Santa Rosa to delay pick on new police watchdog until appointment of new chief

Santa Rosa is postponing selection of its next law enforcement watchdog, with a plan to wait until it hires a new police chief before picking an ombudsman to oversee law enforcement operations.

The move comes after the unceremonious departure of the previous police auditor, who opened a public rift with the City Council after critiquing its efforts to address homelessness.

The auditor evaluates internal investigations of misconduct complaints and use of force involving Santa Rosa police officers, makes recommendations for improving how the department holds its staff accountable, and conducts independent investigations in certain cases, according to city staff and public records.

Two unidentified consultants have applied for the job over the four-week application period that closed April 10. A previous six-week application period, opened shortly after former police auditor Bob Aaronson’s contract expired in December, generated no responses.

Aaronson, a Palo Alto attorney who also has held similar roles in Davis and Santa Cruz, was first hired to work for Santa Rosa in 2014 and was hired on an ongoing basis in 2016.

He was on the outs with the city after a November meeting in which Aaronson and several council members went back and forth over his most recent report on the Police Department’s internal workings - but mainly over his assessment that Santa Rosa’s efforts to address homelessness had been ineffective.

His tenure produced at least three reports for the city: one a confidential review of 60 personnel investigations and two public reports covering internal Santa Rosa police investigations in 2016 and 2017. His contract expired before he could submit a report on his work in 2018.

Santa Rosa officials are set to interview the two present applicants before negotiating contract terms. Aaronson’s contract called for him to be paid $11,000 per month.

The city will wait, though, ?until the Santa Rosa Police Department has a new full-time leader to allow its future chief to be involved. In Santa Rosa, police auditors report to the city manager but work closely with police officials.

“The city hopes to complete the police chief hiring process and have someone on board by July 2019 or sooner,” said spokeswoman Adriane Mertens, adding that the process of hiring a police auditor “has been paused until the new chief is on board.”

Santa Rosa Police Chief Hank Schreeder, who plans to retire in about two weeks’ time, was not available for an interview Tuesday due to being out of town, according to a police spokeswoman.

The selection of a new police auditor comes as Santa Rosa and its police department continue to withhold records detailing internal investigations into misconduct by officers and serious uses of force dated before Jan. 1. That’s when a new state law meant to offer the public a window into police personnel inquiries took effect.

Prior California law barred public disclosure of such records, including sustained findings of wrongdoing by officers, though civilian watchdogs such as Aaronson were allowed access to make observations and findings.

City officials have broken from a growing number of law enforcement agencies county- and statewide and said would not release past cases until California Supreme Court resolves a case dealing with so-called “Brady lists,” which include internal police records on cops deemed untrustworthy.

Sonoma County recently released its first set of internal records under the new law earlier this month. Separately, county supervisors last month approved their own new law enforcement watchdog, local defense attorney, Karlene Navarro of Petaluma. She is set to succeed Jerry Threet as the second director of the county’s Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach.

You can reach Staff Writer Will Schmitt at 707-521-5207 or will.schmitt@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @wsreports.