Justices OK County Police Brutality Panels

The California Supreme Court, ruling in a San Diego case, held Monday that charter counties can create tough citizen review boards to investigate police brutality.

The unanimous ruling affects all 12 charter counties in the state, including Los Angeles, by giving them the option of creating review boards with subpoena power to probe allegations of excessive force or other misconduct by law enforcement personnel.

Voters in San Diego County passed a charter amendment in 1990 to create such a board after a string of controversial shootings by police and sheriff’s deputies.

But the president of the San Diego Sheriff’s Assn. filed suit, contending that counties cannot legally give citizen boards the power to compel witnesses to testify or produce documents.

Pending a Supreme Court ruling, the county’s citizen review board has not subpoenaed deputies to appear, and most have declined to do so voluntarily.

“This is a big step,” said Eileen Luna, executive officer of the county’s review board. “This is just really exciting.”

Community activists in Los Angeles also were thrilled by the ruling. Robin Toma, staff counsel of the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, said activists have been pressing for years for the creation of such a review board to probe complaints against members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

“This directly refutes the argument that they don’t have the power to meddle in the Sheriff’s Department,” Toma said.

California has 12 charter counties, including San Diego, San Bernardino, Alameda, Sacramento and Fresno.

David Niddrie, an attorney for San Diego’s review board, said the county was the first in the country to create such a panel with subpoena power.

“The idea is to get at the truth,” he said.

Luna said the board has recommended about 40 policy changes to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and probation office and found misconduct in about 35% of the cases citizens have brought.

But the board’s recommendations are only advisory, and Luna said she could not disclose whether any deputies were disciplined as a result of the panel’s recommendations. Members of the San Diego board are appointed by the county’s chief administrative officer and confirmed by the Board of Supervisors.

Randy Dibb, who filed the suit as president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Assn., declined to comment on the ruling.

The deputy’s association had argued that the board’s subpoena power could impede law enforcement investigations.