The Case for an Independent Police Accountability System 2.1.17 FINAL

The Case for an Independent Police Accountability System: Transforming the Civilian Review Process in Rochester
with the penalties assessed. “Poor supervision related to in-custody death” resulted in a
CM/LR while the officer who harassed and had sex with a minor received a 60-day
suspension. When two officers were involved in a shooting wherein someone was killed,
one was suspended for 30 days and the other resigned. The officer who shot and injured a
bystander received a 10-day suspension. 109 Since 2003 is the only year in which such detail
is provided for the 14 years of reports studied, one can only imagine what the details are
for the charges in other years, and why they were not reported. This lack of transparency
results in a lack of accountability to the public.
There is a lower number of charges of force and an increased number of procedural
violations in RPD after 2007. 110 During the years 2002-2007, there were 8 very serious
violations and 14 charges of force, totaling 22. Yet from 2008 to 2014, an 8-year span, RPD
reported zero very serious violations or charges of force, and only 2 in 2015. This causes us
to question what changed after 2007 that the number dropped from 22 over a 6-year
period to only two over the next 8 years?
By contrast, from 2002 to 2007, RPD reported 31 violations of procedure compared to 156
from 2008 to 2015. Taking into account that 2002 to 2007 covers 6 years and 2008 to 2015
covers 8 years, the latter span contains 5 times more procedural violations than the former.
Since we have already determined that “procedure” seems to be a catch-all term, we
question whether the category of procedure incorporates charges of force that have not
been reported as such by the RPD. If so, what is the motivation for this increasing lack of
transparency around the exact charges for which police officers were disciplined?
Furthermore, over the total period of 2002-2015, 30 officers resigned or retired from, or
were terminated by, the RPD. From 2002 to 2007, 3 of these (10%) were the result of very
serious or force investigations, whereas from 2008 to 2015, none (0%) of the resignations,
retirements or terminations (RRT) were related to force charges. That is 8 years with no
investigations of use of force by RPD officers. Yet from 2002 to 2007, 5 out of 30 (17%)
RRT came from procedural violations, while 16 out of 30 (53%) RRT were caused by
procedural violations between 2008 and 2015. Again taking into account the different span
of years, there were 3 times the number of officers who resigned, retired, or were
terminated for procedure over the latter 8-year span than the previous 6-year span.
Turning to suspensions, 14 officers (12%) were suspended for very serious or use of force
charges during 2002-2007 out of a total of 115 suspensions, while only 2 (2%) officers
were suspended for use of force charges during 2008-2015. In contrast, 6 out of 115 (5%)
suspensions were related to violations of procedure during 2002-2007, while 43 out of 115
(37%) suspensions were for procedural violations between 2008 and 2015. Officers were
suspended 7 times more for procedural violations over 2008-2015 than 2002-2007.
Finally, there were 6 (3%) counseling memos or letters of reprimand (CM/LR) issued for
very serious or force charges during 2002-2007 out of 195 total CM/LR, compared to 0
(0%) during 2008-2015. But 18 out of 195 (9%) CM/LR were issued from 2002 to 2007 for
procedural violations, in contrast to 91out of 195 (47%) from 2008 to 2015. There were 5
46
B. Lacker-Ware & T. Forsyth