Item B: Police Auditor Ordinance Review Report

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PAORC is proposing to Council eighteen distinct amendments (including additions and deletions) to the language of Ordinance 20374 as well as other recommendations to improve Civilian Oversight in Eugene. In the end we were able to consider and act upon thth twelve of the eighteen items from the Council meetings of November 10 and 17, 2008. Of those on which we acted (Items 1-6 and Items 8-13) all but one (Item 13) involve revisions to the ordinance. Those revisions are incorporated into the ordinance in Attachment B at the end of this report. In contrast, the committee did not feel that Item 13 – “Authority for the Police Auditor to determine final adjudication” was appropriate and voted unanimously not to forward a recommendation for change to the existing ordinance in that regard. 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. Nonetheless, the members of PAORC voted unanimously to recommend to Council these items were suitable topics for further discussion, and to inform Council of the members’ willingness to spend the additional time necessary to deliberate on these topic should that be the Council’s wish. We did not feel, however, that the compressed timeframe within which we were working allowed us to thoughtfully and thoroughly deliberate on these issues. III. Ordinance Revisions Ordinance 20374 was adopted by the Council in late 2006, and the Auditor began intake of complaints in the fall of 2007. During the community’s first year of experience with the operation of Eugene’s oversight system, concerns developed regarding the functioning of the office and in July of ’08 the Council decided to place a second Charter th Amendment on the ballot for the November 4 general election. The measure made mandatory Council actions in hiring a Police Auditor and appointing a Civilian Review Board. After passage of the measure, the Council established the Police Auditor Ordinance Review Committee to review and recommend revisions related to eighteen th proposed ordinance changes resulting from Council adopted motions on November 10 th and 17 of last year. POARC has reviewed and is proposing ordinance language changes, recommendations, or no action on those items as follows. a) – Intake and Classification [Items: 1, 6, 8 and 10] Proposed Revisions: The committee’s language revisions in this area were all specific to th the intent behind these items indicated in the Council-adopted motion of November 10. The revisions are intended to: 1) clarify the Auditor’s role as the “exclusive authority to classify and route complaints” [2.456(1)(d)]; 2) ensure confidentiality [2.456.(3)(a)]; 3) review claims for damages against the City arising out of actions of the Eugene Police Department for performance concerns that might give rise to complaints [2.456(1)(c)]; and 4) address complaints involving the Chief of Police [2.454(5)]. Committee Discussion and Votes: In general the committee was largely in agreement on the proposed revisions. The primary exception to this position was the concern voiced