The past few months have been tough for the San Diego police department. A recent string of alleged police misconduct and criminal behavior cases involving 10 officers both on and off-duty, has drawn widespread public and media attention, prompting Chief William Lansdowne to hold a press conference in which he publicly apologized to residents and pledged to do everything possible to regain the public’s confidence and repair the damage done. As chief psychologist for ten years until 1990, Dr. Michael Mantell headed up the SDPD’s first-ever psychological services program, which was developed in response to a rash of stress-related disability claims and retirements after the PSA flight 182 mid-air collision in 1978. Mantell said 10 incidents within a department of about 2,100 officers do not represent a significant number. While he would not hypothesize about the causes, Mantell pointed out that many other cities around the country are faced with a similar situation. “The chief was very hard on himself when he said that it would take years to regain the public’s trust,” Mantell said. “I think a police force that can arrest its own speaks very highly of a chief and his ability to maintain an ethical and credible department.” Charges against the officers range from stalking and harassing of a fellow officer, demanding sexual favors from female motorists, DUI-related hit and run, rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, excessive force, burglary and kidnapping. One officer has been fired and another has been forced to resign.   Vowing to put an end to such behavior, Lansdowne responded by unveiling a plan to address misconduct within the department. The chiefs’ reforms call for a new 24-hour confidential complaint hotline, a review of the department discipline manual and increased staffing of the Internal Affairs Unit. The plan also calls for additional training of supervisors in the department’s Early Identification and Intervention System, a review of the department’s use-of-force tactics and training, regular meetings with all department employees and psychological “wellness” assessments during officers’ annual evaluations.  In a written statement, Jeff Jordon, vice president of the San Diego Police Officers Association said, “Years of budget reductions have caused police staffing to decrease while workloads continue to increase significantly. Our officers have long been considered the foundation of our police department. Our foundation has begun to fatigue and fracture. There is a need for the Department, in cooperation with the SDPOA, to focus on developing a response that strengthens our department and reinforces the standards that the community expects our officers to uphold both on and off duty.” Danell Scarborough, executive director of the San Diego Citizens Review Board (CRB) on Police Practices, which reviews citizen complaints against police officers and makes policy and procedural recommendations to the police chief, said that as of February, the numbers of investigations into police misconduct are up over the previous fiscal year.  Although she did not give specific numbers, Scarborough added that there has been a significant rise in complaints over the past two years.  The CRB also reviews officer-involved shootings, in-custody deaths and the administration of discipline arising from continued complaints against officers.    Scarborough did not theorize on the cause of the upward trend, but she did point out that most of the complaints received by the CRB involved excessive use of force and discrimination by officers.  “Although it’s frustrating to hear about, I would rather the information about police conduct be made public and the officers held accountable,” Scarborough said. “I think that is a healthy way to move forward in addressing these issues.” Spokesman Steve Walker of the San Diego District Attorney’s office said that as prosecutors, there is a burden to only file charges in cases where it appears that the charges can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. According to Walker, not all cases involving police misconduct reach the DA’s office because some are reviewed and handled internally by the different law enforcement agencies. Gene Iredale, a prominent San Diego criminal defense attorney who counts among his clients an Oceanside woman who along with her son was shot by an off-duty San Diego police officer in 2008 said that, paradoxically, what appears to be a sudden flurry of police illegality is not necessarily a bad thing. He went on to say that in truly corrupt places within the United States there are constant crimes committed by police officers that never get reported. Iredale called Lansdowne’s reaction exemplary and said that the very notoriety of police misconduct is a sign that the city doesn’t cover things up and that there is more transparency here than many other places. “The law is being applied to the police as well as the people who are subject to police authority,” Iredale said. “There is an attempt at essential honesty by the upper layers of the police bureaucracy and the city government and these are all good things.” Damage control On May 25, Chief William Lansdowne held the first of 13 department meetings to discuss his seven-point strategy to address officer misconduct. The meeting was held in a large meeting room at Qualcomm Stadium and was attended by over 300 members of the SDPD. Lansdowne stated that he clearly recognized that the vast majority of SDPD employees were conducting themselves with honor and integrity and that it was only a small handful of officers who have brought discredit upon the entire department. He promised to concentrate on and develop a larger wellness component within the department. He plans to make clear his expectations for all employees in the subsequent meetings. The department’s new confidential complaint hotline went operational the week before the first meeting and more than 100 calls came in during that first week. Other points included in the chief’s plan: • A review of the Department Discipline Manual is expected to be completed by September, 2011. • Staffing in the Internal Affairs Unit is to be expanded by 4 sergeants. • Supervisor training in the area of ethics, leadership and the Early Identification and Intervention System will begin in June and is expected to be completed by the end of September, 2011. • A review of the department’s use of force training and tactics is scheduled to be completed by September, 2011. • A wellness assessment will be added to the department’s resource library within the next two weeks and supervisors will begin to discuss this with each of their employees. The assessment will then become part of each employee’s annual evaluation process. — Kendra Hartmann