65D - POLICE OVERSIGHT - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chapter 4. Overview of civilian oversight What is civilian aversigW In its simplest meaning, civilian oversight may be defined as one or more individuals outside the sworn chain of command of a police department who take up the task of holding that department and its members accountable for their actions. Contrasted with internal accountability mechanisms commonly found in law enforcement (i.e., internal affairs), independent police review offers a method of citizen involvement in accountability that is often, but not always, external to the department. Its independence from the agency or the sworn chain of command that it seeks to hold accountable allows it to address a wide range of concerns without any actual or perceived bias, and to ensure that policing is responsive to the needs of the community. Civilian oversight may be established in response to recurring problems in a particular law enforcement agency, such as a pattern or practice of the use of excessive force or repeated complaints of racial profiling. Sometimes oversight is initiated proactively by a local municipality to identify and correct such issues before they become more widespread and difficult to rectify. Often, however, oversight is generated in response to a single, particularly high -profile allegation or incidence of police misconduct. Whatever the circumstances, police oversight is now found in cities and counties both large and small, and in every geographic region of the nation, as well as in other countries. While practices vary according to the roles of the oversight entity or the laws of its jurisdiction, it is common for civilian oversight agencies to be both an independent source and a repository of qualitative and quantitative data. Oversight agencies may issue public reports on the number, type, and outcome of misconduct investigations; lawsuits; uses of force; or detentions and arrests. They may provide on -scene monitoring of critical incidents, such as officer -involved shootings, or of mass social gatherings, including protests and demonstrations; and they may subsequently provide the public with a singularly independent account of the actions taken by the police, evaluating whether those actions were appropriate under the circumstances or showed a need for some measure of reform. In addition to the issuance of public reports, qualified and experienced oversight entities may also assess a police department's policies, training curricula, and recruitment standards, among other procedures, in order to compare them against the prevailing standards in a perpetually dynamic profession. The effectiveness of oversight in any particular community is dependent on a host of factors including political and budgetary support, ready access to information including police files, records, and performance data, the training and expertise of oversight personnel, and acceptance by the local law enforcement agency and community. Oversight systems can take a variety of forms and operate under a range of authorities. Each jurisdiction will have to carefully assess the needs of the community and the cost - benefits of the oversight program they adopt. The key question is whether the oversight 15 65D-144