What's New and What We're Thinking About
Incident Review Boards
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In Aurora, Colorado we facilitate an Incident Review Board (IRB). The purpose, to quote from Aurora's directive is: “At the discretion of the Chief of Police, to conduct timely inquiries into incidents where serious bodily injury or death results from sworn member involved use of force incidents, including all firearms discharges by active members of the department where the weapon was discharged with the intent to cause serious bodily injury or death in order to incapacitate a threat, any police in-custody death, or such incidents as directed by the Chief of Police or the Office of the City Manager. The IRB examines all related supporting documentation surrounding the aforementioned incidents to determine if the incident in question was consistent with established Departmental policy and training.
“The IRB is investigative in nature, non-adversarial and responsible for making recommendations on Departmental policy. The IRB will not result in discipline. The IRB provides an ongoing opportunity for both citizens and police personnel to understand and evaluate use of force incidents as they relate to current Departmental policy and training.”
- We're involved in facilitating the entire process, thus providing an objective, third party to be responsible for managing the IRB from start to finish - the letter to the City Manager outlining the recommendations of the committee.
- We think this may provide a model for other Departments interested in improving community confidence in the Police and demonstrating that open transparency is best for everyone.