Item B: Police Auditor/Civilian Review Board Update

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ATTACHMENT B Civilian Review Board Norton Cabell, Chair 777 Pearl, Room 105 Kate Wilkinson, Vice Chair Eugene, Oregon 97401 Munir Katul (541) 682-5005 Anne-Marie Lemire (541) 682-5414 FAX Richard Brissendon www.eugene-or.gov Civilian Review Board Report To City Council January – September 2008 The goal of the CRB, under Eugene City ordinance, is to “increase the transparency of, and public confidence in, the police complaint process.”We do that by (1) evaluating the work of the Auditor, (2) reviewing selected completed complaint investigations,(3) reviewing trends and statistics regarding complaints,and (4) providing a forum for the expression of community concerns about specific incidents. Evaluating the Police Auditor: We began discussions this past spring, assisted by Alana Holmes of the City’s Human Resources Department, regarding a process for reviewing the work of the Auditor. However, that came to a halt once former auditor Cris Beamud announced her resignation. We, both the CRB and the community, were fortunate that we already had Dawn Reynolds on board as Deputy Auditor. The Council has since appointed her as the Interim Police Auditor. While the Board members certainly miss Cris, the transition has been quite seamless. Dawn and Cris had worked well together so there have not been any gaps in service to the public or support for the board, and we have witnessed welcomed innovations to the process. Reviewing Investigations of Complaints: The Board began reviewing actual complaints in January 2008. Through September 2008 we have reviewed 10 cases. At the end of each month the Auditor provides a summary of cases that have closed and makes her own recommendation as to which case(s) she believes would have the greatest value to the oversight system. Although we have had occasion to review two cases in a single meeting, the norm is to review a single case. The reviews follow lengthy preparation on the part of the Auditor and her staff and our board members. Before each meeting we review a complete case file. Typically this consists of an AIC Report prepared by the IA investigator, underlying police reports, occasional medical reports, and taped interviews of the complainant, witnesses, involved officers and, where available, in-car videos. Preparation time for CRB members before a meeting probably takes an average of eight hours. We decided not to draft a formal process for determining what cases to review until we had more experience, though we have paid particular attention to requests from complainants and to recommendations from the Auditor.