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Community awareness. Are community residents aware of the civilian oversight body? Community surveys <br />can provide a sense of the overall awareness of the of the oversight body. Although awareness is not a <br />measure of effectiveness of the oversight body, it can provide insight into the effectiveness of outreach <br />efforts to let the public know about civilian review of the police agency. <br />Number of citizen complaints. Numbers and type of complaints and trends should be documented <br />and reported. Is the number of complaints against police officers affected by the presence of a civilian <br />oversight body? The BJS study on use of force complaints in cities with more than 100 officers indicates <br />that communities with civilian oversight receive 11.9 complaints per 100 officers and those without civilian <br />oversight receive 6.6 per 100 officers.20 It can be argued that the presence of an oversight body helps <br />overcome the fear of filing a complaint against a police officer. <br />Research gaps. Civilian oversight bodies have been in existence for many years, and the number has <br />grown to well more than 100. Many of the bodies were established following high -profile incidents with <br />considerable debate in their communities and frequently opposed by the police. There is a significant body <br />of literature on the advantages and disadvantages of civilian oversight, descriptions of the various models, <br />and advice on implementation. There is little, if any, empirical research on the effectiveness of civilian <br />oversight of the police —nor are the programs subjected to any systematic evaluation. <br />The Chicago Police Accountability Task Force closely examined the system of accountability and concluded: <br />The public has lost faith in the oversight system. Every stage of investigations and discipline is <br />plagued by serious structural and procedural flaws that make real accountability nearly impossible. <br />The collective bargaining agreements provide an unfair advantage to officers, and the investigating <br />agencies— [Independent Police Review Authority ] IPRA and CPD's Bureau of Internal Affairs —are <br />under-resourced, lack true independence and are not held accountable for their work. Even where <br />misconduct is found to have occurred, officers are frequently able to avoid meaningful consequences <br />due to an opaque, drawn out and unscrutinized disciplinary process." <br />20. Hickman, Citizen Complaints. <br />21. Police Accountability Task Force, Recommendations for Reform. <br />65A-40 Round Table Discussion <br />