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31
complaint systems, to develop policies for using force, and to hire and promote more
African Americans in policing (National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders
1968, 17).
Public awareness of police brutality and criticisms by blue-ribbon
commissions such as the Kerner Commission prompted calls for change in police
practices in the 1960s and 1970s. Equally important was the changing legal
landscape. Indeed, several seminal Supreme Court decisions during this time period
provided additional impetus to change policing strategies, and continue to impact
policing practices to this day (Walker 1999, 34). Perhaps partially in response to
police abuses in the late 1950s and 1960s, citizens were granted greater
constitutional protections against illegal searches and seizures and self-incrimination,
and governmental entities were exposed to liability for police misconduct.
In Mapp v Ohio (1961), the Supreme Court held that evidence obtained
through an illegal search and seizure was inadmissible in court. Mapp v Ohio
prompted prosecutors and police departments to improve their policing techniques to
ensure evidence was admitted, including obtaining more search warrants prior to
conducting searches (Walker 1999, 34; Walker 1998, 183). In Miranda v Arizona
(1966), the Supreme Court ruled that statements made by a person in police custody
cannot be used unless the suspect is advised that “he has a right to remain silent, that
any statement he does make may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a
right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed” (444; Walker 1998,
182). In Monell v Department of Social Services of the City of New York (1978), the
Object Description
| Title | Policing accountability: an empirical investigation of state-sponsored police reform in Riverside, California |
| Author | Gomez, Jose Adolfo |
| Author email | jagclash@yahoo.com; jgomez@treasurer.ca.gov |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Political Science |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-08-01 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Restricted until 13 Oct. 2010. |
| Date published | 2010-10-13 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Renteln, Alison Dundes |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Newland, Chester A. Wong, Janelle S. |
| Abstract | The police have the ability to detain, arrest, and use force when necessary. Police accountability is thus of paramount concern to the public. Numerous examples of police misconduct, including cases of excessive force, brutality, and corruption, appear regularly via the news media. These incidents often evidence systemic organizational problems in law enforcement agencies. Scholars have observed that attempts at police reform have placed too much emphasis on individuals behaving badly, rather than on the systemic problems of the police department.; Beginning in the second half of the 1990s, federal and state Attorneys General began employing institutional reform litigation, in the form of consent decrees, to reform law enforcement agencies and enhance police accountability. The consent decrees were crafted to address systemic organizational dysfunction in local police departments. The United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) conducted most of these reform interventions. However, a notable exception was the settlement agreement between the Attorney General of the State of California and the City of Riverside, California.; There has been little research on the efficacy of these efforts to rehabilitate law enforcement agencies. This analysis is a case study of the effectiveness of the institutional reform intervention by the California Attorney General into the Riverside Police Department (RPD). The detailed examination revealed that the intervention produced constructive changes in the way the RPD conducts its business. The RPD became more professional, effective, transparent and accountable as it implemented the provisions of the consent decree, demonstrating that institutional reform litigation can result in meaningful police reform. The shadow of the law was ever present, encouraging an ethos of cooperation and exerting pressure for meaningful organizational change. The Riverside experience suggests that a facilitative oversight style produces constructive collaboration between the parties, improving the likelihood of durable police reform. Moreover, consent decrees to correct systemic police misconduct should not be the exclusive purview of the USDOJ. State Attorneys General can effectively initiate police reform and in some cases state intervention is a more appropriate alternative. |
| Keyword | institutional reform; police reform; police accountability; state attorney's general; police misconduct; organizational change; consent decrees |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Riverside |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Coverage date | 1993/2008 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1664 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Gomez, Jose Adolfo |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Gomez-2358 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume29/etd-Gomez-2358.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 43 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 31 complaint systems, to develop policies for using force, and to hire and promote more African Americans in policing (National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders 1968, 17). Public awareness of police brutality and criticisms by blue-ribbon commissions such as the Kerner Commission prompted calls for change in police practices in the 1960s and 1970s. Equally important was the changing legal landscape. Indeed, several seminal Supreme Court decisions during this time period provided additional impetus to change policing strategies, and continue to impact policing practices to this day (Walker 1999, 34). Perhaps partially in response to police abuses in the late 1950s and 1960s, citizens were granted greater constitutional protections against illegal searches and seizures and self-incrimination, and governmental entities were exposed to liability for police misconduct. In Mapp v Ohio (1961), the Supreme Court held that evidence obtained through an illegal search and seizure was inadmissible in court. Mapp v Ohio prompted prosecutors and police departments to improve their policing techniques to ensure evidence was admitted, including obtaining more search warrants prior to conducting searches (Walker 1999, 34; Walker 1998, 183). In Miranda v Arizona (1966), the Supreme Court ruled that statements made by a person in police custody cannot be used unless the suspect is advised that “he has a right to remain silent, that any statement he does make may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed” (444; Walker 1998, 182). In Monell v Department of Social Services of the City of New York (1978), the |
