Replying to citizens’ requests for improved police accountability, the Tacoma City Council approved a Citizen Review Panel in June 2005.  The Panel’s legislated role is to raise public awareness of the new automated complaint process, listen to community concerns, review police department policies and procedures, and make recommendations for change.  This is a summary of the July 2007 meeting.

As The News Tribune wrote, on April 4, 2007: “Union contracts prevent the review Panel from pursuing complaints of misconduct against individual officers. But it can weigh those complaints in judging the operations of the TPD” (Tacoma Police Department).

In further response to the need for police accountability, TPD is seeking accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., (CALEA®) [http://www.calea.org].  A 3-year process, the accreditation will be good for 3 years.

As part of this process, TPD is moving from a rules-based agency to one that is values-based, and converting its 800-page Manual of Revisions and Procedures (MRP) into separate Policies, Procedures, and Handbooks.  Handbooks will be used by specific groups and teams, such as SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) and Disorder Response (DiRT) Teams.

The Citizen Review Panel is creating a form for reviewing many of the policies and procedures as TPD develops them for a September completion of its new manual.  The proposed evaluation criteria are:

• Constitutionality and lawfulness;
• Demonstrates values in the Policy Manual sub-section 1.1 [Vision, Mission, Values];
• Reflects national standards and/or emulates best practices;
• Is positively regarded by the public;
• Includes the goals and objectives for the Policy’s existence;
• Uses common, clear language easily understood by a lay person.

Following the protests at the Port of Tacoma, TPD’s “use of force” policy was discussed at three Panel meetings.  The final after-action and lessons-learned reports probably will not be issued until after all the court cases are decided.

The first section of the new TPD Policies Manual, “Professional Expectations and Standards,” was distributed to the Panel.  The Panel also received a copy of the Policy Table of Contents, and decided which policies they will review before all of the policies are completed.  They declined to review policies guided by state or city laws or regulations, or the Human Resources Department.  The Disorder Response Team (DiRT) policy will be sent to the Panel before the August 6th meeting.

There is no reserve officer or auxiliary police force in Tacoma.  TPD does support Explorer Scouts.

The City’s Community Relations Office outlined some of the tools available to the Panel for its public information/education role.  Hayward is investigating the possibility of a Panel information page on the city’s website. 

TPD Chief Don Ramsdell provided URLs for two organizations, the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement [http://www.nacole.org], and the National Criminal Justice Reference Service [http://www.ncjrs.gov].  Another useful website for anyone interested in police oversight is the Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC) [http://www.parc.info/], with its “Review of National Police Oversight Models.”

Ramsdell and the Panel agreed to invite the heads of the 3 police unions to all of the Panel’s meetings, or to any specific meeting.  Ramsdell suggested the Panel address the daily turnouts (a.k.a. “roll call”), attend the TPD Citizens’ Academy, and accompany the police in the structured ride-alongs.

There is a citizen comment period at the end of each meeting.  Please attend any meetings you can so the city knows the citizens still care about the police as protectors of each and every citizen in every neighborhood.  If you wish to file a specific ethics or conduct complaint against a specific city employee, please use the Conduct Complaint Management System (CCMS). [http://www.cityoftacoma.org/conductcomplaints].  It will be public information unless the complaint is proved to be patently false.