Police Misconduct Complaint Investigations Manual

Barbara Attard, Kathryn Olson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367404352
• eBook ISBN: 9781000071467
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Criminal Law
• Index: Law

The Police Misconduct Complaint Investigations Manual provides a timely and unique, step-by-step approach to conducting or reviewing police misconduct investigations, whether a complaint involves a lower-level allegation of discourtesy or more serious concerns such as excessive force or criminal behavior. Utilizing real-life examples and updated case law to illustrate points, it provides best practices for investigating police action resulting in misconduct complaints. The Manual's comprehensive approach includes detailed procedures and policy considerations from intake through case closure, and discusses data tracking, reporting on trends, selecting and training investigative staff, civilian oversight, and a host of special issues that can arise with police misconduct complaints.

The Manual is suitable for both sworn personnel and civilians handling or reviewing investigations and whether working internally for a police department or externally in oversight or another capacity. The guidance provides detailed examples of witness interview questions and types of evidence to collect, with discussion on making difficult credibility determinations and approaches to analyzing the information gathered to arrive at a recommended finding. Review questions are found at the end of most chapters, for use in academic or investigative training environments. Police officers engaged in the often complex and challenging work of public safety deserve and expect objective, thorough, and timely handling of complaints. Complainants and other stakeholders seek accountability and transparency when an officer behaves in a way that raises questions about their professionalism. The Complaint Investigations Manual provides instruction on handling misconduct complaints in a manner that will ensure the goals of law enforcement and stakeholders are met.

The authors intentionally use a broad approach to make the Manual relevant and easy to use by law enforcement personnel, civilians in oversight or other capacities who work on police misconduct matters, and the criminal justice academic community. It is a critical primer for internal affairs investigators, police managers, law enforcement leaders, auditing professionals, civilian oversight practitioners, government representatives, community advocates, criminal and social justice students, and all others in pursuit of fair, thorough, and timely investigations of police misconduct complaints.

Chapter 1

Introduction

There has been an increasingly intense focus on policing in the United States as the public has been exposed to more frequent video recordings of law enforcement activities and angered by what is perceived to be misuse of force disproportionately directed at people of color. High profile videotaped police incidents have led to changes on the local level, as was seen with the response to the severe beating of Rodney King in 1991, and demands for more systemic reforms nationwide following the homicide of George Floyd in 2020.

POLICE KILLING OF GEORGE FLOYD [em dash] A CALL FOR TRANSFORMATION

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, was killed by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. Bystander video reveals Officer Chauvin kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes, ignoring his repeated pleas that he could not breathe, as several other officers at the scene failed to stop the misuse of force. Though all of the officers involved were terminated and criminally charged, their apparent disregard for Mr. Floyd’s life caused unprecedented protests in all fifty states and around the world, renewing the call for police reform and demanding racial justice.

While Mr. Floyd’s homicide was one of many troubling police incidents, his death prompted long overdue discussion and legislation seeking systemic change on federal, state, and local levels to broadly transform law enforcement and address racial inequities in our society. A subsequent federal executive order addressed use of force training, mandated a national database to track police officers who use excessive force, and stated that appropriate social services should be the primary responders for individuals with impaired mental health, homelessness, and addiction. Discussions continued on other potential reforms ranging from a call to defund the police to adoption of a national use of force standard emphasizing the sanctity of life and the need for police response proportional to the threat encountered, implicit bias training, changes in the role of police unions, enforcement of police peer-intervention requirements, a ban on chokeholds and carotid restraints, eradication of the qualified immunity doctrine, and increased law enforcement transparency and accountability.

While there is optimism that changes to law, policy, and training resulting from George Floyd’s death will serve to improve policing, all departments nonetheless require a reliable system to investigate and address the full range of problematic interactions that can occur.

The Police Misconduct Complaint Investigations Manual (Complaint Investigations Manual or Manual) is a resource to ensure a law enforcement department has a strong investigations program, helping to build trust and legitimacy between law enforcement and the communities served. Police officers and others engaged in the often complex and challenging work of public safety deserve and expect objective, thorough, and timely handling of complaints. The community and other stakeholders seek accountability and transparency when an officer behaves in a way that raises questions about their professionalism and commitment to constitutional policing. The Complaint Investigations Manual provides detailed guidance on handling misconduct complaints, to ensure the goals of both law enforcement and stakeholders are met.

The Rodney King Case—the Need for Reform, Including Changes to the Complaint Investigation and Discipline Systems

Bystander video footage of the stop, beating, and arrest of Rodney King in Los Angeles in 1991 was viewed by many millions of people and caused the incident to rise to national notoriety. A year later, after the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers involved were acquitted in the first trial, Los Angeles exploded into mass rioting, resulting in over 50 deaths, ten at the hands of law enforcement.¹ After Rodney King’s beating, the Independent Commission on the LAPD (Christopher Commission) was formed to examine the department’s structure and organization.²

The Christopher Commission addressed a wide range of issues, from excessive use of force and racism to recruitment, training, and promotion of officers, to the need for community policing. Of particular relevance here are the deficiencies in complaint handling and discipline that were highlighted by the Christopher Commission, including:

• Inadequate division-assigned investigations, with many investigators failing to locate or interview independent witnesses.
• Serious flaws in the investigation of shooting cases, with officers frequently interviewed as a group, and statements often not recorded until completion of a “pre-interview.”
• An investigation system skewed against complainants.
• Discipline leniency for excessive use of force, compared to other sustained matters.

The Christopher Commission’s report recommended numerous changes to address these problems, and required that all misuse of force complaints be investigated by internal affairs and that periodic audits of the unit be conducted. The Rodney King incident and its aftermath provide a compelling lesson emphasizing the importance of establishing strong accountability measures that include objective and thorough complaint investigations and an effective discipline system.

The Manual provides detailed information about the range of misconduct complaints involving law enforcement, the stages of complaint handling and investigation, and information about substantive and procedural complaint issues associated with policing. Although officers are found to have acted within policy in the majority of misconduct complaints, the Manual advocates for reviewing issues and events underlying allegations during the investigation process to consider whether there are lessons to be learned or policy revisions to be made. The important work of educating stakeholders, reporting on the work of the investigative office, and organizational issues such as personnel selection and training also are addressed. Finally, as many jurisdictions have adopted civilian oversight as a means to bring the community’s voice to policing practices, the role of oversight in the misconduct investigation process is discussed.

Throughout this edition of the Manual the authors illustrate aspects of the complaint investigation process through references to high profile incidents, likely familiar to the reader without a full discussion of all the attendant facts. The use of widely publicized events to put the principles of the Complaint Investigations Manual into context is not intended to minimize the seriousness or complexity of issues involved, including devastating impacts on families and communities, as well as on law enforcement. Taking this into account, the Rodney King incident exemplifies mandated changes for a police department that ignores the requirement for constitutional use of force and devalues the role of the complaint investigation and discipline system to help ensure integrity in enforcement actions.

Notes

1. 1 Anjuli Sastry and Karen Grigsby Bates, “When LA Erupted in Anger: A Look Back at the Rodney King Riots,” NPR Special Series: The Los Angeles Riots, 25 Years On (April 26, 2017).
2. 2 Report of the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department (1991), http://michellawyers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Report-of-the-Independent-Commission-on-the-LAPD-re-Rodney-King_Reduced.pdf

In Chapter 2

Complaint Intake and the Initial Assessment Process

A.   Is This the Proper Place to Resolve the Complaint?

B.   Administrative Complaints—Intake Process

1.   Accepting Misconduct Complaints

2.   Types of Allegations Raised in Misconduct Complaints

3.   Conducting the Intake Interview

4.   Establishing Officer Identification

5.   Developing an Investigative Plan

6.   Conducting the Preliminary Investigation

7.   Preliminary Steps for Investigating Allegations of Bodily Injury

C.   Defining Allegations and Assessing the Underlying Incident for Additional Claims

D.   Investigative Timelines, Communicating with Complainants and Officers, and Complaint Tracking

1.   Investigative Timelines

2.   Communicating with Complainants and Officers

3.   Tracking Systems

E.   Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution Options

Chapter 2

Complaint Intake and the Initial Assessment Process

Police misconduct complaints serve as a valuable quality control, risk management tool for law enforcement agencies, providing a perspective of officer conduct in the field that might not otherwise be available to supervisors and commanders. Timely, thorough, and objective investigations are important to the complainant and officer involved, as well as the police agency and larger community. Even complaints that are not sustained may provide insight into community concerns or suggest train...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface to the Second Edition
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Complaint Intake and the Initial Assessment Process
• 3 Complaint Classification and the Investigation Process
• 4 Finalizing the Investigation: Evaluating Evidence, Determining Findings, Making Recommendations, Report Writing, and Complaint Closure
• 5 Special Issues in Investigating or Reviewing Police Misconduct Complaints
• 6 Reporting Out—Statistics, Recommendations, and More
• 7 Personnel and Training Considerations
• 8 Administrative Operations
• 9 Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement
• 10 Conclusion
• References
• Index