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Policing the Police
Under a proposed ordinance, all critical incidents involving the Eureka Police Department would be reviewed by an independent police auditor. Mark McKenna
Eureka City Council moves forward on enhanced oversight policy By Thadeus Greenson
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ith little fanfare, the Eureka City Council voted unanimously Nov. 2 to move forward with what, if finalized, will become the most robust police oversight policy in Humboldt County. The council directed staff to issue a request for proposals (RFP) to hire an independent police auditor to work with the city’s re-christened Citizens Accountability Board to provide independent reviews of Eureka Police Department policies and procedures, as well as citizen complaints, internal affairs investigations and serious uses of force. Once the RFP process is complete, an ordinance outlining the transformation of the “Citizens Advisory Board” into a body with a sharper focus on oversight will come back before the council at a future date, but discussions at two recent meetings indicate broad support. The advisory board’s roots stretch back to 2015, when former Chief Andrew Mills launched a Chief’s Advisory Panel, an informal group whose members were appointed by Mills and offered feedback on EPD policies and internal reviews. That panel was turned into a Citizens Advisory Board last year, with members appointed
NORTH COAST JOURNAL • Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021 • northcoastjournal.com
by the mayor and meetings held publicly and governed by the state’s Ralph M. Brown Act. And if it wasn’t evident in the name itself, the ordinance made very clear the board was solely there to provide input. “The board acts as an advisory body to the chief of police,” the current ordinance, which is slated to be repealed and replaced at a future meeting, lists as the board’s first charge under its “powers and duties” section. “Recommendations made by the board are not binding on the chief.” The proposed ordinance doesn’t really give the board more power — its recommendations still won’t be binding and it won’t have any ability to discipline officers — but it changes its mandate from acting as a “liaison” between the department and the community to one of oversight and transparency. Perhaps most importantly, the ordinance provides that the city would contract with an independent police auditor — a kind of third-party investigator — who works out of the City Manager’s Office and in consultation with the board. Under the RFP approved by the council Nov. 2, the independent auditor would have broad access to a wide
breadth of materials to evaluate internal affairs investigations, the handling of complaints and allegations of misconduct, and probes of police shootings. In fact, not only would the auditor have access to full investigative files, but it would be cleared to conduct independent interviews of civilian witnesses and sit in on interviews of sworn officers and ask questions through the lead police investigator. “IPA will provide evaluations as to whether an investigation is complete, thorough and objective and/or an explanation if more investigation or a change in finding is recommended,” the RFP states, adding that if a third party is selected to conduct an investigation, the auditor would “assist in the selection of the investigator.” The system is essentially designed to put an independent check on internal departmental discipline processes. “The IPA will have access to the EPD complaint database and regularly assess issues, such as the nature of complaints, how complaints are classified and whether investigation timelines are met,” the RFP states. “The IPA will also have access to EPD personnel and discipline records and will assess the discipline system
