Item B: Annual Meeting with Police Commission

Home Browse Search

commission agreed to scale-back activities associated with this item. A small task group formed to ascertain if any practical improvements to police policy or procedures could be made to provide better response to domestic violence incidents in the short-term. The team met with representatives from WomenSpace, the Child Advocacy Center, the District Attorney’s Office and the EPD violent crimes unit to discuss the current policy and share ideas for procedural improvements. No major policy deficits were found; however, the committee has compiled preliminary recommendations addressing training, equipment and procedural changes. It should be noted that the committee embarked on this review concurrent with Lane County budget forecasts that projected devastating program cuts.It is likely that the financial instability of key stakeholders impacted their participation in this project as service improvements seemed an unlikely outcome. Due to work load constraints, the commission was unable to schedule a work session to determine how alcohol-related calls for service impact police department resources and service delivery to the public. Of on-going interest is whether changes to the Special Response Fee ordinance would effectively reduce the number of such calls. The Police Commission remains committed to being involved in future conversations on this topic, possibly as part of the broader conversation on the police staffing initiative.The group had also planned to examine police policies relevant to the complaint handling process that were modified to incorporate the roles of the Auditor’s Office and Civilian Review Board. These policy changes are a subject of bargaining, currently underway. When available, these policies will be treated as a priority item for commission attention. III. Work Plan Adjustments In response to community concerns about the tragic incident involving a police confrontation with a mentally ill person in crisis, Police Commission leadership scheduled a work session on use of deadly force policies and procedures.Following the work session, the commission passed two motions for future action on this topic. The first supported an advanced timeline for the department to explore Tasers as a new less lethal weapon and the commission’s involvement in policy development to establish Tasers at the appropriate level of force. The second motion was for the commission to review options for advanced training and best practices for dealing with people experiencing mental health crises. The first motion was considered an extension of the commission’s planned policy review work around use of force policies. However, it was recognized that thorough deliberations on a new Taser policy and consideration of associated public comments was a substantial undertaking not previously anticipated when the work plan was adopted. The second motion represented was an entirely new project requiring re-balancing of work plan priorities as mentioned earlier. Fortunately, neither the police manual update nor the complaint handling policy modification projects were initiated, enablingsignificant progress on these new items. Page 4 of 8 2007 Police Commission Annual Report