Report calls for Des Moines police community review board, new policing policies
A new analysis of the Des Moines Police Department shows support for a community review board and suggests city officials and community members be part of the group to help address concerns and reshape policing policies.
The recommendation — which is among the 46 outlined in a new report by the Chicago-based firm 21st Century Policing Solutions (21CP) — reinforces numerous calls from social justice groups such as Just Voices Iowa and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement who in recent years have demanded the department create a third-party review board to hold its officers and systems accountable.
Public Works LLC, another consulting firm hired to assess the police department, rolled out a similar recommendation in its report last year, adding that advocates and people with "lived experiences" be included on the review board to collaborate with law enforcement officials on public safety issues. It suggested the city create a board that is both advisory and investigatory and that would review investigations of police misconduct.
Changes made to state law prohibit the city from creating an investigatory review board, however, City Manager Scott Sanders previously has said.
Des Moines City Council members have been split on whether they favor setting up a review board. During the recent mayor and council campaign, Mayor-elect Connie Boesen and councilmembers Josh Mandelbaum and Carl Voss expressed support; councilmembers Joe Gatto and Linda Westergaard and councilmember-elect Chris Coleman voiced opposition.
"I support a citizens’ review board and we are already working to find the most effective way to implement it in the city," Boesen said in response to a Des Moines Register questionnaire to mayoral candidates this fall.
21CP Solutions' 76-page report also pointed out the department's need to diversify its staff and strengthen its relationships with the city's immigrant communities. The firm noted issues with the department's process for promoting officers, adding that the department should partner with the city's Human Resources Department and Civil Service Commission to create a "more valued and relevant" process. And it backed Chief Dana Wingert's proposal to the city to hire a diversity and equity coordinator for the police department.
"This report provides a thorough evaluation of our police department. It identifies how current policies impact our community, where DMPD excels, and where there is room to improve compared to national best practices," Sanders said in a news release Monday. "Our police department is deeply committed to providing the highest standard of public safety for our community and we embrace this report as our roadmap for continued improvement. We will review and prioritize these recommendations to provide immediate and long-term benefits to our community."
The 21CP team conducted focus groups, interviews and surveys with community members, DMPD employees and other stakeholders to come to its conclusions.
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Here's a look at some of the report's recommendations:
Report all police stops, including race and gender
21CP Solutions has advised the department to complete all the recommendations previously made by Public Works LLC on data collection — and make those reports available to the public.
Public Works suggested the department record all its stops, not just the ones that result in arrests, warnings or citations. It also asked the department to include the race, gender and sex of the individuals stopped by police.
Recognizing the department "can only do so much," 21CP Solutions proposed the city offer more funding to hire data analysts and to create a system such as an online dashboard where the public can access the data.
The firm also noted the department needs to have a more "formal feedback structure" in place, so trends can be analyzed. This structure could include launching focus groups with officers or reviewing trainings on search and seizure.
Create a use of force review committee, de-escalation policy
21CP Solutions says the department should try to "reengage" with community members who have voiced concerns about the way it conducts stops and searches, especially with high-profile cases.
The firm found while the department has done more to track its use of force, "the effort is not entirely ideal." It said the department should formalize a use of force review committee or force review board to review "every serious use of force."
The firm said officers may have received input on how they could better address and improve their performance but that information is not widely shared with the community — information, the firm says, that is "vital for improved accountability and transparency."
And, it said, the DMPD should revise its policy manual "to reflect more clearly the Department’s commitment, in all of its activities, to valuing and upholding equity and fairness, honoring the sanctity of human life, and using de-escalation across all encounters."
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Do more with mental health response
21CP Solutions also encouraged the department to partner with university researchers to better track and analyze the calls made to the Mobile Health Crisis Team or Crisis Advocacy Response Effort program, which allows a mental health practitioner to respond to some calls with police. That information, the firm said, should be made available within the department and to the community.
Though 21CP Solutions recognizes the CARE program is new, the firm echoed a recommendation from Public Works to launch a "Behavior and Mental Health Work Group." That group should include MCRT and CARE officers and clinicians, dispatchers and police officers with mental health expertise, as well as representatives from nonprofits, health care providers and youth workers.
F. Amanda Tugade covers social justice issues for the Des Moines Register. Email her at ftugade@dmreg.com or follow her on Twitter @writefelissa.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines police review board, use of force rules suggested by report
