Consultant Hired by City to Analyze Police Oversight Names Two Models Pasadena Should Consider

The lead consultant retained by Pasadena to analyze various forms of police oversight so the City can determine which model best suits Pasadena has named two oversight models she will include her report.

Change Integration, headed by consultant Kathryn Olson, has been awarded a two-part, $50,000 contract to produce the analysis and to oversee community outreach and discussion of the different options that will be in her report.

Olson told Pasadena Now that she and her associate, Barbara Attard, will arrive in Pasadena in mid-January and complete the final report by March of 2016. Both women are former presidents of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement.

Monday, Olson said she will include the very different oversight systems of Seattle, Washington and San Jose, California in her report. She and Attard know both systems well.

Olson was Director of the Seattle Police Department’s Office of Professional Accountability from 2007 to 2013. Attard served as San Jose’s Independent Police Auditor for four years.

The police oversight models for these two larger-than-Pasadena cities are very different, and point to the range of differences which ultimately will be subject to community, Public Safety Committee and City Council consideration and debate.

In Seattle, police oversight has three parts. A civilian director oversees the detectives who investigate complaints of misconduct and related issues of police practices. Additionally, a separate auditor has independent authority to review all cases. Finally, a seven-member civilian review board conducts community outreach regarding accountability issues and reviews the operation of the accountability system. Each part of the process is independent.

San Jose’s police oversight model is much simpler: a complaint against police is investigated by the police department’s own internal affairs unit and the oversight auditor reviews “that report to ensure that their analysis was objective and unbiased.”

“So if we just look at 2014, our office agreed with about 84 percent of the investigations and the findings from the police department that were conducted by the internal affairs unit,” San Jose independent police auditor Judge LaDoris Cordell told NPR in April, 2015. “ When we disagree, our process is to take that disagreement back to the internal affairs unit and explain what our disagreement is. Maybe the investigation wasn’t thorough, or we may say your analysis was not unbiased. It was biased in favor of the officer.”

According to Olson, most large American cities – and most large cities around the world – maintain some type of police oversight organization. In the United States, over 185 cities currently have deployed some form of police oversight systems, she said.

The report is the brainchild of Councilmember John Kennedy, who first proposed the idea in 2013 as a member of the Public Safety Committee and has advocated for the study repeatedly over the ensuing years.

Kennedy, who is now the Chair of the Public Safety Committee, is supportive of Olson’s selection.

“From what I have learned, she appears to be eminently qualified for her work for the City Council and for the city, ” Kennedy said on Monday. “I know she is widely respected.”

Attorney Dale Gronemeier, a local civil rights attorney who represents the mother of police shooting victim Kendrec McDade and who is an outspoken critic of the Pasadena police, praised the city’s choice of Olson and Attard.

“We’re very pleased by this selection,” Gronemeier said. “Both of them have substantial hands-on experience functioning as police monitors. You couldn’t ask for two people who could perform the roles better than these two.”

Pasadena Chief of Police Phillip Sanchez has not responded to Pasadena Now’s request for his reaction to Olson’s appointment as of this writing.

In its Request for Proposal (RFP) for the report, Pasadena sought a consultant to look at and analyze various civilian review boards, police auditors, and other models that may exist, particularly in California, with an emphasis on cities and police departments of the same size and type government structure as Pasadena. (Pasadena is run by a City Manager, who serves as its chief executive.)

According to the city’s RFP, the analysis will look at “the major characteristics of each form of oversight … including but not limited to an analysis of scope of authority and governance structures.”

The analysis would also consider such issues as:

• How and by whom members of the oversight entity are chosen.
• What, if any, role does the oversight entity have in the citizen complaint process
• Does the oversight entity serve as an appeals board for citizens
• To what extend does the oversight entity review departmental policy?
• To whom does the oversight body report?

In addition, the analysis would judge existing oversight boards in terms of access to information such as personnel files, case files, the ability to influence policy and the ability to share information publicly, as well as other relevant factors.

The second part of the work contracted to Olson’s group involves engaging the Pasadena community at large in meetings focused on discussing the recommended models and receiving public input on them.

“I simply want to make sure that the community voice is heard,” added Kennedy, “and that we organize this to make sure the community has input.”