fourteenth-report.pdf

Independent Monitoring Team Fourteenth Status Report of the Independent Monitor Delphine Allen, et al., v. City of Oakland, et al. July 31, 2009 to January 13, 2010 Page 32 9. Contact of Citizen Complainants (Task 9; S.A. III.I.) a. Settlement Agreement Requirements • By August 13, 2004, OPD must develop and, by October 1, 2004, implement, a policy requiring that IAD, or the investigator assigned to an investigation, contact citizens who have made complaints as soon as possible, in order to determine the nature, scope and severity of the complaint, as well as to identify potential witnesses and/or evidence as quickly as possible. b. Status of Compliance and Assessment The implementation deadline for this task occurred in October 2004. During the seventh and eighth reporting periods, OPD completed the policies incorporating this Settlement Agreement task and trained its personnel on the policies. The policies are General Order M-3, Complaints Against Departmental Personnel or Procedures, and Training Bulletin V-T.1, Internal Investigation Procedure Manual. During the tenth reporting period, OPD proposed changes to General Order M-3 and to its Internal Investigations and Internal Affairs policies and procedures manuals. As discussed above, during the eleventh reporting period, the IMT worked closely with the Department to revise these policies. During the ninth reporting period, the IMT audited OPD’s actual practice compliance with this task. A complete discussion of our audit findings is included in our ninth status report. Task 9 requires that complainants be contacted as quickly as possible by IAD or other OPD staff to begin gathering information regarding the complaint. One of the most striking and beneficial improvements we observed in the ninth reporting period is how quickly IAD contacts complainants to learn the details of their complaint and to begin the investigative process. IAD was diligent in its efforts to contact complainants; it was not uncommon for an investigative file to record repeated attempts to make initial investigative contact with complainants. The greatly improved quality of OPD internal investigations is in large part due to the quick contact of complainants by the IAD Intake Unit. Complainants in 74% of the cases we reviewed were contacted as soon as possible by IAD in accordance with this requirement. During the tenth reporting period, the compliance standard for this task was lowered from 95% to 90%. During the thirteenth reporting period, we completed another actual practice assessment and the reporting process for Task 9. We found that OPD has shown continued improvement in contacting complainants as soon as possible. As a result of the diligent efforts of IAD staff, OPD is in compliance with Task 9. We found that field supervisors are also playing an important role in ensuring that complainants are contacted as soon as possible to determine the nature, scope, and severity of complaints.