Civilian oversight of Sheriff's Office sought

Calling it their "legislative duty" to restore the public's trust in the Sheriff's Office, two members of the King County Council proposed a civilian oversight plan Wednesday.

The plan would radically change the way misconduct investigations of deputies are handled, going beyond the plan offered this week by Sheriff Sue Rahr.


		Paul Joseph Brown / P-I
	King County Council members Julia Patterson and Bob Ferguson proposed civilian oversight of the Sheriff's Office Wednesday.

"We're going to change the culture in King County," said Julia Patterson, chairwoman of the council's Law and Justice Committee, and co-sponsor of the measure with fellow Democrat Bob Ferguson.

The plan would establish an independent civilian auditor -- with subpoena power and unfettered access to sheriff's records and other evidence -- to spot systemic problems in deputy conduct and internal investigations.

It would also create an independent "Law Enforcement Oversight" office -- three civilians with legal and civil rights backgrounds -- to field misconduct complaints brought against individual officers from citizens and internal whistle-blowers.

That panel, to be located outside the Sheriff's Office in the county ombudsman's office, would forward complaints to the Sheriff's Office. The citizen monitors would participate in the department's investigations, and review the results. The oversight office would make recommendations in each case to the sheriff, who would review both reports before deciding on discipline.

Both civilian components -- the auditor and oversight office -- would give regular progress reports to the County Council.

"That sounds really good," said Sam Walker, a University of Nebraska-Omaha professor of criminal justice and noted expert on police oversight. "The auditor model is the way to go."

The proposal is based on a highly regarded model used by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department that dramatically reduced excessive-force complaints and legal settlements.

Earlier this week, Rahr announced creation of a temporary "blue-ribbon" task force to look at disciplinary systems within her office, and detailed a "100-day plan" of internal reforms.

While noting their proposal will "dovetail nicely" with the sheriff's proposed remedies, the co-sponsors said Wednesday the need for permanent civilian oversight is immediate.

"We're not interested in waiting months for (the blue-ribbon committee's) report to come out, when we see a need right now, today, for greater civilian oversight," Ferguson said.

The plan is the latest in a flurry of reforms proposed in response to an ongoing Seattle P-I special report, "Conduct Unbecoming," which has detailed examples of disciplinary breakdowns that allowed several officers to skirt accountability and continue misbehavior.

The P-I's report has touched a nerve, the council members said. Ferguson said the feedback from citizens has been at a level rivaling that of last year's calls for election reforms. "This is clearly an issue that's on the minds of ordinary citizens of King County," he said. "And they want it fixed."

"There is an element of fear that I detect in people's voices when they talk about this issue," Patterson said. "That is alarming."

Along with Rahr's proposed review by the still-to-be formed six-member committee, the sheriff has said she will reinstitute department performance evaluations; create an inspections bureau; regularly rotate detectives; and curtail deputy overtime, among other reforms.

While saying she is "not opposed" to civilian oversight, Rahr has not committed to that step.

"Whatever system is in place to deal with these employees must also have the confidence of the public," Rahr said in an e-mail Wednesday. "It is precisely for that reason that I asked for a blue-ribbon panel of experts to evaluate what we have now."

It was unclear Wednesday whether other officials would back the measure.

"At first glance, Ron likes the idea," said Sandeep Kaushik, spokesman for County Executive Ron Sims. "He wants to see a mechanism ... with some sort of civilian oversight. This may be the way to do that, or it may be a piece of a larger puzzle."

Few of the remaining seven County Council members returned calls Wednesday.

Democrat Larry Gossett said he has yet to see the proposal.

"I am one that generally favors citizen oversight over the police and I have favored this for many years," said Gossett.

Still, Gossett said he'd wait to form an opinion until he had a chance to review all proposals.

The plan is expected to be introduced formally when the council reconvenes Tuesday.

One potential stumbling block is the King County Police Officers Guild.

Neither the Guild's president, nor its attorney, returned calls Wednesday. But during a previous interview, Guild lawyer Chris Vick said civilian oversight generally is an ineffective, political reaction. He added that any such civilian oversight plan would be subject to collective bargaining with the Guild.

That may not be the case. According to Kaushik, Sims' labor relations' liaison Wednesday reviewed the Guild's contract.

"Her assessment is that there's nothing in the contract that would require that we have to collectively bargain with the guild to put in some sort of civilian oversight" -- as long as the civilian monitors are not actually imposing discipline, he said.

According to statistics offered by Ferguson, damage payments in Los Angeles County were cut in half -- from more than $26 million in 1991 to $11.6 million in 1994 -- after the auditor position was created. The number of incidents involving use of force fell from more than 3,200 in 1994 to 1,916 in 1997, even while the number of arrests increased.

Merrick Bobb, considered a national civilian oversight expert, serves as Los Angeles County's auditor, or "special counsel."

Bobb, who could not be reached Wednesday, told the P-I in September the system gives his county "the ability to ... ask how the department as a whole is handling its conduct."

Patterson said the plan costs Los Angeles County about $1 million per year. The auditor's salary is about $200,000.

But the Los Angeles County department has more than 9,000 employees, and serves about 3 million people. The costs of bringing a similar model to King County likely would be far less.

By comparison, the King County Sheriff's Office has about 1,000 employees and serves about a half-million people.

In current form, the plan would require hiring four full-time employees -- three investigators and one support aide -- to handle the oversight office.

Lawmakers are considering using short-term hiring contracts so the auditor doesn't become an "insider," Patterson said.

"L.A. County has had tremendous success with this model and has actually achieved savings with their government," Ferguson added. "From our standpoint, we believe whatever that cost is ... it will be a bargain."