| Recent Reports
Twenty-Eighth Semiannual Report, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
The 28th Semiannual Report of Special Counsel Merrick Bobb, characterized in a Los Angeles Times editorial as a "fair and balanced voice on immigration and law enforcement," discusses the role of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) in the identification of undocumented immigrants in the County jails. At booking, all inmates are asked where they were born. Identifying information on foreign-born inmates is run through immigration and criminal databases. All hits generate an automatic hold or detainer, and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arm of the Department of Homeland Security is alerted. Prior to release of any inmate, ICE and the LASD will interview foreign-born inmates to determine if they entered the United States without authorization. Those found to have done so will be turned over to ICE for further detention, deportation, or release. By direction of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the LASD may only interview inmates post-conviction. ICE may interview inmates at any time. Proposed reforms to the federal program would narrow the group of jailed undocumented inmates sought by ICE to those convicted of a serious crime or against whom immigration authorities already have a matter pending. The proposed reforms would also require the LASD to prepare cases for the deportation of inmates. The Semiannual Report expresses concern that this latter requirement involves the LASD in immigration enforcement to a degree not contemplated or sanctioned by the Board of Supervisors. The Report also expresses concern that the Supervisors' requirement that undocumented inmates only be interviewed post-conviction would be impractical or impossible under the proposed reforms. The Report further examined whether under current practice undocumented inmates with minor offenses were being targeted for deportation. We found that a significant percentage of transferred inmates, 28 percent, were charged with misdemeanors or infractions which, though minor, culminated in the inmate’s ultimate transfer to ICE for deportation proceedings. We cautioned that we were unable to determine their criminal history or whether these inmates had earlier convictions for serious crimes. The Report also looked at conditions at Mira Loma, an ICE detention facility under the management of the LASD. To the extent that they have criminal records, they have already served their sentences. Nearly a quarter (approximately 22 percent) of detainees at Mira Loma consists of persons who committed no criminal acts or, at most, misdemeanors. The facility also houses asylum-seekers. Conditions at Mira Loma are jail-like. The Report makes a series of recommendations to permit the detainees greater access to the library, contact visits with family, pay for work performed, and other reforms more appropriate to a detention center than a jail. Click here to view report. Twenty-Seventh Semiannual Report, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
This Semiannual Report examines
broadly whether a computerized early identification system fulfills its promise
to accurately identify possible problem officers. This Report also explores
whether targeted intervention with problem officers leads to significant
reductions in their risk-related activity in the future. To our knowledge, this
is the first systematic study of these questions. We examine them in the
context of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD). Following
statistical analysis and research, we conclude that the LASD’s early
identification system, called the Personnel Performance Index (PPI), and its
targeted intervention program, called Performance Mentoring, perform well,
thereby validating the LASD’s efforts and early identification systems in
general. It is reassuring to conclude that the PPI works. It captures patterns
and reveals trends in officer performance. Substandard behavior indeed does not
usually exist in isolation or occur randomly; it is related to other behavior
in a way that the PPI captures systematically. The
strength and number of relationships in the PPI between key areas of officer
performance are notable. Click here to view 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. 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.
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