New contract to expand police auditor s reach
City set to restore OIR Group s power to review internal disputes, use of force by officers
Uploaded: Wed, Jun 9, 2021, 9:06 am 2
Time to read: about 4 minutes
The Palo Alto City Council is scheduled to approve a new contract that expands the scope of the independent police auditor on June 14, 2021. Embarcadero Media file photo by Veronica Weber.
Six months before the national outcry over racial justice pushed Palo Alto s elected leaders to talk about police accountability, the City Council made a decision that it would soon regret.
Prompted by city staff, council members in December 2019 voted to narrow the scope of the independent police auditor, OIR Group, so that the firm would no longer consider complaints filed by Police Department employees against their colleagues. The abrupt move also had the practical effect of derailing OIR Group s review of a complaint involving a former Palo Alto officer, who is Black, and a white dep