A study - Alliance for a Just Society

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9.RECOMMENDATIONSRECOMMENDATION: IMPROVE THE COMPLAINTPROCESS AND INSTITUTE A COMMUNITYREVIEW AUTHORITYThe Billings Police Department needs a communityreview authority to oversee the Department’sInternal Investigations. Many cities around thecountry have community review authorities thathave varying levels of involvement in the process.We recommend a review authority with thepower to review the Department’s internalinvestigations after the investigation is completeand recommend disciplinary action or furtherinvestigation.We recommend that Billings use the MinneapolisCivilian Police Review Authority (mcpra) as amodel. The mcpra is made up of 11 members, sixappointed by the city council, and five appointedby the mayor, subject to the approval of a majorityof the city council. The members serve forterms of four years. From the members, a chairpersonof the review authority is appointed bythe mayor, for a term of two years, subject to theapproval of a majority of the city council. Membersare residents of the city, and city residentscurrently or previously employed by the MinneapolisPolice Department are ineligible to serveas members of the authority. New members ofthe panel are trained in police use of force, thestate data practices act, Open Meeting law andstate Labor Relations Act and conflictof interest.The mcpra has authority to review claims of inappropriatebehavior including claims of use of excessiveforce; inappropriate language or attitude;harassment; discrimination in the provision ofpolice services or other discriminatory conducton the basis of race, color, creed, religion, ancestry,national origin, sex, affectional preference,disability or age or sexual orientation; theft; failureto provide adequate or timely police protection;and retaliation for filing a complaint withthe review authority. While the mcpra has paidstaff that conducts independent investigations,we recognize that it would be difficult for thecity of Billings to invest in a separate investigatorybody.Each month, panels of three board membersreview complaints, holding hearings as needed.The panel also compiles statistics relatingto complaints of police officer misconduct andpresents the results on a quarterly basis to acommittee of the city council, and review Departmentpolicies and training procedures andmakes recommendations for change. The mcprafacilitates, with the Department, appropriate culturalawareness training for sworn officers chosenby the review authority. It also participates inthe performance review of the chief of police. Inaddition to these duties, the community reviewauthority should have a role in the selection ofthe Chief of Police.In addition, the complaint process itself needs tobe overhauled. The informal complaint processshould be eliminated entirely. If a resident hasa complaint to make about an officer, that complaintshould be taken down as a formal complaint.The informal process has resulted in a netreduction of complaints, both formal and informal,as residents have been discouraged from filingformal complaints and informal complaintshave been ignored.Another essential step in making the complaintprocess more accessible is eliminating the secondpage of the complaint form, requiring thatthe complainant swear before a notary publicwith a warning of the penalties for false swearing.This page discourages people from filingcomplaints, and does not add anything tothe process.Finally, the Department should provide publicservice announcements and public meetingsexplaining the new process. The community haslost confidence in the Department, and needsto be informed about how to re-engage with theDepartment. Complaint forms should be madeavailable online, in self-serve stations withinthe Police Department and City Hall, and in atleast one location that is not within thePolice Department.The complaint process performs an importantservice for the Department as well as for theresidents of Billings. Timely investigation ofcomplaints allows the Department to retrain,discipline, or fire officers who cannot performappropriately, preventing the kind of lawsuitsthat have plagued the Department and cost thecity hundreds of thousands of dollars in the lastdecade. Every effort should be made to make thecomplaint process more accessible, and to thoroughlyinvestigate every claim.RECOMMENDATION: END THE INAPPROPRIATEUSE OF FORCEThe Billings Police Department is taking an importantfirst step toward addressing use of forceproblems by improving its use of force reporting.Chief of Police St. John reports that the Departmentwill soon have a method of recording andtracking use of force incidents in the Departmentcomputer system. This will greatly improve theDepartment’s ability to address misconduct by
officers before it becomes a pattern of behavior.The next step in the process of addressingthe Department’s problem will be to presentmonthly reports of use of force incidents to thecommunity review authority for oversight. Improvingthe Department’s complaint process toensure that each incident of inappropriate useof force is reported will ensure that all sourcesof information on the problem are accessed.RECOMMENDATION: IMPROVE HIRING AND TREAT-MENT OF MINORITY EMPLOYEES AND PUBLIC PARTICIPA-TION IN THE SELECTION OF THE CHIEF OF POLICEHIRINGThe department must develop a proactive planfor hiring women and people of color as officers.Residents of the city recognize that theuneven hiring policies of the Department playa role in the racial profiling, and racial and genderdiscrimination that Billings’ residentsare experiencing.Having an affirmative action policy is not enough.The Department must design and implement aneffective plan that has concrete steps to eliminatingthe hiring disparities that exist. The planshould include accountability measures that thecommunity review authority can apply yearly.The Department must make a serious commitmentto recruiting a diverse pool of applicants.Police departments in other cities have employeda number of strategies:DIVERSE RECRUITERS:The New Haven, Connecticut police departmentassembles diverse recruiting teams with a maleand female officer, one from a community ofcolor and one not, to do outreach and presentations.CONSISTENT AND CONTINUOUS EFFORTS:The Albuquerque, New Mexico police departmentbegan administering its police exammonthly because it found that less consistentefforts resulted in losing qualified applicants.Right now, the Billings Police Department onlyaccepts applications in March.TARGETED ADVERTISING IN A WIDE MARKET:The Department should develop marketing materialsthat reflect the candidates it is recruitingand disseminate the materials widely. The Portland,Oregon department focused on advertisementson radio stations with a large followingof women and people of color, in local minoritynewspapers and magazines, and law enforcementmagazines with a larger minority following xv .MOVING BEYOND THE USUAL LOCATIONSTO RECRUIT:The Portland department recruited at local communityevents, schools, military installations,colleges and universities with diverse studentbodies, and job fairs in diverse locations xvi .Billings’ residents are also concerned with theDepartment’s administration and leadership.The city must address these issues by ensuringpublic participation in the selection of thenew chief of police, which will take place nextyear. This should include public interviews ofthe candidates by the community review authority,and an opportunity for the public to ask thecandidates questions. The community reviewauthority should have the authority to choose ashort list of candidates from which city officialscan select a chief of police.HARASSMENT ANDDISCRIMINATIONThe Department must also address long-standingharassment and discrimination problems.Appendix B contains the International Associationof Chiefs of Police’s Model Policy on Harassmentand Discrimination. The Departmentshould adopt this policy and rigorously enforceit.RECOMMENDATION: PROVIDE BILLINGS POLICE OFFICERSWITH TRAINING TO HELP ELIMINATE RACIAL PROFILING AND DIS-CRIMINATIONBILLINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT SHOULD RE-QUIRE THAT ALL DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEESPARTICIPATE IN THE DISMANTLING RACISMTRAINING THIS YEAR AND BIANNUALLY.mpa/ipa’s Dismantling Racism training is designedto develop a deeper understanding ofwhere individual biases began; to examine structures,policies and attitudes that allow racism toexist within our organizations; and to exploreand develop strategies and tools for organizationalchange.In 2000, mpa/ipa trained every officer in Missoulain Dismantling Racism. During five trainingsessions for the city Police Department andthree sessions for the Sheriff’s department andemergency personnel, mpa/ipa trained a total of155 city officers and 55 deputies and emergencypersonnel. mpa/ipa repeated the trainings for theMissoula Police Department in 2003.Dismantling Racism training is crucial, in additionto the cultural awareness and racial profilingtraining required by law, because it addresses theroots of racism within the community and theindividual, rather than merely teaching peopleto behave as if they were not experiencing racistthoughts and feelings at all.10.
Page 1 and 2: TOPROTECTANDSERVE?{UNEQUAL TREATMEN
Page 3 and 4: METHODOLOGYmpa developed a six ques
Page 5 and 6: FINDING: SOUTHSIDE RESIDENTS ARE MO
Page 8 and 9: 7.FINDING: BILLINGS POLICE DEPARTME
Page 12: REQUIRE EVERY OFFICER TO PARTICIPAT
Page 15 and 16: END NOTESi City of Billings, MT. Ad
Page 17 and 18: HARASSMENT ANDDISCRIMINATIONModel P
Page 19 and 20: crimination.a. OPS shall immediatel

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