Independent Police Auditor s Report For the Quarter Ending September 30, 2001

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Kelley Rogers
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1 Independent Police Auditor s Report For the Quarter Ending September 30, 2001 This report is the first report from the Office of the Independent Auditor that covers a full quarter. A report covering the quarter ending June 30, 2001 was filed, but it did not contain any statistical information as it only covered three weeks. This report will follow the same basic format as the previous report. The following areas are covered: - The Mission and Guiding Principles of the Office of the Independent Police Auditor - Introduction - Staff Training and Development - Citizen Contacts and Complaint Patterns - Findings - Review of Internal Affairs Investigations - Policy and Training Recommendations - Community Outreach Mission The Independent Police Auditor s mission is to provide an independent review and to promote public awareness of the citizen complaint process; thereby, increasing greater police accountability by the Omaha Police Department. Guiding Principles The operating philosophy of the Office of the Independent Police Auditor consists of the following guiding principles under which this Office strives to reach its goals: - to provide equal, fair, and impartial access to the services of the Independent Police Auditor; without regard to age, race, gender, creed, color, nationality, or station in life; - to treat all individuals, regardless of their attitude or demeanor, with the same courtesy, tolerance, sensitivity, and dignity any person would expect if placed in a similar situation; - to provide quality, timely, objective, and responsive services to those persons who request the assistance of this Office. A special acknowledgement is due both Teresa Guerrero-Daley, Police Auditor for the City of San Jose, and Pierce Murphy, Community Ombudsman for the City of Boise. Their generous support of ideas, materials, and advice greatly assisted in the publication of this report. 1

2 Introduction On June 4, 2001, the Office of the Independent Police Auditor opened. The Office was established to increase the public confidence in the Internal Affairs process of the Omaha Police Department, specifically related to investigations of citizen complaints. The Auditor independently reviews all Internal Affairs investigations of citizens complaints to ensure that the investigation was conducted thoroughly, fairly, completely and objectively. The Auditor may be present at all interviews conducted during the course of the investigation. The Auditor may ask questions through the Internal Affairs investigator and may ask that further witnesses are contacted or further investigation is conducted. The Auditor may review all reports, statements, evidence or information contained in the investigative file. The Auditor does not have the authority to conduct her own investigations. The Auditor is an independent office and reports to the Auditing Committee, which consists of the Mayor, City Council and the Chief of Police. The primary functions performed by the Auditor s Office are: 1) monitoring and auditing Internal Affairs investigations of citizens complaints; 2) compiling a statistical data base of citizen contacts and complaints about the police department; 3) preparing quarterly reports tendered to the City Clerk containing trends, patterns and recommendations for consideration by the Auditing Committee; and 4) increasing public awareness about the complaint process. Quarterly reports are available through the City Clerk s Office and the Auditor s Office. The Office of the Independent Police Auditor is located at the Blue Lion Center, 2421 North 24 th Street; a site separate from the Police Department. Citizens wishing to learn more about the complaint process can contact the Auditor at , stop in at the above-mentioned address, or tbonn@ci.omaha.ne.us. A complaint form can be obtained at any police precinct, police headquarters, library branch, the Auditor s Office, the Mayor s Office, or downloaded off of the police department s website Once the citizen has completed the complaint form, they may contact either the Internal Affairs department directly or the Auditor s Office to initiate the complaint. Complainants are advised that the complaint will be assigned to an investigator in the Internal Affairs department. The investigator will then contact the citizen to formalize the complaint and schedule the first interview. Investigations must be completed within forty-five working days of the date the Internal Affairs unit first learned of the complaint. Staff Training and Development During the third quarter of this year, the Auditor attended the following training programs: 2

3 - FTO School (Field Training Officers School). This course trains the officers selected by the law enforcement agency to conduct the on-the-job training of new recruits. - Critical Incident Response. This course is designed to update the Police Department s tactics in response to an active shooter. - Management Training. This course trains command officers in the skills necessary for supervision. - Citizen Academy. This ten-week course is offered to members of the public. It acquaints citizens with the overall structure of the Police Department, various unit functions, and a variety of policies and procedures. In addition, the Office s administrative assistant has been trained to provide information about complaints, make referrals and assist in follow up calls as back up for the Auditor. Citizen Contacts and Complaint Patterns Citizen Contacts The Office of the Independent Police Auditor for the City of Omaha tracks the number of contacts made by members of the public. Included in the number were contacts made by telephone, , letter, or in person. The following is a breakdown of those contacts, first by month and then by type. Month Number of Contacts July 38 August 76 September 53 Third Quarter Total 167 Type of Contact Number of Contacts Commendation/Allegation/Inquiry 74 Referrals to Other Agencies 18 General Inquiry/Follow Ups 23 Community Outreach 36 3

4 Other 16 Total Contacts 167 Contacts categorized as Commendation/Allegation/Inquiry were contacts that wanted to initiate a citizen complaint and needed information on how to begin the process. Many contacts in this category included lengthy discussions between the Auditor and members of the public that wanted to detail their individual incident and requested help in completing a Citizen Complaint Form. Contacts categorized as Referrals were generally members of the public that did not know where else to call or were frustrated with attempts to find the right person to assist them. The Auditor or a member of her staff generally handled these contacts in an immediate manner. Included in these were contacts that needed to be referred to an outside law enforcement agency, a different City of Omaha Department, or agencies that provide legal assistance. The Police Auditor or a member of her staff personally handled all contacts categorized as General Inquiries/Follow Ups. These contacts typically involved questions about the Auditor s Office, Police Procedures, and the status of complaints previously filed. Community Outreach contacts included calls and visits from members of organizations that were interested in learning more about the Auditor s Office and the duties of the Independent Police Auditor. Most of these contacts included requests to speak at meetings, forums, and neighborhood events. The majority of these contacts were a result of a mass mailing conducted by the Auditor s Office to Neighborhood Associations, Libraries, School Districts, and Diverse Organizations within the Omaha area. Contacts categorized as Other included comments, suggestions, and input from members of the public in regard to the Auditor s Office. Complaint Patterns The following shows the number of Complaint Forms that the Independent Police Auditor received from the Internal Affairs Unit in the past three months. A citizen complaint is first tracked in the Internal Affairs Department by a Pending Complaint Form. This form indicates the citizen has completed the Formal Complaint Form and contacted the Internal Affairs Unit, the Auditor, or a Command Officer and that the citizen is prepared to proceed. Frequently citizen complaints do not result in a completed investigation, although a Pending Complaint Form was completed. These complaints are categorized as DNF s or Did Not Formalize. In these cases, the citizen did not elect to go through with the formal investigation. Sometimes the citizen does not 4

5 choose to formalize the complaint. In other instances, the citizen may be satisfied with the complaint being referred to the Officer s supervisor. In these cases, the supervisor may handle minor violations with a Line Investigation, which may result in a counseling or reprimand. The Internal Affairs Unit does not track results of a line investigation as a part of the citizen complaint process. Formal Investigations are, then, formalized citizen complaints that have completed investigations. The breakdown of Pending, DNF, and Completed Investigations are as follows. Month Number of Pending Complaints July 20 August 22 September 11 Total 53 Month Number of Complaints that DNF d July 23 August 09 September 09 Total 41 The following shows the number of Citizens Complaint Forms that were closed by investigations conducted by the Internal Affairs Unit and reported to the Auditor s Office in the past three months. Month Number of Completed Investigations July 5 August 15 September 07 Total 27 5

6 A single completed investigation may contain numerous allegations against more than one officer. The following is a breakdown of the allegations made by citizens. Although only 27 cases were investigated, multiple allegations and multiple officers are often listed on a single Citizen s Complaint Form. Allegation Number of Allegations Made 1. False Report False Arrest Improper Procedure Excessive Force/Physical Abuse Verbal Abuse/Rude Unprofessional Conduct Intimidation Discrimination Failure to Take Report 01 Total Number of Allegations 89 Findings Pursuant to the Omaha Police Department General Order, the following are possible findings resulting from an Internal Affairs investigation of a Citizen Complaint Form: Unfounded Exonerated - false allegation. - incident occurred but was lawful and proper. Not Sustained - not enough evidence to prove or disprove. Sustained - enough evidence to believe the allegation is true. Policy Failure - the incident may or may not have occurred, but the investigation disclosed faulty practices, policies and/or procedures. The following is a breakdown of findings on allegations contained in completed third quarter investigations: 6

7 Unfounded 13 Exonerated 16 Not Sustained 49 Sustained 11 Policy Failure 0 Total 89 Allegation Outcome 1. False Report 1 Unfounded, 1 Exonerated, 1 Not Sustained 2. False Arrest 1 Unfounded, 5 Exonerated, 1 Not Sustained 3. Improper Procedure 4 Unfounded, 9 Exonerated, 9 Not Sustained, 8 Sustained 4. Excessive Force/Physical Abuse 1 Unfounded, 1 Exonerated, 7 Not Sustained 5. Verbal Abuse/Rude 4 Unfounded, 10 Not Sustained, 1 Sustained 6. Unprofessional Conduct 12 Not Sustained, 1 Sustained 7. Intimidation 1 Unfounded, 5 Not Sustained, 1 Sustained 8. Discrimination 1 Unfounded, 3 Not Sustained 9. Failure to Take Report 1 Not Sustained Total 13 Unfounded, 16 Exonerated, 49 Not Sustained, 11 Sustained Review of Internal Affairs Investigations Currently, the Auditor is monitoring all citizens complaints investigated by the Internal Affairs unit. In cases where the Auditor cannot attend an interview, the interview tape is transcribed and forwarded to the Auditor for review (the Internal Affairs unit transcribes 7

8 all interviews as a matter of course). In addition, the Auditor has been working with the Internal Affairs unit throughout the quarter to perfect notification processes to ensure the Auditor is notified of upcoming interviews as well as developments and documentation in the investigation. This way, the Auditor can review the file to ensure that the investigation has been conducted thoroughly, fairly, objectively and completely pursuant to the ordinance. The Auditor monitored 68 cases in the third quarter. Out of 68 cases, 27 resulted in completed formal investigations. The Auditor was able to inquire freely about investigations and the Internal Affairs unit complied with all requests for further documentation, questions or investigation. As the monitoring process is further developed and perfected, the Auditor will provide greater statistical breakdowns of information in this area. Policy and Training Recommendations One of the most important functions of the Independent Police Auditor s Office is to make recommendations designed to effect improvements to the overall police operations, thereby increasing the public s confidence in the professionalism and accountability of the Police Department. Pursuant to the ordinance, those recommendations are based on the information gathered through citizen feedback. The information is then analyzed to detect trends and patterns, which give rise to the recommendations. Various trends and patterns are identified below and recommendations follow. A. Community Relations In recent years, the Police Department has begun to shift its focus to a community policing strategy. The idea is for the Police Department to join with the community to solve the problems of the community. In this regard, several efforts have received positive feedback throughout the community. For instance, both Police Department retreats conducted with the minority communities, African-American and Latino, received praise from various members of those communities. In addition, Crime Prevention Specialists are located at each Police Department precinct. Trained mediators, these civilian specialists assist their respective precincts in a variety of nontraditional, but quality of life enhancing projects, like neighborhood clean-ups, watches and the like. While these developments have been positive, The Auditor s Office detected a pattern of complaint that indicated either these efforts were unknown to members of the public or more of the same needed to be done. To that end, the Auditor recommends the following: Recommendations 1. Increase the frequency and regularity of Police Department retreats with various segments of the community, particularly the minority communities. 2. Increase awareness inside and outside the Police Department about the roles and services provided by Crime Prevention Specialists, particularly early detection and referral of neighborhood disputes. A number of complaints have been generated 8

9 against police officers that were called out to neighborhood disputes. The range of complaints indicated citizens were unhappy because the police had not done enough, did not listen to their complaints, or arrested parties instead of helping to resolve the situation. In instances like these, earlier intervention with the possibility of mediation may help to reduce these types of complaints. 3. Network with various social service agencies and increase the use of the volunteer Chaplains to provide assistance with mental health, suicide and child custody calls. Several citizen complaints revolved around the Police Department s lack of sensitivity when handling these types of calls. Enlisting the assistance of professionals to go on these calls with members of the Police Department may help to reduce this type of complaint. B. Communication In analyzing many complaints filed in the third quarter, the Auditor identified a pattern that indicated in a number of police to citizen contacts, a breakdown in communication occurred. Often, citizens complained that officers did not explain what was happening, officers did not respond to questions or did not listen to the citizen. While a failure to communicate does not often rise to the level of a sustainable complaint, it does increase the filing of citizen complaints and negatively impact the overall opinion of the Police Department. Failing to communicate effectively, then, can be costly. In the case where a citizen s contact with an officer terminates without sufficient understanding of the events that have occurred, frustrated citizens seek redress from various agencies often causing a duplication of efforts. Some citizens may complain to the Mayor s Hotline, the Auditor, the Chief of Police, and a Councilmen, for instance. The Police Department does have a training program that deals specifically with successful communication Verbal Judo. However, in order to be effective throughout the department, the training should be more widespread. To help reduce costly complaints based on poor communications, the Auditor recommends the following: Recommendations 1. Increase the requirements and frequency of the Verbal Judo training so that it becomes practiced throughout the Department. 2. Increase the opportunity and availability of Police Department personnel to conduct public service presentations about police procedures and practices. 3. Review the telephone procedures in response to frequent customer complaints that no live voice answers the phone, transfers are frequent, it is difficult to contact the proper party, and messages are not returned. 4. Increase the number of Spanish speaking employees, sworn and non-sworn, in a way that will increase the Department s ability to provide bilingual response to calls for service (revise the testing methods, provide compensation enhancement, etc.). 9

10 C. Internal Affairs Unit Recently, several events have impacted the Internal Affairs unit. Citizen complaint filings have increased by approximately twenty percent since last year. The introduction of the Auditor s Office has impacted the Internal Affairs process. The most recent Union contract reduced from sixty to forty-five the number of working days an investigator had to complete a citizen complaint investigation. The unit is understaffed only three of five positions were filled through August. Although the unit gained one investigator at shift change in September, the unit is undertrained and overworked. All of these factors heighten the need for a uniform approach to internal affairs investigations of civilian complaints. Recommendations 1. Fill all five investigator positions in the unit and consider adding a sixth investigator. Generally, a ratio of one Internal Affairs investigator to every one hundred and fifty sworn officers is considered to be a sufficiently staffed department. Currently, there are 730 filled positions. The ratio with four investigators is 1:183, with five investigators it would be 1:146. However, the Union contract specifies a complete bar to discipline set at forty-five working days. This short investigative period places additional pressures on investigators to complete thorough investigations. Therefore, the Auditor recommends at least five, preferably six and optimally seven investigators for this unit. Likewise, the administrative support for this unit needs to increase as the transcription of interviews, copying, and documentation needed to complete files is critical to the timely completion of investigations and review by the Auditor. 2. To assist in training and to ensure that each investigation is similarly conducted, the Auditor recommends that the Internal Affairs unit create a Best Practices Standard Operating Procedure notebook. This notebook could contain procedures on a variety of investigative practices, to include: order of interviewing witnesses, types of evidence collected cruiser video, dailies, 911 call, etc., standard of proof, documentation of file, policy and procedural determinations, etc. 3. Increase training opportunities for members of the Internal Affairs unit. D. Standard Operating Procedures Several citizen complaints involved traffic stops where the citizen believed they were pulled over without cause. In the course of reviewing some of these cases and through discussions with members of the Training Academy, the Auditor s Office noticed that the Police Department s SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for traffic stops combined the traffic violation standard with the criminal violation standard, creating a confusing standard, which required review. This information was brought to the Chief of Police s attention and the SOP in question is undergoing revision. 10

11 Recommendation 1. Complete the SOP revision on Traffic Stops. Broadcast changes department-wide and monitor to ensure compliance. E. Administration The Independent Police Auditor ordinance and its process are new functions for the City of Omaha. In this section, the Auditor suggests administrative changes, as opposed to policy changes, that would increase the efficiency of the office or assist in maintaining its independence. Recommendations 1. Create a sub-committee of the Auditing Committee that would provide an opportunity for the Auditor and the sub-committee to regularly meet and discuss procedural or administrative issues. 2. The Auditor s budget is currently contained in the Police Department s budget. The Auditor s budget should be independent of the Police Department budget. 3. In order to provide a comprehensive review and audit of Internal Affairs investigations of Citizen Complaints, the decision to fill the Assistant Auditor position should be revisited when feasible. Community Outreach Community outreach for the Office of the Independent Police Auditor has three goals: - to listen to the needs, opinions, and concerns of the community so as to better serve them; - to familiarize members of the public with the mission and services of the Office of the Independent Police Auditor; - to encourage and facilitate greater dialogue and collaboration between members of the Omaha Police Department and the community they serve. In service of these goals, the Auditor has engaged in a number of outreach activities in the third quarter of Activity Frequency 11

12 Youth and school 0 Service Clubs 2 Professional Organizations 3 Human rights/minority groups 8 Neighborhood associations 2 Church groups 1 Media presentation 2 Total 18 Conclusion The first full quarter for the Auditor s Office has been an active one. In addition to the ongoing start up issues, the Office began responding to contacts from the public, monitoring cases, compiling data, preparing reports, and providing information to various community groups. It is still very early in the process and the Auditor s Office will certainly evolve and change over time, particularly in response to increasing the overall effectiveness of the complaint review process. In the meantime, the Auditor s Office is committed to providing fair and impartial information and serving the community as envisioned in the ordinance. The Auditor s Office thanks all members of our community who have participated in this process and looks forward to providing further service to the community. 12

It is the Department policy to promptly and thoroughly investigate alleged misconduct involving employees.

3.01.000 INVESTIGATION OF PERSONNEL MISCONDUCT It is the Department policy to promptly and thoroughly investigate alleged misconduct involving employees. 3.01.005 REQUIREMENT TO COOPERATE: All employees