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63
raw surface,” (Gorov 1999, A1) and Newsweek reported that the city was “testing the
limits of tolerance” (Murr 1999, 32). Tensions continued to escalate after the
officers involved in the Miller shooting were fired. Officers shaved or cut their hair
very short in a showing of solidarity25 with the four officers who shot Miller (O’Neill
Hill 1999a, B1), prompting Congresswoman Maxine Waters to call the officers
“skinheads” and declaring that the behavior “sends a signal” that an investigation
into the police department is necessary (Murkland 1999, B1).
In response, the California Attorney General traveled to Riverside and
conferred with community leaders and concerned citizens to assess the validity of
allegations regarding racism in the RPD. One two-an-a-half hour meeting with local
and national civil rights leaders took place the afternoon of the largest protest
regarding the Tyisha Miller shooting. After the meeting, Anthony West, an aide to
Lockyer, told the press that the Attorney General
has seen where there’s a problem of racial bias in the Riverside Police
Department. . . . Racism anywhere is bad, but it is especially bad if it comes
with a badge and a gun. . . . The attorney general sees himself as someone
who can be the voice of moral outrage when appropriate. (Gorman and Ha
1999, B1)
These revealing meetings, coupled with allegations (later confirmed) uncovered
during the criminal investigation that RPD officers had made offensive racial slurs
following the Miller shooting, prompted the Attorney General to launch a wide-ranging
pattern and practice civil rights investigation of the RPD (Ichinaga 2000, 1;
Verdugo 2008).
25 Police Union President Jeffrey Joseph estimated that at least 100 officers cut their hair, roughly a
third of the police force (O’Neill Hill 1999b, B1).
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 75 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 63 raw surface,” (Gorov 1999, A1) and Newsweek reported that the city was “testing the limits of tolerance” (Murr 1999, 32). Tensions continued to escalate after the officers involved in the Miller shooting were fired. Officers shaved or cut their hair very short in a showing of solidarity25 with the four officers who shot Miller (O’Neill Hill 1999a, B1), prompting Congresswoman Maxine Waters to call the officers “skinheads” and declaring that the behavior “sends a signal” that an investigation into the police department is necessary (Murkland 1999, B1). In response, the California Attorney General traveled to Riverside and conferred with community leaders and concerned citizens to assess the validity of allegations regarding racism in the RPD. One two-an-a-half hour meeting with local and national civil rights leaders took place the afternoon of the largest protest regarding the Tyisha Miller shooting. After the meeting, Anthony West, an aide to Lockyer, told the press that the Attorney General has seen where there’s a problem of racial bias in the Riverside Police Department. . . . Racism anywhere is bad, but it is especially bad if it comes with a badge and a gun. . . . The attorney general sees himself as someone who can be the voice of moral outrage when appropriate. (Gorman and Ha 1999, B1) These revealing meetings, coupled with allegations (later confirmed) uncovered during the criminal investigation that RPD officers had made offensive racial slurs following the Miller shooting, prompted the Attorney General to launch a wide-ranging pattern and practice civil rights investigation of the RPD (Ichinaga 2000, 1; Verdugo 2008). 25 Police Union President Jeffrey Joseph estimated that at least 100 officers cut their hair, roughly a third of the police force (O’Neill Hill 1999b, B1). |
