Establish effective civilian oversight structures

Establish an all-civilian oversight structure with discipline power that includes a Police Commission and Civilian Complaints Office with the following powers:

The Police Commission should:

• determine policy for the police department based on community input and expertise
• share policy and policy changes in publicly accessible formats
• discipline and dismiss police officers
• hold public disciplinary hearings
• select the candidates for Police Chief, to be hired by the Mayor
• evaluate and fire the Police Chief, if needed
• receive full-time, competitive salaries for all members
• receive regular training on policing and civil rights
• not have current, former or family of police officers as members
• select its members from candidates offered by community organizations

The Civilian Complaints Office should:

• receive, investigate and resolve all civilian complaints against police in 120 days
• establish multiple in-person and online ways to submit, view and discuss complaints
• be immediately notified and required to send an investigator to the scene of a police shooting or in-custody death
• be allowed to interrogate officers less than 48 hours after an incident where deadly force is used
• access crime scenes, subpoena witnesses and files with penalties for non-compliance
• make disciplinary and policy recommendations to the Police Chief
• compel the Police Chief to explain why he/she has not followed a recommendation
• have the Police Commission decide cases where the Police Chief does not follow recommendations
• issue public quarterly reports analyzing complaints, demographics of complainants, status and findings of investigations and actions taken as a result
• be housed in a separate location from the police department
• be funded at an amount no less than 5% of the total police department budget
• have at least 1 investigator for every 70 police officers or 4 investigators at all times,whichever is greater
• have its Director selected from candidates offered by community organizations
• not have current, former or family of police officers on staff, including the Director

(Ex: San Francisco Charter Policies on Police Commission and Office of Citizen Complaints)

Remove barriers to reporting police misconduct

For all stops by a police officer, require officers to give civilians their name, badge number, reason for the stop and a card with instructions for filing a complaint to the civilian oversight structure.