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117
Reforms Designed to Improve Accountability
The need for greater police accountability in Riverside was another major
objective of the reforms in the stipulated judgment. The judgment called for the
RPD to annually collect traffic stop information, analyze the data, and then provide a
report to the AG. The RPD was also required to establish a system for monitoring
roll calls. Moreover, the public complaint procedure had to be changed to include
the race and gender of the person making the complaint, and the reason for any stop
related to a complaint, and a procedure for documenting this information had to be
developed so that investigators could more thoroughly review complaints. Further,
credibility determinations59 had to account for the officer’s complaint and personnel
history. In addition, the RPD was directed to implement a system to review and
randomly audit complaints and investigations a minimum of three times a year
(People v Riverside 2001).
The decree also required the department to perform personnel evaluations on
all officers, and reprimand supervisors who did not complete the officer assessments
in a timely manner. Moreover, the department was required to ensure that there was
management supervision for all shifts, including the assignment of lieutenants
instead of sergeants as Watch Commanders. The RPD also had to extend the length
of probation for sergeants from six months to 12 months. The judgment also set
forth changes in the job specifications of personnel, requiring the RPD to consider
59 During an investigation of a complaint, the policy required that Internal Affairs (IA) articulate the
reasons why it found one witness more credible than another. This is called a credibility
determination.
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 129 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 117 Reforms Designed to Improve Accountability The need for greater police accountability in Riverside was another major objective of the reforms in the stipulated judgment. The judgment called for the RPD to annually collect traffic stop information, analyze the data, and then provide a report to the AG. The RPD was also required to establish a system for monitoring roll calls. Moreover, the public complaint procedure had to be changed to include the race and gender of the person making the complaint, and the reason for any stop related to a complaint, and a procedure for documenting this information had to be developed so that investigators could more thoroughly review complaints. Further, credibility determinations59 had to account for the officer’s complaint and personnel history. In addition, the RPD was directed to implement a system to review and randomly audit complaints and investigations a minimum of three times a year (People v Riverside 2001). The decree also required the department to perform personnel evaluations on all officers, and reprimand supervisors who did not complete the officer assessments in a timely manner. Moreover, the department was required to ensure that there was management supervision for all shifts, including the assignment of lieutenants instead of sergeants as Watch Commanders. The RPD also had to extend the length of probation for sergeants from six months to 12 months. The judgment also set forth changes in the job specifications of personnel, requiring the RPD to consider 59 During an investigation of a complaint, the policy required that Internal Affairs (IA) articulate the reasons why it found one witness more credible than another. This is called a credibility determination. |
