HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance No. 20435COUNCIL ORDINANCE NUMBER 20435
COUNCIL BILL NUMBER 4998
AN ORDINANCE CONCERNING THE POLICE
AUDITOR AND AMENDING SECTIONS 2,450, 2.452
2.454 AND 2.456 OF THE EUGENE CODE, 1971
ADOPTED: August 10, 2009
SIGNED: August 11, 2009
PASSED: 810
REJECTED:
OPPOSED: I
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ABSENT:
ORDINANCE NO. 20435
AN ORDINANCE CONCERNING THE POLICE AUDITOR AND
AMENDING SECTIONS 2.450, 2.452, 2.454 AND 2.456 OF THE
EUGENE CODE, 1971.
THE CITY OF EUGENE DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1 . Section 2.450 of the Eugene Code, 1971, is amended to provide as
follows:
2.450 office of Police Auditor -- Established
(1) The office of the police auditor, hereafter auditor's office, is hereby
established to provide an independent location to lodge complaints
involving police employees, monitor internal investigations to ensure
objective, thorough and high quality investigations, and develop
recommendations to improve police services.
(2) The auditor's office shall be headed by a full -time professional police
auditor who is hired by and accountable to the city council. The city
council shall hire, supervise, and specify the salary of the independent
police auditor, who shall serve at the pleasure of the city council. All
city council decisions regarding the auditor will be made by a simple
majority vote of the city council.
(3) The independent police auditor shall have exclusive authority to hire,
supervise, and to make all other employment decisions regarding the
auditor's support staff. No change relating to the authority to hire and
supervise the auditor's staff shall be made without formal action of the
city council.
(4) Any findings, recommendations and actions taken shall reflect the
police auditor's independent judgment. No person shall use his/her
political or administrative position to attempt to unduly influence or
undermine the independence of the police auditor, or his /her staff or
agent, in the performance of his/her duties and responsibilities.
(5) The city manager shall include in his/her recommended budget an
allocation sufficient for the auditor and the auditor's office to carry out
their duties and responsibilities under the Eugene Charter of 2002 and
the Eugene Code, including sufficient funds to contract for external
investigations.
(6) The physical location of the auditor's office shall be separate from the
police department, but in close proximity so as to facilitate a close
working relationship with others involved in the complaint investigation
process, and easily accessible to the public. The auditor shall have
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complete, unrestricted and direct access to the internal affairs area
during office hours.
(7) It is intended that sections 2.450 through 2.456 and 2.240 through
2.246 will provide a system of independent oversight of the police
complaint process and implement section 15 -A of the Eugene Charter
of 2002 as adopted by the city electorate on November 8, 2005.
Section 2 . Section 2.452 of the Eugene Code, 1971, is amended by adding
definitions for "Police auditor" and "Service complaint" to the list of definitions in
alphabetical order to provide as follows:
2.452 office of Police Auditor -- Definitions Words and phrases used in
sections 2.240 through 2.246 and 2.450 through 2.456 have the following
meanings:
Police auditor or auditor Police auditor or designee if authorized by the
auditor to undertake a certain function.
Service complaint A complaint about police employee performance or
demeanor, customer service and/or level of police service.
Section 3 . Sections 2.454 and 2.456 of the Eugene code, 1971, are amended to
provide as follows:
2.454 Office of Police Auditor -- Powers and Duties
(1) The police auditor is the administrative head of the auditor's office and
shall:
(a) oversee the operations of the auditor's office, establish program
priorities and objectives, and manage the implementation and
evaluation of work programs;
(b) Develop and maintain operating procedures for the auditor's
office, including protocols for handling complaints and monitoring
investigations;
(c) Establish standards of professional conduct and provide
necessary training for staff in the auditor's office.
(d) Act as liaison and provide staff support to the civilian review
board. In collaboration with the civilian review board, the police
auditor shall:
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(2)
(3)
(4)
1. Establish and maintain policies, procedures and operating
principles for the civilian review board's functions; and
2. Conduct education and outreach activities to inform the
community about the process for filing complaints and
commendations about police employees, and develop and
disseminate information and forms regarding the police
complaint handling and review system.
(e) Receive and process complaints concerning police employees;
monitor the complaint investigation and review process as set
forth in sections 2.458(1) and (2); and review a selection of
service complaints.
(f) Perform a quality assurance function with the goal of identifying
systemic changes that will improve police services to the
community. These activities include:
1 . Analyzing complaint trends and recommending changes to
police policy, practices and training;
2. Reviewing risk and tort claims and developing
recommendations to reduce risk and liability;
3. Reviewing and reporting trends in completed police
employee disciplinary decisions.
(g) Provide status reports to the civilian review board and city council
and provide recommendations relevant to police policies and
practices to the police commission.
(h) Develop and present to the civilian review board and city council
annual public reports describing the activities of - the auditor's
office, its findings and recommendations, the police department's
response to its recommendations, and any other information
pertinent to assessing the performance of the auditor's office.
(i) Provide the city council with any other reports deemed necessary
or requested by the city council. All public reports shall strive to
protect the privacy of all individuals and shall not contain the
names of parties to a complaint (employees, complainants and/or
witnesses) not previously disclosed.
U� Determine whether applicants for the civilian review board meet
the requisite qualifications in section 2.242(1 )(a )l . and
2.242(1 )(d).
The police auditor shall receive timely notification of critical incidents to
enable him/her, or a qualified designee, to report to the scene of critical
incidents. The police auditor and chief of police shall develop
necessary protocols for summoning the police auditor to the incident for
purposes of first -hand observation.
The police auditor shall participate in use of force review boards.
All case adjudication and employee discipline decisions shall be made
by the chief of police. The police auditor may develop adjudication
recommendations, but is not authorized to recommend the level of
discipline for police employees.
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(5) For purposes of this subsection, an "allegation" is a report or claim that
the chief of police has committed a crime, violated any provision of
sections 2.240 to 2.246 or 2.450 to 2.456, violated a person's civil
rights, or failed to perform non - administrative duties in accordance with
professional law enforcement standards applicable to Eugene's sworn
officers.
(a) If the auditor receives an allegation against the chief of police, the
auditor shall forward a copy of the allegation to the city manager.
The city manager shall notify the council, and investigate the
allegation. The manager shall keep the auditor informed of the
progress of the investigation.
(b) Upon completion of the investigation, but prior to the finalization of
the investigation report, the city manager shall provide the auditor
with a draft of the report. The auditor shall review the draft report
and provide comments about the draft to the manager within
seven days of receiving the draft. The manager shall consider
any comments received from the auditor and finalize the report
within seven days. Once the city manager issues a decision on
the allegation, the manager shall inform the council of the
manager's decision related to the allegation.
2.456 office of Police Auditor — Complaint Processin
�'I } Complaint intake
(a) Any person may lodge a complaint or commendation with the
auditor's office about the conduct of, or services provided by, a
city police employee;
(b) The auditor's office is the intake center for all community
complaints about police employees. city employees may choose
to lodge complaints against another employee through either
internal affairs or the auditor's office. The auditor's office shall
document all contacts and complaints received from any source.
The auditor's office may refer a complainant to another
department in the city or another agency that would be more
appropriate to address the complaint.
(c) If the city receives a claim for damages that alleges that a police
employee caused the damage, a copy of the claim shall be
forwarded to the auditor's office for a determination as to whether
the claim should also be classified and processed as a complaint.
(d) The auditor's office conducts the preliminary investigation of all
complaints lodged with the auditor's office or internal affairs to
appropriately classify and route the complaint and any
accompanying information accordingly. The auditor has exclusive
authority to classify, route and reclassify complaints. The auditor
may reclassify a complaint if, upon further investigation and
receipt of additional information that was not available at the time
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of intake, but before the completion of the investigation, the
auditor finds reclassification is warranted.
(e) If a complaint is received that alleges criminal conduct on the part
of the employee, the police auditor shall forward the complaint
and any associated information to the chief of police.
(f) The auditor's office may determine whether a complaint is
appropriate for mediation or facilitated conversation, and upon the
voluntary agreement of the involved parties and approval of the
chief of police, shall coordinate the resolution of such cases.
1 . Mediation is an alternative to the investigation, adjudication
and disciplinary process; if the parties agree to mediation,
the investigation, adjudication and disciplinary process will
end.
2. A facilitated conversation may, but does not necessarily,
result in termination of the investigation, adjudication and
disciplinary process.
(g) The auditor's office classifies complaints that will be treated as
community impact cases and provides support to the civilian
review board in its review of those cases and other cases
accepted by the civilian review board.
(h) The auditor's office shall provide timely updates on the status of a
complaint and notification to the complainant of its final
disposition.
(i) The auditor's office may dismiss a complaint if upon review, it
meets criteria that the auditor has established for such action,
including reporting delays and/or insufficient information from
which to take further action.
The auditor may review and process a complaint not filed directly
with the auditor's office if the auditor determines that concerns
have been expressed about conduct of a police employee(s).
(k) Except for good cause, complaints of minor misconduct involving
courtesy, communications, and minor rules violations that might
be handled as service complaints shall be filed within Go days of
the incident.
(I) Except for good cause, complaints of serious misconduct
including, for example, excessive force that causes substantial
physical injury, egregious acts of disparate treatment, or major
rules violations shall be filed within 8 months of the incident.
(2) Complaint Investigations.
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection,
administrative investigations of complaints shall not commence
until after the auditor has received, classified and routed the
complaint. The investigation shall commence upon classification
or as soon as possible after classification.
(b) Paragraph (a) of this subsection shall not preclude preliminary
investigations by the auditor's office, or a police supervisor's
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attempt to address a service complaint, provided that the
supervisor prepares and forwards to the auditor within 24 hours a
report identifying the complainant and contact information for the
complainant, and explaining the nature of the service complaint
and the outcome of the supervisor's conversation with the
complainant.
(c) If the chief of police determines that all or a part of an
administrative investigation should be postponed in order to avoid
jeopardizing a criminal investigation or prosecution, the chief of
police shall request the auditor's agreement on postponement. If
the auditor and chief of police are unable to agree on the
postponement, then they shall present in writing their respective
positions to the municipal court judge, who shall then decide
whether all or part of an administrative investigation will be
postponed.
(d) The police auditor shall actively monitor internal investigations to
ensure a thorough, objective, and timely investigation, and is
authorized to:
1 . Participate in complainant, employee and witness interviews;
2. Require the city to undertake additional investigation.
(e) The police auditor may require, and is authorized to contract for,
an external investigation when the police auditor determines that
an external investigation is appropriate.
(f) The police auditor will not be directly involved in any criminal
investigations, but shall be kept apprised of the status of such
investigations involving police employees. The police auditor shall
have access to the case file relevant to the administrative portion
of such investigations.
(g) All case files shall be provided to the police auditor upon
conclusion of the investigation for review and a determination that
the investigation was thorough and complete. Once the
investigation is deemed complete, the involved employee's
immediate supervisor will confer with the police auditor and
develop a case adjudication recommendation that will be
forwarded through the chain of command to the chief of police for
final adjudication. If the police auditor disagrees with the
supervisor's recommendation, his/her disagreements and
comments will be documented and forwarded to the chief of police
as well. The immediate supervisor and police auditor will use their
best efforts to complete this process in a timely manner and
without unreasonably delaying the final adjudication of the case.
If the investigation reveals evidence of criminal conduct not
previously known, the auditor may refer the matter to the
appropriate criminal prosecutor for his/her consideration.
(h) The auditor's office will make every reasonable effort to notify the
complainant that an investigation has been conducted, summarize
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(3)
the case findings, and provide an opportunity for the complainant
to comment or ask questions about the process.
(i) The auditor's office shall return all case file materials to internal
affairs for retention, but shall have subsequent access to closed
cases.
The police auditor shall maintain an on -going status report on the
work of the auditor's office and case investigations and shall share
it with the civilian review board.
Access to Records and Materials
(a) Except to the extent that a specified state or federal law provides
to the contrary, or where information resides on a restricted
database governed by a contract that does not allow access
beyond certain law enforcement employees:
1. The auditor shall have complete and unrestricted access to
all complaints, investigative records and information
obtained or developed by the internal affairs investigator
related to an administrative investigation of a complaint,
whether the information exists in electronic format or hard
copy, including information stored on an internal affairs
database;
2. The auditor shall be provided any other information identified
by the auditor that is relevant to a complaint; and
3. The identity of any individual involved in an event giving rise
to a complaint shall not be withheld from the auditor.
(b) When legally required or requested by the chief of police, the
auditor shall keep confidential the name of any such individual
involved in a complaint and other information leading to the name
of the individual.
(c) Except as provided in section 2.456(2 )(f), the police auditor shall
not have access to a criminal investigation file until the conclusion
of any such criminal investigation.
(d) The police auditor shall supervise the development and
implementation of a case management system to track all
complaints received in coordination with the internal affairs unit,
report case statistics and trends, and provide performance
indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of the auditor's office.
(e) The chief of police and police auditor shall develop cooperative
interdepartmental procedures and any necessary infrastructure to
coordinate the flow of information and communication between
the auditor's office and the police department.
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Section 4. The Cit Recorder, at the re of, or with the consent of the Cit
Attorne is authorized to administrativel correct an reference errors contained herein,
other provisions of the Eu Code, 1971, to the provisions added, amended or
1 Oth da of Au 20015
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