Workshop Schedule

Integrity: Building Trust and Shared Responsibility

• Promising Methods for Addressing Police Integrity Issues
• Ensuring Police Accountability
• Be a Hero: Recruiting Officers for Tomorrow
• RCPI Training: Opportunities to Support Police Integrity
• A Discussion on Police Ethics: Exploring a Statewide Strategy, and the Role of Supervisors
• Early Identification Systems: Where Are We?

Promising Methods for Addressing Police Integrity Issues

Monday, June 16 (10:30 a.m. – noon)

Moderator: 

Matthew Scheider, Ph.D., Senior Social Science Analyst, COPS Office

Presenters:

Professor Geoffrey Alpert, University of South Carolina
Professor Michael Smith, Washington State University
Officer Kimberly Beaty, Buffalo (NY) Police Department
Ms. Angela Jones, Project Manager, United Neighborhoods
Mr. Paul Paskoff, Director of Research, Planning and Analysis, Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) Police Department

Whatever its name – racially biased policing, racial profiling, or arbitrary profiling – the actual or perceived use of extra-legal factors in police stop, search, and arrest decisions can have dramatic effects on police departments and the communities they serve. These three presentations will discuss different approaches to dealing with these challenging issues. The Buffalo Police Department and the United Neighborhoods will discuss a partnership through which they developed “study circles” between police and the community to address racial profiling concerns. These study circles serve to facilitate and encourage citizen participation and dialogue between diverse citizen groups and the police. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department will highlight the innovative approach it used to involve police officers and the community in the development of an Arbitrary Profiling Policy. The presentation will also address the creation of an Arbitrary Profiling Advisory Council and a data analysis process designed to build mutual trust and respect between the police and the community. Finally, researchers from Washington State University and the University of South Carolina will review the weaknesses inherent in many of the existing methods used to collect racial profiling data. They will present the results of a new and promising technique for estimating the racial and ethnic composition of drivers in a particular geographic area. Findings from their racial profiling study of the Miami-Dade Police Department will also be discussed. This workshop will be of interest to all law enforcement agencies and community members interested in and dealing with these issues.

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Ensuring Police Accountability

Monday, June 16 (2 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.)

Moderator: 

Mr. Albert Pearsall, Senior Policy Analyst, COPS Office

Presenters:

Ms. Mora Fiedler, Grants Administrator/Principal Analyst, Colorado Springs (CO) Police Department
Captain Brian Jones, Washington State Patrol
Lieutenant Jeff Noble, Irvine (CA) Police Department
Lieutenant Dave Mihalik, Irvine (CA) Police Department

Successful police accountability and discipline processes can increase trust between police and citizens and between line officers and management. All three of the presenters took a partnership approach to the development of these processes, soliciting input from line officers and/or members of the community. Thus, the process of developing discipline and accountability standards itself became an important way in which to increase trust. The Colorado Spring Police Department will present its Police Accountability and Service Standards (PASS) Model developed to measure police accountability and engage citizens in the process. The presentation will focus on the specific tools developed out of this process to help measure police accountability, assess its implementation, and change officer performance based on that information. The Irvine Police Department will discuss the overall process of reorganizing the department’s internal affairs investigations. The discussion will focus on a systems approach that was taken to build trust both inside and outside of the department. The Washington State Patrol will present on the recent substantial changes in its complaint disciplinary processes. These changes were made in an effort to turn a process that the employees’ perceived to be oppressive and punitive into one that employees recognize as providing accountability, certainty, and reasonableness. The new process has resulted in a decrease in the number of full investigations, while simultaneously increasing overall officer productivity. This presentation will be of interest to those seeking to improve upon or develop police accountability and discipline processes.

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Be a Hero: Recruiting Officers for Tomorrow

Monday, June 16 (3:45 p.m. – 5 p.m.)

Moderator: 

Ms. Amy Schapiro, Senior Social Science Analyst, COPS Office

Presenters:

Ms. Elizabeth (Liz) Allison, Grant Manager, Indianapolis (IN) Police Department
Sgt. Dennis Conroy, Ph.D., (retired) St. Paul (MN) Police Department
Mr. Michael Erp, Director, Washington State Institute for Community Oriented Policing
Ms. Kelsey Gray, Ph.D. Organizational Development Specialist, Western Regional Institute for Community Oriented Public Safety (WRICOPS)

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RCPI Training: Opportunities to Support Police Integrity

Tuesday, June 17 (2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.)

Moderator: 

Director William Fitzgerald, Institute for Public Safety Partnerships (IPSP)

Panelists:

Associate Director Sandra K. Costello, , Institute for Public Safety Partnerships, Chicago, IL
Director Linda L. Drager, Regional Institute for Community Policing, Springfield, IL
Sergeant Robert Tryon, San Diego Police Department, Internal Affairs Division, San Diego, CA
Assistant Director Virginia Van Meter, Regional Community Policing Institute, San Diego, CA

This workshop will demonstrate innovative approaches that strengthen integrity systems and improve police-citizen partnerships and organizational accountability. Trust is integral to building and maintaining a shared responsibility for law enforcement. Perceptions regarding law enforcement practices and inaccessibility often prevent citizens from working collaboratively with law enforcement agencies. Community policing, with its emphasis on police-community collaboration, is the framework in which constructive improvement can take place. Discussions will focus on policies and procedures for mediating citizen complaints in the field. Information will be shared on problem-solving strategies for citizens, union representatives, command level management, mediators, and police training institutes. Discussions will address ways to resolve disputes that are favorable to all parties, from both citizen and law enforcement perspectives. The panel will present typical moral dilemmas and examine the personal beliefs and preconceptions of some police officers. The panel will also demonstrate role-playing scenarios for officers and management to use as training tools. The experience will allow participants to internalize problem-solving skills needed to make ethical decisions. The scenario training will demonstrate an approach to learning and provide tools for developing honest and fair policies. The workshop will be of interest to law enforcement personnel, government officials, and citizens interested in training opportunities to promote police integrity and build community trust.

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A Discussion on Police Ethics: Exploring a Statewide Strategy, and the Role of Supervisors

Tuesday, June 17 (3:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.)

Moderator: 

Ms. Lashon Hilliard, Grant Monitoring Specialist, COPS Office

Presenters:

Neal Trautman, Ph.D., National Institute of Ethics 
Mr. Melvin Tucker, Maine Regional Community Policing Institute 
Mr. Richard Mears, Maine Regional Community Policing Institute

Virtually all stakeholders agree that line supervisors are an essential ingredient for organizational integrity, but American policing sometimes neglects this crucial, untapped resource. The constant role-modeling of FTOs and sergeants can produce a culture of sincerity, honesty, and dedication, or an agency filled with bitter cynics who believe the administration is their adversary. The Maine Community Policing Institute and the National Ethics Institute formed a collaborative partnership to address ethics and integrity among Maine law enforcement officers across all ranks. Their presentation will summarize the results of a survey of law enforcement agencies throughout the state, which determined that ethical dilemmas varied across the executive, mid-management, and line-officer levels. Extensive supervision research is also already underway and new programs have been developed as a result of this information. This panel will be of value to executives, command staff, and line officers who are continually challenged by ethical dilemmas and who are implementing action plans to address these issues.

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Early Identification Systems: Where Are We?

Wednesday, June 18, 2003 (8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.)

Moderator: 

Ms. Charlotte Grezbian, Deputy General Counsel, COPS Office

Presenters:

Major Tony Gentile, Miami-Dade (FL) Police Department
Sergeant John Newman, Tampa (FL) Police Department
Deputy Chief Fred Collie, Arlington (TX) Police Department

An early identification system is a data-based police management tool designed to identify potentially problematic officer behavior before it escalates, and to provide employee assistance through an appropriate intervention strategy. Comprehensive identification systems afford many benefits to law enforcement administrators, as well as the officers serving within the agency. These benefits include the means to establish, collect, analyze, and track a wide array of information that could indicate a potential issue before it becomes a systemic problem, and to develop tailored intervention strategies. This panel will focus on some varying early identification approaches undertaken in different law enforcement agencies, and the associated lessons learned and recommendations resulting from these initial experiences. This panel should be useful to all senior-level law enforcement managers and leaders who deal with behavioral and personnel concerns among officers and deputies, now and in the future.

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