Item B: Police Auditor Ordinance Review Report

Home Browse Search

e) – Opportunity for Appeals [Item 7] Committee Discussion and Votes: The committee had an extensive discussion regarding Item 7 over two meetings. Some of the PAORC members expressed the view that appeals were likely inevitable in Eugene. Committee members (as well as members of the public who spoke to the committee) expressed urgency in addressing this issue. In the end, th PAORC adopted the following motion at February 10 meeting: Ms. Piercy, seconded by Ms. Sifuentez, moved to make a strong recommendation to the City Council to put an appeals process into place and that the City Council do whatever it deemed necessary to make that happen. The motion passed, 9:4; Mr. Pryor, Mr. Ahlen, Mr. Chase, and Chief Kerns voting in opposition. The minutes of the meeting indicate Mr. Pryor, Mr. Ahlen and Chief Kerns opposed the motion because of a belief that the committee did not have sufficient information to make a recommendation that would address the issue, while Mr. Chase was opposed because he felt the committee was “punting” on the issue and the PAORC should more directly address appeals. f) – Consistency in Ordinance Language to the Charter [Items 12] th Committee Discussion and Votes: Specifically, this item from the November 10 Council adopted motion refers to Section 2.456(2)(c)(d). The committee was a bit unclear as to the intent behind this item and, in particular, what was required for “consistency.” PAORC decided to review Item 12 after our work on the other revisions to language had been completed to determine if we had addressed the item. In the end we decided that the changes we have proposed are consistent with the expressed intent of this item. However, we would note to the Council that maintaining consistency between the Charter and the Ordinance will continue to be somewhat of an ‘organic’ process, and the need for additional revisions will likely to be necessary as Eugene’s experience with civilian oversight matures. We fully expect the Council will revisit the ordinance in the future to make adjustments. g) – Other Considerations [Items 7, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18] Committee Discussion and Votes: In the end, there were six items the committee did not feel it had time to adequately address.: Item 7 – Appeal (although discussed); Item 14 – Discipline; Item 15 – Subpoena Power; Item 16 – Training; Item 17 – CRB Oversight of the Auditor; and Item 18 – the Auditor’s participation in hiring. PAORC was unanimous (12-0) in recommending to Council the following motion (as amended): Ms. Piercy, seconded by Ms. Syrett, moved to direct that the committee should hand in its responses to the first 13 items and then make a recommendation to the City Council that the committee continue working on [Items 7, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18] after that date. In their discussion the members expressed their willingness to spend the additional time necessary to deliberate on these topics should that be the Council’s wish. V. System Recommendations Cooperation between the Police Auditor and the Chief of Police Civilian oversight in Eugene will work most effectively when there is a good working relationship and professional cooperation between the offices of the Chief of Police and the Police Auditor. While such cooperation is currently apparent between the Interim