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166
The Tyisha Miller shooting occurred on December 28, 1998, one week before
newly elected Attorney General Bill Lockyer took office. Within weeks, staff from
the Attorney General’s Office were talking with Riverside leaders about the incident.
As the investigation progressed, the AG’s Office and key City officials, which
included the Mayor, City Manager, City Attorney, and Interim Police Chief,
collaborated on immediate actions to address police accountability. As they were
conducting their investigation, the AG’s Office supported and encouraged several
key initiatives by the City. In fact, the Mayor’s Use of Force Panel and its
recommendations were the start of the reform process.
Before the investigation concluded or the agreement was signed, the City
began implementing reforms that were later incorporated into the stipulated
judgment. In addition, as the City negotiated a new contract with the Riverside
Police Officers Association, the AG’s Office encouraged the City to enhance the
benefits and compensation of its officers. It was clear to the AG’s team that the RPD
was behind comparable police agencies in the compensation of its personnel. The
parties realized that high-quality officers would be essential to reforming the police
department. The City initiated these and other important changes because they had a
good working relationship with the AG’s staff. The relationship helped bridge
common tensions that often occur when an outside agency carries out institutional
reform litigation. Instead of being overly defensive or digging in its heels, the City
recognized the problems in the RPD, and tried to make constructive changes.
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 178 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 166 The Tyisha Miller shooting occurred on December 28, 1998, one week before newly elected Attorney General Bill Lockyer took office. Within weeks, staff from the Attorney General’s Office were talking with Riverside leaders about the incident. As the investigation progressed, the AG’s Office and key City officials, which included the Mayor, City Manager, City Attorney, and Interim Police Chief, collaborated on immediate actions to address police accountability. As they were conducting their investigation, the AG’s Office supported and encouraged several key initiatives by the City. In fact, the Mayor’s Use of Force Panel and its recommendations were the start of the reform process. Before the investigation concluded or the agreement was signed, the City began implementing reforms that were later incorporated into the stipulated judgment. In addition, as the City negotiated a new contract with the Riverside Police Officers Association, the AG’s Office encouraged the City to enhance the benefits and compensation of its officers. It was clear to the AG’s team that the RPD was behind comparable police agencies in the compensation of its personnel. The parties realized that high-quality officers would be essential to reforming the police department. The City initiated these and other important changes because they had a good working relationship with the AG’s staff. The relationship helped bridge common tensions that often occur when an outside agency carries out institutional reform litigation. Instead of being overly defensive or digging in its heels, the City recognized the problems in the RPD, and tried to make constructive changes. |
