Walt Cygan wrote:
"The absolute last thing that the Police Department needs (IMHO) is to
try and be equally accountable to more than one authority.
It is a
nightmare. Can you imagine if in your job you reported to
one manager
and had another group of people (who don't actually do what
you do)
scrutinizing everything you did looking for ways that you
messed up?
In the private sector, every time I have seen individuals or
managers
try to report to more than one boss, it doesn't turn out
well. Giving a
civilian monitoring authority more power, I believe, would
turn out
badly.
Rather, R.T. and the Chief should ensure that MPD policies
and
procedures are clear and explained to officers properly.
Deputy Chiefs,
Commanders and all levels of the chain of command should be
then held
accountable for training and disciplining officers and their
supervisors."
I disagree. A better private-sector analogy, in my opinion,
is the relationship between corporations and their auditors. As Walt says
later in his post, "think Enron." Anderson was too beholden to the company
they were purporting to audit, had too little autonomy or power, and people
got hurt. The Mpls civilian review board has too little autonomy and power,
and people are getting hurt. Is the solution to the former issue to do away
with external auditing of corporations' books? No. It is to ensure that
the accountants are truly separate from the firms they audit, without
congruent interests. On the Mpls level, the solution is the same. A
civilian review authority with some real authority, not one which functions
as a weak subset of the organization it governs.
As much respect as I have for the difficulty and necessity
of the work performed by the MPD, it is unrealistic to depend on any
organization to adequately police itself, without any external review. This
is never more true than in the public sector: the police department exists
to serve the citizens of Minneapolis. If we are dissatisfied, there must be
a direct method to have an effect on police policies and, ultimately,
behavior.
I agree with Walt that the patch-it-now method of budgeting
does not work. But I would argue that a truly functional Civilian Review
Board is a necessity, not a frill. I believe it will also save the city
money in claims and lawsuits in the long term.
Robin Garwood
Marcy-Holmes
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