Oro Valley's "OPS": Enforcing The Standards

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Did you know that the Oro Valley Police Department has an Internal Affairs Department? Did you know that there is a process for submitting a complaint? Did you know that there is a process that the department uses to investigate a complaint? Did you know that the departments administrative process occurs independently of any judicial process?

Well, if you didn't know these things were not surprised because we didn't either.

Here is how it works.  The internal affairs department is called the Office of Professional Standards (OPS).   It conducted 19 use of force internal investigations in 2010 and 2011.There were a total of 15 in 2012.

Source: 2011 Oro Valley Police Report

According Lt. Kara Riley, one of the two members of the internal affairs investigation team:

• Complaints are fielded from various sources. For example, a citizen can file a complaint.
• The team investigates the complaint, which includes discussing the complain with the complainant.
• The officer is questioned. The officer can assert their "Garrity Rights" during the process which means that they can not be compelled to incriminate themselves. They can not be disciplined for doing so.
• Information gathered during this process is not passed to the court system.
• Disposition is made locally as well as at the state level.

OPS also conducts the hiring process and background investigation of police applicants.

We asked Lieut. Riley what seems to be the most common incident.  "I normally deal with damage property incidents". These would be caused by police accidents.  (Yes, they have them too.)

You can find more about incidents and disciplinary action in Arizona by reading the integrity bulletins of the Arizona Police Officers Standards and Training Board.   You will definitely want to check some of these out because they can be a "hoot."  We especially like the one where the officer "...repeatedly accessed criminal history record information in furtherance of his pursuit to establish social relationships with women."  Apparently, the officer had not heard of eHarmony.

One of the things Lieut. Riley stressed is that officers are expected to maintain a high level of ethical behavior at all times, whether on or off duty.  Getting into a domestic disturbance at home, for example, can result in losing certification. There's an entire text on the subject that the officers have and an introductory "this is how it is" session with the chief and the chief's assistant.

There is also the "Brady List" which is also know as the Law Enforcement Integrity Data Base.  It is a list maintained by the county and local agencies of officers who have done things like:

• providing contrary or conflicting statements about the facts of the case; 
• false reports by the officer in other cases; 
• evidence undermining the officer’s expertise; 
• misconduct involving moral turpitude, untruthfulness or bias; 
• misdemeanor convictions involving moral turpitude; reputation for untruthfulness; racial, religious, or personal bias against the defendant personally or as a member of a protected group

An officer most certainly does not want to get their name on this list.

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