Supervisors Give Go-Ahead To Police Review

Law Enforcement Advisory Committee to be formed, auditor may be hired

Humboldt Sentinel
12/16/08
By Charles Douglas

EUREKA -- After countless meetings, hearings and forums on the topic of independent oversight of local law enforcement, Humboldt County is to become the first rural county in California to form a police review committee to provide input on the operations and review the actions of the Sheriff’s Department.

Supervisors voted unanimously this morning to direct county administrative and legal staff to work up a formal ordinance to constitute a Law Enforcement Advisory Committee on the lines developed by the Human Rights Commission.

This followed on the work of an HRC subcommittee involving Sheriff Gary Philp, Eureka Police Chief Garr Nielsen, Eureka Councilmember Larry Glass, Christina Allbright of the Redwood Chapter, American Civil Liberties Union, National Alliance on Mental Illness representative Sheila Nitzel and Supervisor Bonnie Neely. They developed a 15-point plan for the scope of work of the LEAC, as well as a description of what work would be associated with the hiring of an independent police auditor.

“We wanted a model that would allow the public to make input, and also have personnel go into various law enforcement agencies,” said Human Rights Commission chair Neal Sanders. “We came up with kind of a hybrid system…that committee would act as a liaison between law enforcement and the public, that would take input form the public, that would review policies and procedures of law enforcement…an auditor would be capable of reviewing personnel policies and delving into those private issues in each law enforcement agency.”

The LEAC will involve unpaid local community members appointed by Supervisors who would, upon relevant legal training about their responsibilities under the Brown Act and on the operations of law enforcement, provide public education, address public concerns and provide a conduit for enhancing meaningful and constructive dialogue between the public and law enforcement. Committee members would have the authority to make recommendations on policy changes and review citizen complaints for referral to the independent auditor or to the Grand Jury, and would provide annual reports to the Board.

“The way we look at it is this is not a luxury,” Sanders told the Board. “This provides the public with the assurance that law enforcement is meeting their obligation…it isn’t like this is something that has happened in the last two years, this is something that has been happening throughout the history of Humboldt County.”

While making no commitments to the hiring of an auditor, Neely and outgoing Supervisor John Woolley, at his last full Board meeting after 12 years of service, moved to direct county administrative officer Loretta Nickolaus and the office of risk management to come up with a draft contract -- one which would be along similar lines to the contract hiring Robert Aaronson to be the Police Ombudsman of the City of Eureka, which is on the consent calendar of tonight’s Council meeting at Eureka City Hall.

“The fact that it should reduce risk and associated costs is a benefit,” Neely said. “We know that the smaller communities would not be able to afford anything, so we were going to move forward in working with the City of Eureka.”

Although University Police Chief Tom Dewey was also supportive of these efforts as chair of the local Law Enforcement Chiefs Association, the City of Arcata, which is required by its own General Plan adopted in 2000 to implement independent police review for the Arcata Police Department, declined to take any part in the county’s efforts.

“It was our opinion that you only have the capacity to direct these sort of things to the Sheriff, and the rest would have to be brought along by example,” Sanders said.

Arcata City Attorney Nancy Diamond has previously told her City Council that Arcata was powerless to enact any form of police review because Arcata is a general law local government, instead of having its own Charter such as Eureka and Fortuna do. Yet this argument would seem to be undermined by the fact that Humboldt County is also a general law local government, and one in which the Sheriff is independently elected and not under the direct control of Supervisors -- unlike Arcata, where the Police Chief is an at-will employee hired and fired at the discretion of Councilmembers.

If anything, members of the public on hand this morning only urged on Supervisors to go further than the “consensus proposal” stated and enact a police review commission with subpoena powers to compel police officer attendance and testimony, which would run into legal issues concerning police officer personnel matters in the aftermath of the Copley decision, which weakened the powers of the City of Berkeley’s commission.

“We really need a bear dog, and you guys bring us this fluffy white poodle…you guys are worried about whether the police chiefs are in consensus on this? These guys brought the problem,” homeless rights activist Tad Robinson said. “We need a police review board with teeth. You people need to have the guts to do it. Like [Neal Sanders] said, you own the purse strings…so when the Sheriffs are killing people on the way to the jail, when the Eureka Police are killing people on the way to the jail, you have the purse strings…give us a police review board with subpoena powers and with teeth!”

While Supervisor Jimmy Smith questioned whether there would be overlap with the Grand Jury in investigating complaints against government officials, former Grand Jury member David Elsebusch said the Grand Jury as currently constituted was part of the problem.

“People closely related to law enforcement will not recuse themselves, I’ve seen people run out of the Grand Jury room embarrassed because of the bias in favor of law enforcement,” Elsebusch said. “They just won’t hear any complaints. The public is very wary about going to the Grand Jury.”

Rick Botzler, the former Human Rights Commission chair who got the ball rolling on engaging Supervisors in the police review process earlier this year, said there would be no “forever” solution to establishing a police review process, but that the LEAC mechanism would make a significant contribution towards restoring trust in the police.

“Despite some of the bad apples, there are a lot of really good people and we want them to enjoy the support and the confidence of the people and that’s what this process is intended to incur,” Botzler said. “It would allow Humboldt County to provide a larger leadership role for other smaller communities.”

The ordinance detailing the size and composition of the LEAC, along with a draft contract for an independent police auditor, will return to the Board early next year -- after two of the five-member Board are succeeded by incoming Supervisors Mark Lovelace of Arcata and Clif Clendenen of Fortuna. Both men expressed support for police review during their successful campaigns earlier this year.