Things Looking Up for Police Review Panel : Law Enforcement: City manager will provide a staff member and phone, meaning citizen complaints can at last be lodged.

More than two years after its creation was approved by voters, a citizens review board is finally getting a staff member and telephone answering machine to record complaints filed against the San Diego Police Department.

The Citizen’s Review Board on Police Practices has never been able to accept public complaints, had no telephone number and no mailing address, even though it was established to conduct investigations into the actions of police officers.

In its annual report in November, delivered nearly five months late because it had no staff, the board complained about a series of problems it said were hampering its investigations, including the department’s refusal to provide prior cases of discipline of officers.

City Manager John Lockwood concluded that many complaints were not being filed because, until now, they had to be submitted to the Police Department. Community leaders, including Frank Jordan, a member of the San Diego chapter of the NAACP, said many people find it intimidating to complain to the very agency that is the object of the complaint.

Under the new arrangement for accepting complaints, the city manager’s office will have an employee answering a telephone during normal business hours and a recorded message the rest of the time, Lockwood said. If necessary, the employee will visit those who make complaints.

Complaints will be forwarded to the police internal affairs division and then to the review board, which is now normal procedure.

Lockwood said posters will be put up at the offices of community organizations and the Police Department.

The citizen panel also cited six cases last year in which police officers “inappropriately” used flashlights instead of batons to subdue suspects, and suggested that new, less-cumbersome flashlights, be used.

Lockwood said he is concerned about the increased use of flashlights in self-defense. None of the officers was disciplined in the cases.

The Police Department “will restate the techniques and situations when a flashlight can be used,” Lockwood said, but no mention was made of replacing the flashlights.

The city manager’s office also will discuss with the review board, city attorney’s office and Police Department the possibility that the board be permitted to review earlier discipline cases against officers to determine whether a pattern of abuse has emerged.

Members of the review panel have complained about not being given a detailed breakdown of a police officer’s disciplinary history but rather a summary of how many times the officer has been disciplined for the same type of complaint.

Without the detailed breakdown, panel members say they cannot decide whether disciplinary action taken against police officers was necessary.

Even when the review board disagrees, it can do no more under state law than release a compilation of statistics that show the number of times it disagrees with disciplinary actions, but it cannot be more specific.

Board members also want department training to emphasize “civility and professionalism” to avoid unnecessary violence or arrest.

Lockwood said the Police Department has started a new verbal skills program with “a greater emphasis on body language,” which he said might help avoid violent confrontations. He said it will be taught in the police academy and added to advanced training courses that officers receive.

Board chairman Murray Galinson said he was pleased by Lockwood’s response.

“I think the city manager has responded well to our concerns,” he said. “On two of the issues--the review of discipline cases and additional staff--we’re sitting down and working that out. On the other issues--establishing a staff member and phone number and the rest of it--the city manager’s office has agreed with us.”

Galinson said he is certain that matters can be resolved to the satisfaction of the review board.