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OCC reports lower sustained rate but flags staffing shortfalls and tech projects
Summary
Office of Citizen Complaints Director Joyce Hicks reported a 5% sustained rate through Oct. 31, 2013, mediation activity, a backlog tied to investigator vacancies and a plan to launch online complaint filing and case-management prompts by December.
Joyce Hicks, director of the Office of Citizen Complaints, told the Police Commission on Nov. 13 that through Oct. 31 the OCC had opened 618 cases and closed 603, with 30 sustained cases representing a 5 percent sustained rate.
Hicks said the OCC sustained an adjusted total of 214 complaints in the third quarter and closed 168. Mediation activity increased (18 mediations in Q3); the office’s mediation rate for the year-to-date was 11 percent. She described a small number of adjudications by the chief in October, including admonishments, written reprimands and a suspension for an inspector who failed to identify himself and used unnecessary force.
Hicks cited staffing constraints as the principal operational challenge. She said the OCC currently has four investigator vacancies and cannot fill them until the next fiscal year because of structural budget constraints (a ‘‘step adjustment’’ factor that reduces available hiring funds). The vacancies left the OCC with a higher caseload per investigator (25 cases per investigator versus 21 in 2012) though the average number of days to close cases dropped from 166 to 138.
On technology, Hicks said the OCC is beta-testing an online complaint-filing system and an automated case-management prompt system and expects deployment by December 2013. She said the OCC retained an outside developer for online filing and that an in-house analyst is developing the auto-prompt system.
Commissioners pressed for more detail on whether traffic-stop data collection failures represent repeated misconduct or mostly first-time admonishments; Hicks said most were first-time admonishments but agreed to provide comparative 2012–2013 quarter-by-quarter data. Commissioners also discussed the restructuring that created a deputy director role: Eric Baltazar was appointed to the deputy director post and will carry investigative, policy and budget responsibilities.
The commission did not take immediate action to change OCC staffing or budget at the meeting; commissioners discussed scheduling follow-up to assess whether the commission can help address funding or prioritization with the city budget office or Board of Supervisors.
