Consultant discusses law enforcement oversight with Olympia’s Equity Commission

SDM Consulting’s Sam Martin discussed the details and models of Community Oversight of Law Enforcement during the Olympia Social Justice & Equity Commission meeting last Monday, June 26.

The recent meeting is a continuation of the May 27 retreat, wherein the commission participated to understand the Olympia Police Department’s (OPD) organizational structure and scope of authority, learn OPD’s investigation process and its relation to accountability and transparency, and learn about community oversight models.

Oversight defined

According to the agenda packet, civilian oversight is an entity that:

• Investigates, audits, or reviews internal law enforcement investigations or processes, including community complaints and use of force incidents
• Conducts ongoing monitoring of law enforcement agencies’ policies, procedures, training, management, and supervision practices.
• Includes any agency or process involving active participation in the above by persons not sworn in law enforcement.

“Some of the values of oversight [is] to protect human rights, promote constitutional policing, increase public confidence and trust in the police, build bridges between law enforcement and the public, support effective policing, ensure greater accountability, and enhance risk management,” Martin said.

“In order or an oversight entity to be effective, they have to be independent of the police department,” said Anthony Finnell, another SDM consultant.

“They have to be independent to the degree that when they submit a report, they can be open and honest and not have any fear of their findings or report causing a backlash that would harm the agency because they have to have that level of independence where they can feel free to honestly and openly report on whatever it is they find, both to the community and to the police department and to the city administration,” Finnel continued.

The Social Justice & Equity Commission will co-design the city’s own oversight model with other stakeholders.

Public Safety Committee, police department, and community are co-designers on the ‘First phase’

A meeting last May 24 revealed that the equity commission will co-design the city’s own oversight model with the Community Livability & Public Safety Committee, OPD, and the community.

“Our first phase of co-design is building conditions, bringing people to the table, ensuring what's in it for others, who we working with, what matters to them,” Martin said.

This meeting started the first phase, where the equity commission holds individual co-design sessions in each stakeholder group.

Martin presented information on community oversight models, including common goals and principles of oversight, best practices, and various structures.

Four models of oversight ‘unique’ to each city

Martin elaborated on the four existing models used by other cities.

• Full-time civilian investigators- have highly specialized training to be able to review cases.

“Civilian-led investigations may increase community trust in the investigation process, right? And so again, creating that space for transparency, creating that space for folks to feel like the process is more open,” said Martin.

• Investigation focus model- an individual or a board is given the authorization to be able to complete investigations, and they can agree or disagree with the findings.

“Community review of investigations may increase public trust in the process. Sometimes you'll see models that contrast with whatever the decision was internally, but still being able to have that ability to do that right and to be able to do their own investigation,” said Martin.

• Auditor-monitor focus model- similar to Olympia’s police auditor, the model emerged due to political agreements between committee activists and law enforcement agencies.

“[It] creates a more robust reporting than other models. You see a lot more content, and these models promote long-term system change. Police departments tend to be less expensive than full investigative agencies, but more expensive than review-focus models,” Martin said.

• Hybrid model- contains elements from all three models, pieces together different things, and intelligently addresses the community’s needs.

“Sometimes, models build on top of each other, sometimes they divide the work into different commissions, boards, [or] agencies. And these are becoming more common because people are embracing different pieces and components of different models and structures. They're all really kind of being able to bring together the things that they need, the ‘most right’ for their communities to be able to serve them, maybe a modification of a previous oversight agency or previous oversight model,” Martin said.

Martin also discussed the draft principles and goals of oversight.

Principles:

1. Independence
2. Clearly defined inadequate jurisdiction and authority
3. Unfettered access to records and facilities
4. Access to Law Enforcement, Executives, and Internal Affairs staff
5. Full cooperation
6. Sustained stakeholder support
7. Adequate funding and operational resources
8. Public reporting and transparency
9. Policy, patterns, and practice analysis
10. Community outreach
11. Community involvement
12. Confidentiality, anonymity, and protection from retaliation
13. Procedural justice and legitimacy

Goals:

1. Accessible and easy complaint process
2. Fair, objective, and bias-free investigations
3. Improved public confidence and trust
4. Improved policies, practices, and training through data analysis
5. Transparent and accountable programs and services

The second phase, the collaboration of each stakeholder group, will occur after the individual co-design sessions of the Public Safety Committee, OPD, and community.