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Two joint meetings with the Human Rights Commission were held this past year to discuss issues of mutual interest. In October, a work session on the department's use of social security numbers as a form of identification was held. As a result, a joint task group was formed to discuss the community concerns raised about police collection of social security numbers in more depth, and develop recommendations that address these concerns and meet the department needs for accurate personal identifiers. In May, the 2003 Internal Affairs case statistics and the Auditor's Report were presented to both commissions. The commissions were pleased that as recommended, a sample of "inquiries" was included in this year's audit. This additional data provided valuable insights to both the auditor and the various report recipients on the complaint intake process, and the commissions recommended that this practice be continued in future audits. This year, the commission added several half-hour discussion sessions prior to its regular meetings to gain exposure to policing issues of national interest. Articles were selected from the Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC) newsletters, including interviews with experts on racial profiling, civilian oversight and the Patriot Act. Commissioners found these informal discussion sessions to be helpful because they were not agenda-driven, as is so much of the commission's time together, and provided a bigger picture view of current issues facing law enforcement. The commission continues to meet as a full body once per month, while issue specific committees and task groups typically meet more frequently. In FY04, the commission and its committees held forty- three public meetings, not including the work planning session with City Council. This is nearly twice the number of meetings convened during the previous year. The SWAT policy review committee hosted two separate public forums during the year, one to discuss the results of the National Tactical Officers Association performance audit (September 2003) and another to solicit public comment on its draft findings and policy recommendations (February 2004). Commission meetings are not the sole mechanism employed to improve communications between the police and the community. Members were involved in a range of other community outreach activities, including giving presentations to the Citizen Police Academy Fall 2003 and Spring 2004 classes. The active involvement of many commissioners in other community groups, such as Weed and Seed and the Graffiti Task Group, continues to be a valuable asset for building partnerships, providing mutual support and sharing information. In the Police Commission's work plan, the topic "Strategies to Improve Police and Community Interactions" was the primary focus for the year. This was an umbrella topic consisting of several separate but related efforts selected by the Police Commission including: · Holding a joint work session with the Human Rights Commission on police use of Social Security Numbers for identification information. · Developing a pilot project in partnership with the Eugene Police Diversity Committee to conduct a series of small roundtable discussions between community members and police officers on common values and concerns. · Reviewing existing training standards and policies related to police interactions with community members. The commission agreed that improving interactions between the police and community was an on- going effort as opposed to a stand-alone work plan item. The goal this year was to develop a series of 2004 Annual Report Page 2 of 10