September 20, 2007

Council ‘clarifies’ police auditor role

Independent police auditor calls it a step backward

By Carol Rosen
Editor

One of the more important issues at Tues-day’s city council meeting concerned the role of the independent police auditor (IPA).

In a measure where the debate included explanations by Police Chief Rob Davis and City Attorney Rick Doyle and a certain degree of confusion among council members, the city council voted 10-1 to allow the IPA to attend San Jose Police Department review panels when suspects die after being subdued with Tasers, guns or other types of force. The panels are designed to learn from mistakes made during an incident and train officers to eliminate those in the future.

The independent auditor, Barbara Attard, previously only sat on panels for officer-involved shootings. Tues-day’s vote expanded her role on the training panels to include the additional deaths from other use of force.

She had hoped the vote would provide her the authority to determine if officers used force according to department policy. Doyle explained that the city charter does not allow for a change in the status of IPA duties. In order for her to investigate, the charter has to be changed by a vote of the people, he said.

Attard called the plan a “step backward. I lost the authority to audit the officer involved,” she said.

Madison Nguyen was the lone opposing vote. “I’m not ready to support moving backward.” She earlier noted that the entire situation is a very “sensitive issue. It’s human, not a policy issue” and one in which she wanted clarity on all issues. Some of the people who die may not have family or friends to question the death, she said, and thus there will be no complaint filed with the IPA.

Last June the council unanimously passed 21 points delineating police related reports. Among these, number 11 confirmed “the IPA’s existing authority to review officer-involved shooting and in-custody death cases. “

That point included a request for Doyle to report on the litigation impacts of moving all in-custody deaths resulting from force to the same level of auditing by the IPA as officer-involved shootings. He was also instructed to “analyze county-wide protocol for in-custody deaths and clarify the distinction between in-custody deaths and critical incidents.”

The recommendation in front of Tuesday’s council was written by Mayor Chuck Reed, Vice Mayor Dave Cortese and Councilmember Pete Constant, a retired police officer. The sticking point was the second item, which was amended to “direct the city manager to review all death cases that follow the use of force to some level of review by the IPA as officer involved shootings within the limits of the city charter. This direction is subject to the meet and confer process.”

Chief Davis explained that these meetings include a panel of 14 people using the findings of the department’s homicide unit, the district attorney’s office that conducts a separate investigation, the department’s internal affairs investigation, a review of the coroner’s findings as well as information from the county’s grand jury. The panel reviewing these findings includes the IPA, police and city attorney among others.

Davis told the Times he “appreciated the clarification that the city attorney and the mayor have given in terms of the role the IPA plays in terms of the process. Her role is to review the complaint process and maintain a healthy checks and balance system…We (the SJPD) will do everything we can to maintain the excellent relationship with the community that we enjoy.”

However, the majority of 12 public speakers were against the recommendation and said they felt the amendment would “roll back the duties of the IPA,” said one speaker.

Another claimed the item “takes power from the IPA and gives it to the city manager, who is not separate or independent.”

Yet another complained that he felt “cheated unless the IPA gets extended duties.”

Another had “serious problems with the city attorney’s readings [of the city charter]. The police are playing a game of hide the ball with the information. I reject this attempt. In-custody deaths resulting from force needs oversight.”

But Constant, one of the authors of the recommendations, said he believed that the council had “reaffirmed the intent of the council. We clarified the role of the IPA and what that office should be doing.”

Other council business included initiation of community traffic calming meetings. Chaired by District 6 Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio, the outreach meetings are set to begin in early October and be completed by the end of November and likely will be held in each council district, although areas that merge may hold combined meetings.

A report will be written—by Oliverio and the Department of Transportation—following the completion of the meetings and presented to the Transportation and Environmental Committees in December for inclusion in next year’s budget.