Item B: FY07 Police Commission Work Plan

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In May, a memo was sent to the City Council describing four recommendations, three of which reiterated strategies contained in the original downtown safety plan. The fourth recommendation was a new strategy recognizing a growing interest among downtown stakeholders to utilize security cameras as a cost-effective safety measure. III. Civilian Oversight Model Implementation A. Planned Activities After presenting its civilian oversight recommendations to the City Council in July 2005, the commission’s work on this project was on hold pending the outcome of the November election. The commission took advantage of this lull in activity to convene a joint task team to develop recommendations on the role of mediation and advocacy in the new complaint system, an activity reflected in its oversight recommendations and contained in its FY06 work plan. The Mediation and Advocacy Task Team (MATT), consisting of members of both the Police and Human Rights Commissions and mediation practitioners, was charged with: evaluating the city’s existing mediation program and reviewing other programs in place nationally, using this information to develop recommendations to optimize the use of alternative methods of resolving complaints against police employees; and identifying key issues and developing options or recommendations for addressing the issues areas; drafting a report to both the Police and Human Rights Commissionsthat if accepted, could be forwarded to the Police Auditor as a framework for future program redesign. After several months of model research and discussion of the key issues identified, MATT released a draft report and presented an overview of its preliminary findings to the Human Rights Commission in March. The report expressed appreciation to the Human Rights Program for initiating and maintaining the existing program, which has had many successful complaint resolutions over the years. As such, many of MATT’s recommendations formalize current practices or clarify procedures to improve consistency. Recommendations for change were largely based on a review of model programs and/or were framed as suggestions for consideration upon resolution of other aspects of the complaint process. Some key recommendations included: retaining both a mediation and facilitated conversation as voluntary alternative complaint resolution options, but clarifying the distinction between the two processes; establishing broader case eligibility standards so that with the exception of a few categorical exclusions, complaints would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to determine where mediation would offer the best chance of a satisfactory resolution to both parties; contracting for professional mediation services and providing compensation for those services to elevate perceptions that the process is credible, neutral and safe; case assignment, coordination, and program evaluation is proposed to occur through the Auditor’s Office; and recognizing that getting both parties to agree to mediation is often the greatest barrier to a successful program, MATT recommended several incentives for participation to incorporate into program design. Page 4 of 7 2006 Police Commission Annual Report