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58
California Constitution, the Attorney General filed the complaint and consent decree
in state superior court rather than in federal court.
The emergence of federal and state intervention in local police reform has
become the “new paradigm of police accountability” (Walker 2003, 3, 6). This shift
in reform methodology marks the advent of a new era in American police reform
efforts. Institutional reform litigation has provided a powerful instrument to
authorities seeking to overhaul troubled police agencies (Livingston 1999, 822). The
threat of litigation, with its attendant adverse publicity and significant expense, is
perhaps the strongest driving force prompting local police departments to acquiesce
to compelled reforms.
The resulting consent decrees and agreements have incorporated much of the
collective contemporary scholarship on police reform. Walker has identified an
“emerging consensus of opinion” on the most effective policies for improving police
accountability (Walker 2003, 6). Among these are:
(a) a comprehensive use-of-force reporting system, (b) an open and
accessible citizen complaint system, (c) an early intervention (or warning)
system to identify potential “problem” officers, and (d) the collection of data
on traffic stops for the purpose of curbing racial profiling (Walker 2003, 6-7).
These principles have appeared in one form or another in most if not all of the
agreements, and they have been captured in a January 2001 report by the United
States Department of Justice entitled Principles for Promoting Police Integrity:
Examples of Promising Police Practices and Policies (U.S. Dept. of Justice 2001;
Walker 2003, 7).
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 70 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 58 California Constitution, the Attorney General filed the complaint and consent decree in state superior court rather than in federal court. The emergence of federal and state intervention in local police reform has become the “new paradigm of police accountability” (Walker 2003, 3, 6). This shift in reform methodology marks the advent of a new era in American police reform efforts. Institutional reform litigation has provided a powerful instrument to authorities seeking to overhaul troubled police agencies (Livingston 1999, 822). The threat of litigation, with its attendant adverse publicity and significant expense, is perhaps the strongest driving force prompting local police departments to acquiesce to compelled reforms. The resulting consent decrees and agreements have incorporated much of the collective contemporary scholarship on police reform. Walker has identified an “emerging consensus of opinion” on the most effective policies for improving police accountability (Walker 2003, 6). Among these are: (a) a comprehensive use-of-force reporting system, (b) an open and accessible citizen complaint system, (c) an early intervention (or warning) system to identify potential “problem” officers, and (d) the collection of data on traffic stops for the purpose of curbing racial profiling (Walker 2003, 6-7). These principles have appeared in one form or another in most if not all of the agreements, and they have been captured in a January 2001 report by the United States Department of Justice entitled Principles for Promoting Police Integrity: Examples of Promising Police Practices and Policies (U.S. Dept. of Justice 2001; Walker 2003, 7). |
