HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 07-24 Shootings by officers prompt push for police oversight STAR TRIBUNE7/25/2016
Shootings by officers prompt push for police oversight- StarTribune.com
ST. PAUL
Shootings by officers prompt local and
federal pushes for police oversight
Shootings by officers lead to call for transparency.
By Jessie Van Berkel (http://www.startribune.com/jessie-van-berkel/280701532/) Star Tribune
JULY 24, 2016 - 9:52PM
After a St. Anthony police officer fatally shot Philando Castile, the calls to Maplewood
Police Chief Paul Schnell started rolling in. City leaders asked him: Where do we sit?
Could this happen here? What are our policies?
Two weeks later, the suburban community is creating a citizen work group to review
police use -of -force policies and training. It joins a relatively small but growing number
of Minnesota cities with citizen oversight groups. Such boards, recommended in a
national report on policing best practices, are seen as an important step to build trust
between officers and the communities they serve.
High-profile police shootings, including the death of Castile, have spurred a "huge
increase" in the number of cities across the country adding some form of civilian
oversight, said Liana Perez, director of operations at the National Association for
Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. The nonprofit has worked to improve police
oversight for more than two decades. In the past two years, its membership has jumped
by nearly 30 percent, Perez said.
"More and more departments are realizing it's in their best interest," said Doug Bowen -
Bailey, president of Duluth's Citizen Review Board. "Police chiefs are recognizing if you
do it well and you do it in partnership rather than an antagonistic way ... it really can be
a benefit for everyone involved."
But many people question the effectiveness of review commissions in Minnesota. In
2012, state legislators passed a law barring the commissions from imposing discipline on
police or making determinations about complaints against officers. The groups can only
offer recommendations about whether a complaint should be sustained and an officer
disciplined.
Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL -Minneapolis, is on a quest to undo those limitations and require
that every local government that oversees a law enforcement agency establish a citizen
oversight council. St. Paul NAACP President Jeff Martin is not optimistic that Dibble's
proposed legislation will pass. But if it did, he said it would completely alter the role of
oversight boards like the one in St. Paul.
"[The review commission] would actually mean something," Martin said. "It's more
symbolic than anything right now."
21st -century policing
Dibble said he is using the report from President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century
Policing as a guide for his proposed legislation.
The task force's extensive recommendations, published in May 2015, aim to "strengthen
community policing and trust among law enforcement officers and the communities
they serve."
The report says every community should come up with some form of civilian oversight,
and the U.S. Department of Justice should study best practices and potentially offer
funding to support local oversight efforts. The report also said cities should create
serious -incident review boards, made up of sworn officers and community members, to
review cases like officer -involved shootings.
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7/25/2016
Shootings by officers prompt push for police oversight- StarTribune.com
Last week, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Police Chief Todd Axtell attended a
roundtable discussion on 21st -century policing with the president, city leaders from
across the country and civil rights advocates.
"The biggest takeaway today was the importance of community engagement," Axtell
said after the meeting. "It just illustrates the clear need of why we have to continue to
engage our communities to build trust and transparency and legitimacy, which is more
important now than ever in the history of law enforcement."
The relationships between police and St. Paul residents are strong, Coleman said after
the meeting.
When community members expressed concern about St. Paul's Police -Civilian Internal
Affairs Review Commission, the city had University of Minnesota researchers audit it.
They recommended changes last year that would build the public's confidence in the
board, Coleman said. The city is starting to implement some of the suggestions.
Remove officer input?
St. Paul review commission member Sue Trupiano said that their most recent meeting
was the first time internal affairs investigators did not tell the group whether they think
a complaint against an officer should be sustained or not. They left the board to reach
its own conclusions, which are passed along to the police chief who makes the final
decisions.
But, on one of the most contentious recommended changes — removing two police
union members who are voting members of the board — Coleman has not yet
announced how he thinks the city should proceed.
"The community was very loud and clear: they don't want officers on there," said
Martin, with the NAACP. Having officers vote on decisions about other police
undermines the fairness and impartiality of the process, he said.
David Titus, president of the St. Paul Police Federation, said the makeup of the board
should not change.
"The perspective of the person who works in the industry is particularly important,"
Titus said. "It doesn't make any sense to take those officers off."
Coleman will decide by the end of summer and any ordinance changes will go before the
City Council in September, mayor's office spokeswoman Tonya Tennessen said.
No single model
Other civilian review boards in Minnesota vary in their makeup and focus.
Two citizens and two members of law enforcement work together on Minneapolis'
Conduct Review Panel to determine if there is evidence to support allegations against
officers. An all -civilian Police Conduct Oversight Commission then audits the panel's
decisions and identifies policy issues.
In Duluth, the board does not review individual officer issues. It just looks at broad
policy concerns. Rochester's oversight commission, created last year, reviews both
complaints and policies. Those two outstate cities do not have current sworn officers on
their boards, but St. Cloud's oversight group does.
"There are no two entities that are alike," said Perez, with the National Association for
Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement.
But when it comes to officers' involvement with review boards, she said the best practice
is clear: They can provide information and education, but should not vote.
"If it truly is citizen oversight, it really needs to be the community," Perez said.
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7/25/2016
Jessie.VanBerkel@startribune.com
Shootings by officers prompt push for police oversight- StarTribune.com
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