is provided.

Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC)

Merrick Bobb, President

Mr. Bobb is the leading expert on police accountability in the U.S. He has taught, led and given tirelessly to those working to establish accountable policing through credible, thorough and respectful oversight of law enforcement, both internal and external.

PARC assists those involved in police management and oversight, including monitors, inspectors general, police commissions, civilian review boards, police chiefs, heads of IA and heads of risk management units, on all aspects of police accountability, systems to measure and enhance accountability, risk management, improving the integrity of internal investigations, and how to monitor and evaluate a police department.

Subscribe PARC’s monthly publication, “Best Practices Review” at

www.parc.info

One of PARC's most substantial assignments is to assist Special Counsel to Los Angeles County in monitoring the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD). Special Counsel issues semiannual reports on the progress of reforms in LASD.

These reports can be extremely useful to other jurisdictions and others studying police reforms; they provide model analyses that identify problem conditions in a law enforcement agency; suggest solutions; monitor and evaluate implementation. They include invaluable risk management analyses.The list below indicates topics discussed in each report.

First Semiannual Report, October 1993

· Shootings and other Serious Force;

· Force Training;

· Civil Litigation;

· Accountability;

· Training;

· Personnel Issues / Affirmative Action; Recruiting; Career Resources;

· Canines;

· Ombudsman and Judges’ Panel.

Second Semiannual Report, April 1994

· Accountability and Evaluation;

· The Deputy;

· Review of Shootings and Serious Force

· Litigation;

· Canines;

· Citizen Complaints;

· Personnel Performance Index (PPI) Tracking System;

· Civil Service Commission;

· Ombudsman and Judges’ Panel;

· Training;

· Field Training Officers: Selection and Field Training;

· Ombudsman and Sexual Harassment;

· Diversity;

· Psychological Services.

Third Semiannual Report, December 1994

· Litigation;

· Review of Shootings and Serious Force;

· Recruiting and Hiring;

· Documenting Use of Force and Complaints;

· Status of Women in the Department;

· Data Integrity and Reporting;

· Accountability;

· Ombudsman and Judges’ Panel;

· Canines;

· Civil Service;

· Field Training;

· Psychological Services.

Fourth Semiannual Report, June 1995

· Litigation;

· Force Investigation & Discipline;

· Investigating Serious Force Incidents

· Command Accountability;

· Canines;

· Recruitment & Hiring;

· Status of Women in Dept.;

· Advocacy and Civil Services;

· Citizen Complaints and Ombudsman

Fifth Semiannual Report, Februry 1996

· Jails;

· Women and Minorities;

· Field Training Officer Program;

· Recruiting and Hiring;

· Litigation and Risk Management;

· Analysis of Shootings and Serious Force;

· Force Training;

· Canines.

Sixth Semiannual Report, September 1996

· County Jail System;

· Getting Numbers Straight;

· Audit of Force Review Packages;

· Force Tracking and Performance Plans;

· Areas of Progress;

· Gender Equity;

· Sexual Orientation;

· Recruiting, Selection, Training and Hiring.

Seventh Semiannual Report, April 1997

· County Jail System;

· Force Investigation and Discipline;

· Litigation and Risk Management;

· Off-Duty Incidents;

· Promotions to Sergeant;

· Gender Issues;

· Headstrikes;

· Data Integrity.

Eight Semiannual Report, October 1997

· Mental Health Issues;

· Automation in Jails;

· Inmate Reception System;

· Data Analysis.

Ninth Semiannual Report, June 1998

· Century Station: Force & Complaints

· Jails;

· Promotions to Sergeant Revisited;

· Gender Equity;

· Analysis of LASD Litigation;

· Force Training;

· Canines and Containments.

Tenth Semiannual Report, February 1999

Special Report welcoming Sheriff Lee Baca. Report outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the Department Sheriff Baca inherited from the late Sheriff Sherman Block; indicates the state of current reforms and forecasts future challenges.

Eleventh Semiannual Report, October 1999

· Sexual Harassment, its costs and attempts to curtail it;

· Retention of personnel;

· Use of Force Trainings;

· Canine Use and

· Litigation.

Twelfth Semiannual Report, June 2000

· Implementation of Community Oriented Policing (COPs); analysis of COPs’ mission, policies, supervision and accountability;

· Fighting Corruption in a Law Enforcement Department;

· Canine Use, including bite analyses and liability issues.

Thirteenth Semiannual Report, December 2000

· Shootings and other Uses of Force;

· Corruption Controls and Risk Management;

· Medical Care in the Jails;

· Sexual Harassment;

· Racial Profiling and

· Litigation.

Fourteenth Semiannual Report, October 2001,

· Analysis of Kevin Evans’ death following use of four point restraints by jailers;

· New Office of Independent Review, involving civilians in internal investigations;

· Officer-involved shootings and other uses of force and

· Litigation arising from activities of LASD.

Download a PDF version [2.1 MB / 104 pages]

Special Report Kevin Evans

Fifteenth Semiannual Report, July 2002.

· Analysis of officer-involved shootings in one inner city precinct;

· Analysis of officer performance review system;

· Risk Management and litigation;

· Canine deployment and less harmful alternatives.

Download a PDF version [395 KB / 118 pages]

Sixteenth Semiannual Report, February, 2003.

· Avoiding officer-involved shootings with better tactics, training or strategy;

· Personnel Performance Index (PPI), an Early Warning System for tracking force, complaints and other information;

· Using PPI: an force analysis application;

· PPI compared to other early warning systems;

· Tactical firearms training.

Download a PDF version [334 KB / 117 pages]

Seventeenth Semiannual Report, November, 2003

· Use of Force and Inmate Violence in Custodial Institutions; Trends, Management and Training

· Facilities Automated Tracking System

· Inmate Reception Center: Overdetentions; Early releases; Uses of Force

Download a PDF version at PARC.info

Eighteenth Semiannual Report, August, 2004

· Canine Services Detail

· Inmate violence; recent improvements/developments in force training;

· Laser Village; LASD’s tactical firearms training unit;

LASD’s early warning system, Personnel Performance Index (PPI) that tracks, among other things, officers’ uses of force; citizens’ complaints and administrative investigation of alleged misconduct.

Download a PDF version [177 KB / 67 pages]

Nineteenth Semiannual Report (LASD), February 2005

· Foot pursuits.

· Risk management in the LASD.

· Strip searches.

Download a PDF version at PARC.info

Principles for Promoting Police Integrity

US Department of Justice, 2001, includes Appendix with examples of Promising Police Practices and Policies.

This document outlines what is needed in force policies, complaint investigations, accountability systems and effective police management. The Appendix identifies policies worth adopting/adapting on topics such as general force applications; positional asphyxia; pepper spray; canine use; citizen complaints; meaningful civilian oversight and traffic stop data collection. Obtain from National Criminal Justice Reference Service at 1-800-851-3420 or on line at http://www.NCJRS.org

Professional Standards & Conduct Unit, Investigative Procedures and Guidelines

San Jose, California’s Independent Police Auditor

This forty-page manual provides a template for monitoring Internal Affairs Investigations. Contact San Jose Independent Police Auditor at www.ci.san-jose.ca.us/ipa/home.html

Recruiting and Retaining Women: a Self-Assessment Guide for Law Enforcement

The National Center for Women and Policing has produced a resource manual that will be helpful to all jurisdictions. Based on documentation that shows women police have significantly fewer force complaints and are generally able to de-escalate incidents safely, this guide outlines the advantages of hiring and promoting and retaining more women in law enforcement, then provides the tools to do it. From developing job descriptions to evaluating promotional and mentoring processes, and dealing with discrimination, it’s all here.

If you monitor or participate in any way in your law enforcement agency’s hiring and promotional processes, read this document and share it with department administrators. Obtain it through the National Center for Women and Policing at womencops@aol.com

A Student’s Guide to Police Practices

This booklet is an invaluable guide to students, young adults, police officers, teachers, community leaders and other interested citizens. It outlines the rights and responsibilities of citizens and police. Originally published in San Jose, California, it can be adopted and/ or amended to meet the needs and specifics of any jurisdiction.

Download a pdf copy at nacole.org

Varieties of Civilian Oversight: Similarities, Differences and Expectations,

NACOLE Conference, 2000

Obtain this document on the NACOLE website,

NACOLE.org

Vera Institute of Justice has a Policing Component, and numerous useful publications. Visit www.vera.org