Item B: Meeting w/Police Comm. - Laserfiche WebLink

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Police Complaint System and Civilian Oversight Recommendations III. Research and Community Values Even before the work plan was approved, the commission began two efforts to jumpstart the information gathering phase of the project. An extensive literature review was initiated to collect current information on best practices and issues surrounding police complaint systems. A binder of written material on police oversight was compiled and provided to commissioners, including the 1998 External Review Advisory Committee (ERAC) report. This information was also posted on-line with links to the material where available, and a binder was placed in the library to facilitate public access to this information. See Attachment A for the commission's research material list. Also beginning in June 2004, a series of community forums were conducted to solicit public input on perceived barriers to lodging a complaint against the police, expectations for a model complaint system, and suggestions for improvements to the process. Specifically, participants were asked these questions: · What, if anything, wouldpreventyoufromfiling a complaint with thepolice department? · If you havefiled a complaint in the past, what was your experience like? If you have not, what would you expect from the process? · What ways can you think of that would improve the complaintprocess? Community members were also encouraged to share comments by email or phone. All comments were captured, summarized and provided to the commission to help identify the key issues and community values to be addressed. See Attachment B for the list of public input sessions and commentary. In November, several commissioners attended police in-service training sessions to gather employees' perceptions about the current complaint system and ideas for improvements. These sessions provided useful suggestions and insights from officers and helped assure EPD personnel that the commission was considering the needs of both officers and civilians in its process. In addition to the public forums, the commission began reviewing existing policies and practices used in the complaint process. Staff presentations on internal affairs procedures, complaint investigations, and city disciplinary processes were delivered. Commissioners Bettman and Laue attended the National Association for Civilian Oversight in Law Enforcement conference to collect information on different law enforcement complaint processes in place and learn first- hand about the successes and challenges of these models. The conference also afforded an opportunity to build relationships and network with others who are involved in this work. A crucial portion of the background information received was the report "Review of National Police Oversight Models." A contract was signed with the Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC) to conduct a national review of civilian oversight models for jurisdictions that are comparable to Eugene and to develop recommendations on models that might be a good fit for our community. Two public presentations of the PARC report were delivered in February 2005. The report reviewed thirty different oversight systems, grouping them into three broad