Santa Rosa police auditor: Change internal investigations process
The Santa Rosa Police Department is changing how it conducts its internal personnel investigations, from allegations of officer misconduct to use of force, as part of a push by a civilian auditor hired by the city to improve its police services.
Based on the recommendation of the auditor, Palo Alto-based attorney Bob Aaronson, the department has created a new professional standards unit to conduct the most serious internal investigations, a move designed to build a layer of separation between officers and supervisors investigating their actions and to promote more thorough reviews into incidents.
Aaronson has been working behind the scenes at the department for about 16 months and today will present to the City Council a report on his work, a first glimpse of what independent police oversight might provide the city. His 17-page report gives little detail about the personnel investigations he’s reviewed and what they reveal about the department.
The creation of a professional standards unit was his strongest recommendation.
“I think the department is doing really well, but there are some real challenges in front of it. Some of the challenges are internal, some of the challenges are external,” Aaronson said.
While Aaronson described how he spent his time over the past year - about 66 hours riding with officers in the field, reviewing 310 videos from officer body cameras - his report gives no detail about what he observed.
Aaronson said in the report he’s looked into “about half a dozen incidents and some officer behaviors that I’ve found troubling,” but he noted California law prohibits him from elaborating on the specific details of those events.
He also provides no information about the nature of complaints and how they were resolved. Aaronson said he agreed with every single conclusion reached by the department’s internal investigations into:
88 personnel complaints,
58 internal use of force reviews,
9 pursuit reviews,
6 vehicle accident reviews, and
3 firearm discharge reviews.
Aaronson said he didn’t provide information about how the 2016 complaints were resolved because he believes that information should be provided by the Police Department.
From 2013 through 2015, Santa Rosa police received on average 84 complaints each year, according to the department’s annual report for 2015. Of those, 20 percent were sustained and 63 percent were unfounded. The remaining 17 percent were listed as either inconclusive, exonerated or resolved.
Police Chief Hank Schreeder said the department is still compiling data on the resolution of 2016 internal investigations.
Aaronson was hired in 2015, just as Sonoma County was poised to announce its first independent law enforcement auditor for the Sheriff’s Office, Jerry Threet.
The two auditors, heading up the first civilian oversight of policing programs on the North Coast, were established in the aftermath of the 2013 shooting of Santa Rosa middle school student Andy Lopez by a sheriff’s deputy, an event that sparked renewed calls for independent review of police personnel investigations. Nationally, civilian oversight programs have been gaining ground and were a key recommendation for improving police-community relations by the Obama administration’s groundbreaking “President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing” report on police reform.
Without context for the types of complaints and how they were resolved, the public gains little from having an auditor, said LaDoris Cordell, a retired judge and the former police auditor in San Jose, who is an outspoken proponent of civilian oversight of law enforcement.
Cordell said successful auditor programs provide as much detail as the law allows when it comes to troubling incidents, misconduct, trends and the results of investigations. Strong programs also conduct extensive outreach in the community, she said.
“History shows us when there is sunshine, there is less likely to be corruption. It’s especially important for policing that there be accountability,” Cordell said.
Aaronson said he’s met with more than a dozen community members and attended seven meetings with community groups.
Schreeder said Aaronson is embedded in the department with an office and full access to personnel, body camera videos, reports and other information. Schreeder said he feels Aaronson has been successful by helping them see procedures, such as complaint investigations, with fresh eyes and incorporate new ideas.
“I’d make the argument that him being integrated into the department, he has access to everything in the department, including internal investigations, makes him more of a change agent within the organization,” Schreeder said.
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