NCJ Number
95071
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1984) Pages: 315-322
Date Published
1984
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The Police Internal Investigations Audit Committee, established by the city council of Portland, Ore., following incidents of police misconduct, has identified ways of improving police complaint procedures.
Abstract
Established in 1982, the committee is composed of city council members and eight citizen appointees. The committee is not a complaint review mechanism. Instead, it reviews the procedures used during the handling of a complaint. During the committee's first year of work, 17 citizen appeals were heard. The committee made nine recommendations for changes in police complaint processing. It also issued three reports to the general public, detailing the reasons for and nature of the changes requested. However, police and public confusion about the committee's function and frustration among some committee members regarding the committee's progress are problems. Although the relative merits of civilian review boards versus auditing committees are not yet clear, the committee's contribution to improving police-community relations is to show the police where their procedures obstruct the detection of misconduct and implicitly reward misconduct by favoring officers over citizens.