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61
(RPD) responded and rushed to the scene. After repeated attempts to rouse her with
shouts, the officers smashed a window of the vehicle. Officers claimed that Miller
reached for a gun that was cradled in her lap. The officers then opened fire,
emptying their weapons at Miller. In total, 24 shots were fired; 12 shots hit Miller,
killing her instantly. Initial police accounts suggested that she fired the gun at the
officers; this was later determined to be untrue.24 The response from the public and
police critics was swift. The officers’ actions were derided as excessive (Gorman
1999a, B3).
Investigating the Riverside Police Department
Following the shooting death of Miller, the Riverside County District
Attorney, with the assistance of the California Attorney General’s Office, conducted
a criminal investigation of the four officers involved in the shooting. The
participation of prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office in the investigation
and charging decision was unusual and unprecedented. It marked the first and thus
far only time that attorneys from both the office’s Criminal Division and the then
newly formed Civil Rights Section conducted a parallel investigation along with a
local District Attorney in determining whether to bring criminal charges in a local
criminal investigation (Verdugo 2008). Following a lengthy investigation, neither
the District Attorney’s Office nor the Attorney General’s Office decided to pursue
criminal action against the individual officers (Ichinaga 2000, 1). However, the
Attorney General questioned the defective methods utilized by these officers in
24 According to the toxicology report, Miller tested positive for marijuana and had a blood alcohol
level of .13, one and a half times the legal limit for driving (Stokes and Danelski 1999, B2).
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 73 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 61 (RPD) responded and rushed to the scene. After repeated attempts to rouse her with shouts, the officers smashed a window of the vehicle. Officers claimed that Miller reached for a gun that was cradled in her lap. The officers then opened fire, emptying their weapons at Miller. In total, 24 shots were fired; 12 shots hit Miller, killing her instantly. Initial police accounts suggested that she fired the gun at the officers; this was later determined to be untrue.24 The response from the public and police critics was swift. The officers’ actions were derided as excessive (Gorman 1999a, B3). Investigating the Riverside Police Department Following the shooting death of Miller, the Riverside County District Attorney, with the assistance of the California Attorney General’s Office, conducted a criminal investigation of the four officers involved in the shooting. The participation of prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office in the investigation and charging decision was unusual and unprecedented. It marked the first and thus far only time that attorneys from both the office’s Criminal Division and the then newly formed Civil Rights Section conducted a parallel investigation along with a local District Attorney in determining whether to bring criminal charges in a local criminal investigation (Verdugo 2008). Following a lengthy investigation, neither the District Attorney’s Office nor the Attorney General’s Office decided to pursue criminal action against the individual officers (Ichinaga 2000, 1). However, the Attorney General questioned the defective methods utilized by these officers in 24 According to the toxicology report, Miller tested positive for marijuana and had a blood alcohol level of .13, one and a half times the legal limit for driving (Stokes and Danelski 1999, B2). |
