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OCC director warns budget cuts could shrink office by a quarter, jeopardizing complaint processing
Summary
Director Joyce Hicks told the Police Commission that proposed mayoral budget targets — a 20% reduction plus a 10% contingency — could force elimination of roughly 5.5 positions at the Office of Citizen Complaints and, if both cuts are taken, reduce OCC staff by about 25 percent, undermining case processing, mediation, and the office’s legal capacity.
Director Joyce Hicks told the Police Commission on Jan. 20 that the Office of Citizen Complaints (OCC) faces severe operational risks if the mayor’s budget reduction targets are imposed.
Hicks said the OCC’s baseline budget is about $4.2 million, with approximately $3.8 million in personnel costs and 34.75 full positions. To meet a 20 percent reduction target — roughly $540,000 for the OCC — the office would need to eliminate about 5.5 positions, including clerical staff, non‑supervisory investigators and one attorney. A further 10 percent contingency reduction (~$270,000) would require additional layoffs and operational cuts.
"These reductions would be devastating to the OCC," Hicks said, warning that lost investigators and attorneys would slow case processing and reduce the office’s ability to prosecute sustained cases, run mediation, and make policy recommendations to the department.
Hicks outlined how minimum staffing levels are set by the city charter (1 investigator per 150 police officers) and noted ambiguities in how various investigator classifications have been historically counted. She said the OCC’s investigators’ caseload has fallen in recent years (from about 34 cases per investigator in 2007 to about 21 in 2009), improving timeliness; eliminating staff would reverse those gains and increase review and processing times significantly.
Commissioners pressed Hicks on whether, under staffing reductions, the OCC could meet proposed hearing timelines modeled on fire department rules (hearings starting within 60 days and completed in 120). Hicks said meeting such deadlines would be "extremely difficult" given current backlogs and attorney shortages. Commissioners said slowing discipline processes can have public‑safety and fairness consequences if accused officers remain on limited duty for longer periods.
Hicks said she would provide a revised report reflecting the evening’s discussion and additional details at the commission’s Feb. 10 meeting.
