 | Featured Report
Twenty-Sixth Semiannual Report, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
In what the
Los Angeles Times described as "the most detailed examination yet
of women in the nation's largest women's jail," PARC released on March 11,
2009 the second of two Semiannual Reports on the topic by Special Counsel
Merrick Bobb regarding the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
(LASD). The report, available here,
concludes an expansive year-long look at who the women are and what they
experience in the jail, from the time they are booked to the time they are
released. The latest report, the 26th Semiannual, describes a survey PARC
administered to 300 more than women. The report describes in detail demographic
and socioeconomic data about these women as well as examining the kinds of
crimes for which these women were jailed. The report notes the
exceptionally high recidivism rate of 81% among the women surveyed, over 93 %
of whom were previously incarcerated in the LA County Jail. The report
examines the Sheriff's programs to reduce recidivism through programming
available to the inmates during their stay and upon release from custody.
Concluding that the programs themselves are excellent, well-liked, and
effective, Special Counsel nonetheless expresses concern that too few women
actually get to take advantage of these programs. The Report also touches
upon overcrowding in the jails: at the time of writing, women sentenced to less
than six months do no jail time at all, and nearly all other women serve only
10% of their sentence. The report urges population reduction through
alternatives to incarceration and broader use of programs to reduce the rate of
recidivism. The report acknowledges welcome progress by the Department in
the timely or provision of medical care to women.
The report also describes the LASD's backlog in testing
rape kits and the consequences of the delay on prosecutions of rapists. Click
here to view report.
PARC acknowledges the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation
for its generous support of a substantial part of this study. Our full
report to the Haynes Foundation can be found here.
The Portland Police Bureau: Officer-Involved Shootings and In-Custody Deaths
The Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC) has released its third follow-up report on officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths within the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) for the Independent Police Review Division (IPR) of the Office of the Portland City Auditor. PARC initially examined the Bureau in 2002 and issued its original report in 2003. IPR has retained PARC in the years since to consider the Bureau’s response to the 89 recommendations that PARC made in the original report.
In the Third Follow-Up report, PARC considered how the PPB has responded to 36 of the original recommendations not yet explored in detail in a follow-up report in concert with review of 12 officer-involved shootings (with one occurring in 2002, one in late 2003, four in 2004, and six in 2005). The report “conclude[d] that the PPB has made substantial progress since we first looked at it in 2002 and 2003.” It found the Bureau “in a progressive mode, with an increased capacity for self-critical identification of issues and formulation of solutions.” It praised Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer and her Bureau for having proactively initiated changes, in March 2008, to the Bureau’s use of force policy that now dictates that officers “use only the force reasonably necessary under the totality of circumstances.”
The report addresses three classes of recommendations from the original PARC report. First, it addresses recommendations related to field supervision, giving the Bureau praise for policy changes relating to the command of critical incidents and urging it to expand such policy to address all such incidents, including those not requiring SERT (Portland's SWAT team) or hostage negotiators. It advocates further strengthening of the Bureau's policies regarding the rendering of medical aid. Second, the report considers officer field tactics, finding the PPB to have, in many cases, been responsive to PARC’s previous recommendations relating to high-risk vehicle stops, vehicle pursuits, consideration of crossfire and backdrop in shooting situations, bystander endangerment, and accidental discharges. PARC identifies instances in which the Bureau could still more systematically and rigorously consider officer use of cover and splitting with partners in the midst of foot pursuits. The report makes recommendations about the use of less lethal force options. Finally, the report praises the Bureau for marked increases in the quality and rigor of the Bureau’s investigations and administrative reviews of officer-involved shootings, recommending that the Bureau continue to emphasize the importance of systematic and rigorous Internal Affairs and Training Division reviews of such incidents . Click here to view report.
| | | Recent Reports
Use of Deadly Force in Denver The Denver Report was commissioned by the city in the wake of controversial officer-involved shootings. PARC was asked to review 24 officer-involved shootings and whether they were fully and fairly investigated by Internal Affairs. PARC also reviewed in detail Denver's use of force policies and training. Overall, the Denver Report concludes that the Denver Police Department in recent years is becoming a national leader. PARC makes a number of recommendations for further improvement to build upon the excellent progress to date. Click here to view report. Twenty-Fifth Semiannual Report, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department This Semiannual Report examines two broad areas of the operations of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department—the provision of care to women who are inmates in the LA County Jail and the lessons learned from litigation. PARC concluded that although the Department has made progress in the provision of medical care to female inmates, particularly in the area of intake screening, there was a lack of accountability to ensure that inmates requesting treatment be seen within 24-72 hours as prescribed by nationally accepted standards. PARC also found that the investigation and resolution of inmate medical complaints was poor and should be improved, and made recommendations to improve the care and treatment of pregnant and postpartum inmates in custody. Finally, PARC found that the LASD has experienced a welcome reduction in the number of new lawsuits filed against it in recent years, and that force-related litigation represents a smaller proportion of total liability than it once did. However, gains in the reduction of force-related litigation must be balanced against increases in litigation arising from custody. Click here to view report. A Bad Night at Powell Library: The Events of November 14, 2006 At the behest of UCLA Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams, PARC was engaged to investigate a November 2006 incident in which the UCLA campus police repeatedly tasered a UCLA student who refused to produce his student identification after hours in the main campus library. PARC conducted a seven-month investigation of the facts, including exhaustive research on the Taser itself, on the policies and practices of other universities and police departments regarding use of the Taser, and on the best and recommended practices regarding the Taser formulated by the leading authorities and experts on the question, including model policies drafted by police organizations such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). Click here to review report.
Promoting Police Accountability and Community Relations in Farmington: Strengthening the Citizen Police Advisory Committee
PARC examined the Farmington, New Mexico police oversight agency, making a number of recommendations for strengthening it. In particular, PARC proposed the hiring of a full-time staff member who would monitor the citizen and internal complaint process at the Police Department. PARC also examined and made recommendations concerning the Police Department's Internal Affairs investigations, use of force reporting, officer-involved shooting investigations, and early identification system. Click here to view report. The Portland Police Bureau: Officer-Involved Shootings and In-Custody Deaths
In the second follow-up report to its seminal 2003 Report on Portland Police Bureau officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths, PARC examines the Bureau's mainly positive responses to 25 recommendations concerning its internal processes for reviewing officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths and its management of records and information. The report also reviews 10 officer-involved shootings that occurred in 2002 and 2003. Click here to view report.
Pasadena Police-Community Relations Assessment
The John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation provided PARC with support to carry out a Police-Community Relations Assessment in Pasadena, California. Working with its parent organization, the Vera Institute of Justice, PARC used two different types of surveys to measure levels of community and officer satisfaction in Pasadena. The surveys addressed a wide breadth of issues through the surveys including police-community relations, quality of police services, and police-public contacts. Click here to view report. Evaluation of Milwaukee's Fire and Police Commission
PARC and Richard Jerome, PC, were hired by the City of Milwaukee to evaluate the Fire and Police Commission and make recommendations for improvement. That evaluation, "Promoting Police Accountability in Milwaukee: Strengthening the Fire and Police Commission," was made public in June 2006. Click here to view the report.
Back To Top |
|
|