Police Accountability Through Citizen Review, Essay Example

Citizens of counties and cities throughout the United States make every effort to make police accountable for their police powers including justification of “force, officer misconduct, domestic violence, false arrest and harassment.” (“Tacoma Human Rights Commission”). There are independent offices outside police department in every major city and some smaller cities set up to deter police to keep police department in check for their actions. A citizen review board particularly comprised by the city council reviews complaints filed by citizens with regards to police conduct. The city manager is in charge of regularly reviewing such complaints and making recommendations whether police officers should come to review for any complaints made against them.

Citizen oversight is considered an ‘early warning device’ for police intervention or police abuse of powers because it keeps police from continuously abusing powers and their abuse from escalating. The means justifies the ends by keeping a close eye on their track by having a constant eye on their daily dealings with the public with regards to how citizens are treated. Citizens must be treated accordingly to the law and human rights. The independent agency monitors the complaints and whether it will be investigated including disposition of the complaint. They determine if the complaint will be forwarded to the Police Department for further investigation. The review board has authority “to request classification of a complaint within (7) days of an initial complaint being filed and if not complied with the Police Chief must mandate in writing why the classification was denied. This gives total accountability to the review board and power to the board. The review board has total power to make recommendations if it does not agree with the classification of the Police Chief after the (7) day waiting period. The review board has authority to hold hearings with regards to citizen complaints and the public has the authority to be present at these open hearings.

The sustain rate simply questions whether there is enough “supporting evidence of an allegation or complaint to justify disciplinary action against a police officer.” (Hickman, 2006). Obviously the higher the sustain rate the better the ratings and chance for the citizen oversight agencies to have police officers disciplined for their negligent or wrong acts whilst on the job. It goes to say if an independent operation has some control over holding the police department accountable thorough various measures and their success rate is dependent upon their success rate then the higher their success rate the potential their future success rate rests on their progress with present success rates. They must keep the community involvement and the avid workers involved in the progress to ensure future success of police accountability.

Statistics show in many large and small cities approximately, “thirty-four percent (34% were not sustained and only eight (8%) were sustained”. (Hickman, 2006). With these percentages, this makes it very difficult for the job of citizen review panels in the future to hold police officers accountable for their actions of misconduct. “Twenty-five percent (25%) were unfounded. (Hickman, 2006). The volume of complaints sampled was in the nature of about 2,100.

References

Tacoma Human Rights Commission (2010) Retrieved May 20, 2010 from, http://www.ci.tacoma.wa.us/cronews/CitizenOversightProposal.pdf

Hickman, M. (2006) Citizen Complaints about Police Use of Force Retrieved May 20, 2010 from, http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/ccpuf.pdf

Albuquerque Official Website (2007) Retrieved May 20, 2010 from, http://www.cabq.gov/progress/governmental-excellence-effectiveness/dcc-49/indicator-49-2