Frequently Asked Questions

What Does NACOLE Do?
NACOLE provides communication to the oversight community and other interested persons through newsletters [NACOLE Review editions]; conferences; trainings, news and academic article dissemination.

NACOLE Conferences are venues where critical issues in police accountability are addressed. Equally important, the conferences give the oversight community the chance to come together and connect in "real time and space." [Highlights of past Conferences]

NACOLE holds an annual conference each autumn. Check this website for future conference dates, program, place and registration.

Why Belong?
In NACOLE, we listen to one another and learn in order to foster change and improved relationships between citizens and police. We strategize ways to shape the police accountability dialogue in our communities. We attempt to model the behavior we seek in our law enforcement agencies.

If you are a civilian oversight professional, NACOLE is the only place you can network with peers. If you are an appointee to an oversight Board or Commission, NACOLE is where you can learn about the varieties of oversight in the United States, and the place your jurisdiction holds among the varieties of oversight processes in the U.S. If you are an individual who wants to see effective oversight developed in your community, here's where you get started figuring what has to be done, and developing strategies to do it.

The oversight community eagerly shares information about what works and what hasn't worked in various jurisdictions. No jurisdiction needs to invent wheels to move its oversight process. As the field of oversight grows, a large body of resource material is being constructed throughout the U.S. NACOLE is a resource repository.

Participation in NACOLE brings information, and the ability to share your local information with the national oversight community. It allows one jurisdiction to draw from the work of many jurisdictions. It's how we stand on one another's shoulders and we maximize what we collectively can accomplish.

Who Joins NACOLE?
Oversight agencies, their members and staffs.
Persons who want to start oversight in their communities.
Persons who support the work of NACOLE.

How Do I Join?
If you support the issues we address in this website, we invite your membership and look forward to getting to know you. You can find out Membership Categories and a NACOLE Application online.