Item A: Police Oversight System - Roles and Expectations

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Police Complaint System and Civilian Oversight Recommendations Complaint Routing and Possible Outcomes The Police Commission has found that issues involving employee performance are often most appropriately addressed by the supervisor. This encourages a learning environment for the employee and retains supervisory involvement in employee development and initial corrective action. Service complaints provide for resolution of complaints without a time-intensive, formal investigation and enable supervisors to address “minor” performance and demeanor issues through management intervention techniques (training, coaching, etc.). If the auditor classifies the contact as a service complaint, a variety of outcomes are available to the complainant, including notification to the supervisor, alternative resolution options, or referral to supervisor for follow-up investigation. If misconduct is discovered through supervisor follow-up on a service complaint, the complaint will be reclassified as a misconduct allegation. Complaints categorized by the auditor as misconductallegations will be routed to internal affairs for investigation. The Police Commission recommends that supervisors no longer investigate complaints about their subordinates and that instead, internal affairs is restructured into a specialized investigative unit that will conduct the majorityof complaint investigations. If the complainant alleges behavior that would be a criminal offense, the auditor will route the case to the Chief of Police for review and a decision to involve the District Attorney. Both service complaints and misconduct allegations may be appropriate for alternative resolution, depending in part on the type of complaint and the employee’s past history. The auditor’s office will be responsible for identifying cases that are most appropriate for alternative resolution options. More information and refinements on the alternative resolution process will be developed as part of the commission-sponsored Mediation and Advocacy Task Team. Timely notification on the receipt and disposition of complaints will be the responsibility of the auditor’s office. If a case is dismissed, the auditor will inform the complainant for the basis of the dismissal. If the case will proceed to a formal investigation, the auditor’s office will notify the complainant and explain or provide information on process expectations, options and timeline. A final disposition letter will be generated after case adjudication clearly explaining the outcome of the case and the basis for the decision. The commission recognizes that while increased transparency and understanding of the complaint process is an overarching goal, public records constraints and confidentiality issues need further discussion and resolution. The auditor’s office will maintain a robust case-tracking database documenting the receipt, status and disposition of all complaints. The database should be shared with Internal Affairs as both entities will have responsibility for tracking cases. If policy or training deficiencies are noted through the review/investigation of a complaint, these would be documented as an outcome of the complaint. Timelines for complaint notification, classification and routing decisions, investigation, and case disposition will need to be developed.Adherence to the established timelines will be one of the outcome measurestracked and reported by the auditor’s office. Attachment I is a flow chart that illustrates how a community complaint will move through the proposed model. 12