Item A - Police Commission Mtg. - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

significant blow to public trust. The 2003 Auditor's Report found several deficiencies in the department's handling of complaints against its employees. Both of these issues strongly influenced the type of strategy recommendations identified. The strategies in the interim report focus on three topic areas: 1) improvements to the complaint process, 2) community involvement, and 3) training. Regarding the first focus area, the commission decided that as an extension of its work on strategies to improve police/community relations, it would undertake an extensive review of the police complaint process and explore different models of police oversight. A vital element of this project is to modify existing policies and procedures in such a way as to build trust with the community, increase the accessibility and comfort level for people who want to file complaints, and ensure accountability and fairness for all involved parties. This project will be the main work plan item before the Police Commission over the next eighteen months. Other strategy recommendations included: · physical improvements to the police lobby area that would afford some measure of privacy to complainants and victims and create a more customer-friendly environment for others with business at the department; · creation of an informational brochure to help educate the public about what to expect during a police stop and what their rights and responsibilities are, working in conjunction with the ACLU and ASUO on brochure content and dissemination; and · transitioning employee diversity training to a cultural competency model that accommodates employees at different experience levels and links skills development to improved job performance and satisfaction. The interim report on Strategies to Improve Police/Community Interactions was approved in July and forwarded to the Chief for his consideration. b. Preferred Policing Alternatives and Resource Priorities This past year, the Police Commission became actively involved in supporting a safe and vibrant civic center by adding a downtown community-policing project to its work plan. Originally conceived as a partnership with Downtown Eugene Inc., to strategize options to expand community policing, the project grew into a planning effort to recognize existing public safety strategies and partnerships that help make the downtown area safe and to identify additional resources required to meet the area's public safety needs. Over the past several months, three commissioners have worked with a diverse group of downtown stakeholders to formalize current community policing programs and future needs into a downtown public safety action plan that can serve as a model for innovative, neighborhood- based policing efforts for other parts of the city. The planning group has completed a first draft of the report for presentation to the Police Commission and will be assessing the resource implications of its recommendations to help prioritize funding decisions. The commission convened another task group to explore options to help ensure that Eugene Police officers are easily distinguishable from other non-sworn public safety and security personnel. This project stemmed from incidents either witnessed by or conveyed to commissioners where other personnel were mistaken for Eugene police officers, seemingly due to similarities in uniforms. Commissioners were concerned that uniform similarities could make it more difficult for residents to determine which agency to contact following an interaction should questions or concerns arise and 2004 Annual Report Page 5 of 10