REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
October 2, 2014
FROM: JERRY P. DYER, Chief of Police
Police Department
BY: DENNIS BRIDGES, Captain
Patrol Support Division
SUBJECT
Title
Revision of Video Policing Auditing
Body
RECOMMENDATION
The qualifications of the Video Policing Unit Auditor (VPUA) should be expanded from retired federal judge to retired federal judge or retired state judge.
The audit performed by the retired judge should be completed every 24 months instead of the current 12-month audit.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
An audit of the Fresno Police Department's (FPD) Video Policing Unit (VPU) was published by retired Federal judge, Oliver Wanger. Judge Wanger recommended the qualifications for the Video Policing Unit Auditor be expanded from retired federal court judge to include retired state judges. This is necessary due to the limited number of retired Federal court judges that are available.
Also, FPD is recommending the audit be completed every 24 months instead or every 12 months due to the amount of time and work required to perform the audit.
BACKGROUND
Judge Wanger's audit was published on December 31, 2013. It contained several recommendations on staffing and recordkeeping for the FPD's VPU. Most of the recommendations pertained to internal auditing, and these recommendations are being addressed. One of Judge Wanger's recommendations was to expand the pool of VPUA candidates from retired Federal judges to include retired state judges. This is due to the very limited local pool of retired Federal judges. Expanding the qualifications to include retired state judges will make it much more likely that the Video Policing Auditor will be a local resident, something that is of value to the position and the community.
A second recommendation that the FPD is making is that the Video Policing Audit conducted by the VPUA occur once every 24 months instead of occurring every 12 months. The audit preparation and the production of the audit is very time consuming and laborious for the auditor and is not needed to be repeated every 12 months. A 24-month review would yield the same value while reducing the time and effort required of the unpaid retired judge conducting the audit. The expansion of the auditor's time period for review would have no impact on the FPD's on-going review of its video policing and its internal audit completed every 12 months.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
Not Applicable.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
The VPUA position is an unpaid position. However, we will seek candidates who are local due to their familiarization with the Fresno community.
FISCAL IMPACT
There would be no fiscal impact to the General Fund.
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09/10/2014