NCJ Number
204135
Date Published
January 2004
Length
41 pages
Annotation
Based on a background paper produced by the West Virginia Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, this paper summarizes the Committee's research to date and addresses three major themes: the ongoing problem of police brutality and existing disciplinary structure in the State, past legislative attempts to reform disciplinary procedures and the experiences of two recent review boards established in Bluefield and Charleston, and alternative models and methods used successfully in other parts of the country.
Abstract
Faced with continuing instances of police misconduct or brutality in West Virginia, civil rights advocates, legislators, and citizens have often expressed their desire for different methods of police discipline. Recommendations have included the establishment of review boards composed of citizen appointees to examine each allegation of misconduct and recommend discipline for offending officers. The West Virginia House of Delegates has attempted to enact review boards virtually every year since 1998. All were designed to create a State police review board to hear complaints against State police personnel and provide for the disposition of citizen complaints. Each time, however, members of the law enforcement community opposed these efforts, and proposed legislation often did not make it out of committee for floor vote. Only two jurisdictions, Bluefield and Charleston, have established local police review boards. Since its creation on December 1, 2000, the Bluefield Review Board has had no cases of police misconduct reported to the board. Civilian board members have participated in ride-alongs with police officers to gain an understanding of how the department conducts its responsibilities. In Charleston, the City Council dissolved the board in August 2000; the board's duties, which were mainly advisory and limited to making recommendations, were transferred to the city's public safety committee. The concluding chapter of this report profiles alternative models for police disciplinary procedures that have been successfully used in other jurisdictions throughout the country. The model types are as follows: external controls (civilian review board, independent monitor/auditor, independent investigator, special prosecutor); accountability and identification of rogue officers (accountability: incentive strategy, and identification: pre-emptive evaluations); and improving community relations (community policing, recruiting minorities, and awareness and use-of-force training). 2 tables and appended supplementary materials