Merrick Bobb is the executive
director of the Police Assessment Resource Center and serves as the
court-appointed monitor overseeing a settlement agreement negotiated with the
city of Seattle by the Department of Justice.
APRIL 9, 2013
Advocates for police reform
contend that the police cannot be trusted to police themselves, while the New
York police argue that no one but the police really knows what it is like to be
an urban cop on the dangerous streets. Therefore, advocates want civilian
oversight and the police, at least in more sophisticated venues like Los
Angeles, have learned to live with it. In some places, even the ability even to
investigate police misconduct is taken away from the police.
The trick is to construct
civilian review of the police in a way that is respectful of all perspectives.
The trick is to construct
civilian oversight in a way that is respectful of all perspectives. The Los
Angeles model gives a civilian police commission the power to decide if an
officer-involved shooting or other serious use of force is according to policy
or not. The matter then goes back to a panel of two police officers and one
civilian to decide whether an officer should be disciplined. The chief of
police can order more discipline than the panel but cannot offer less.
Splitting the decision in this
way has marked advantages: the community voice is heard through the commission,
and the civilian perspective acts as a guarantor for the integrity of the
internal investigative process while the police perspective is still honored.
The commission itself has an inspector general, who is empowered to advise the
commission whether a given shooting or use of force is or should be within
policy.
Mixed models like this one
provide reasonable oversight without stripping the police entirely of the
ability to self-discipline.
With that ability come
accountability and responsibility. Civilian oversight makes a judgment how well
the department is acquitting itself. If given the further ability to share with
the mayor the power to hire and fire the chief executive of the police, a good
balance is struck among all the competing interests. The day when civilian
oversight can be completely rebuffed is over. It's time to roll up the sleeves
and figure out what form of oversight is best for New York.
Civilian oversight can also
bring community perspective into police practices like stop and frisk.
Wholesale and largely unproductive dragnets may erode community trust and
goodwill at a much more rapid rate than they get criminals off street.