Livingston, Deborah

This 23-page paper by Deborah Livingston, a law professor at Columbia University and a member of New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board was delivered at the 2002 NACOLE conference. It defines four critical dimensions of oversight beyond merely addressing the specifics of one complaint: Holding officers accountable for misconduct; recognizing complaints as vital sources of information about a department; identifying patterns and problems related to policies or supervision rather than misconduct; building public trust and community cohesion through patient listening to all complaint parties.