Response to the Audit

KING CITY

June 29, 2016

Elaine Howle
California State Auditor
621 Capitol Mall, Suite 1200
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Ms. Howle:

On behalf of the City of King, thank you for the opportunity to respond to the draft report titled “King City Police Department: Strengthening Management Practices Would Help Its Efforts to Prevent Officer Misconduct and Regain the Public’s Trust.” It has been a very thorough process, we have appreciated the extensive communication from your staff that performed the audit, and the City is in general agreement with most of the recommendations.

As stated in the report, the audit was performed in response to the King City Police Department towing scandal that was uncovered in 2014, which resulted in the arrest of six of the Department’s officers. It is impossible to overstate the seriousness to which the City has taken this issue, the damage it has caused to the community and our organization, the extent of the City’s efforts to address the problems within the organization that led to this travesty, and the City’s commitment to regaining the community’s trust and rebuilding the Police Department in order to provide the highest quality of public safety services possible.

As a result, we appreciate the recommendations that have been provided. We believe the report is thorough and generally accurate. However, one concern we would like to express is that the summary of the report does not provide the reader with a balanced reflection of the report's findings. It appears to be limited to the recommended improvements and makes no mention that the majority of the auditors' review found appropriate policies in place or under development in almost all areas, which are being followed.

The paragraph below is also referenced in our rebuttal point 1.

It also makes no mention of the extensive progress that has been made in a very short period. It is important to point out the findings of the State Audit represent one point in time. We recognize there is still much work to do, but also believe the condition of the Police Department is tremendously improved from where we were just a short time ago due to the diligent efforts of a number of very dedicated staff. We believe it is important to recognize those efforts on the record. Therefore, we have attached a summary of what we believe are the most significant accomplishments over the past year.

It is also important to mention that the problems were first and foremost a breakdown in leadership and the culture that was allowed to develop in the organization. Since the scandal occurred, the Police Department and overall City government is under new leadership, who have made significant changes. The City has almost entirely rebuilt its Police Department. The overall objective now is to not only address past deficiencies, but to develop new programs and efforts aimed at making the community as safe as possible.

That being said, we respect and agree with the State Auditor's position that it is important to have appropriate procedures, practices and systems in place designed to best prevent this type of problem from reoccurring. That has been the focus of much of the City's efforts. Therefore, we appreciate the objective perspective and recommendations of the State Auditors, and implementation of these measures will be incorporated into the City's work plan.

The following is the City’s response to the specific recommendations of the State Audit report:

Recommendation:

To provide for a more comprehensive review of complaints and ensure that the public is aware of the Department’s willingness to receive complaints in an open manner, the Department should strengthen its process with the following steps by December 2016:

Update its complaint policy to require the chief to review all supervisor decisions related to personnel complaints.

Modify its website to state explicitly its openness to accepting all complaints and inform members of the public that complaint forms may be filed at city hall, through its website, or during its community presentations. Similarly, it should more prominently display complaint option information in its lobby.

Perform outreach, such as through informal surveys, to identify potentially unreported complaints.

Reach out to community organizations to connect with members of the community who may have complaints.

Response:

The City agrees to the recommendations on how complaints can be improved. However, the City would like to express disagreement with the characterization of the Police Department’s currently policy as being “haphazard” (page 4, mid paragraph). The King City Police Department Policy Manual Section 1020 specifies the manner in which personnel complaints will be handled. The policy reflects the best practice throughout the State of California (Lexipol Policy). Section 1020.2 states, "The King City Police Department takes seriously all complaints regarding the service provided the Department and the conduct of its members. The Department will accept and address all complaints of misconduct in accordance with this policy and applicable federal, state and local law, municipality and county rules and the requirements of any collecting bargaining agreement." Personnel Section 1020.3 further states, "Personnel complaints may include any allegation of misconduct or improper job performance that if true would constitute a violation of Department policy or federal law, state or local law policy or rule. Personnel complaints may be generated internally or by the public...” Section 1020.4 states “…all complaints will be courteously accepted by any Department member and promptly given to the appropriate supervisor.” The policy describes a number of situations in which complaints are received and handled. The Police Department complaint policy is in compliance with section 832.5 of the California Penal Code.

Recommendation:

The City should consider whether to establish a community advisory group, ombudsman position, or city council committee as an additional resource for receiving complaints.

Response:

The City agrees with the recommendation to establish a community advisory group. However, the City believes the group should be broader in scope. Currently, the City is developing a community task force to develop a comprehensive plan to address youth violence. As a following step to that process, it is proposed to develop an advisory group that will work to support the overall efforts of the Police Department to make the community as safe as possible. The role of the group is proposed to include providing input, ideas and feedback; serving as a liaison with the community; and helping to develop funding strategies to implement new programs and services.

Recommendation:

To better manage its operations related to issuing traffic citations, the Department should perform the following actions by March 2017:

Implement a process to verify quarterly the accuracy and completeness of the data in its records management system.

Develop a process to conduct a quarterly review of its traffic citation statistics and follow-up with its officers as needed to ensure a consistent enforcement strategy.

Response:

The City agrees with these recommendations.

Recommendation:

To hold its officers accountable, the Department should implement a policy by September 2016 to document the patrol directives, such as citation and enforcement strategies, it provides to officers.

Response:

The City agrees with this recommendation.

Recommendation:

To ensure its policies are consistent with the city council’s directives and that it can hold its officers accountable for them, the Department should immediately update its towing policy to reflect the March 2014 city council resolution that officers not tow for minor traffic offenses if the vehicle is legally parked, registered, and insured; that officers must receive sergeant authorization for all tows; and that the Department provide monthly tow reports to the city manager. The Department should also specify in its policy that officers must receive training twice a year on the updated towing policy.

Response:

The City agrees with these recommendations.

Recommendation:

To address community and city management concerns about its towing of vehicles, the Department should improve its processes by performing the following by December 2016:

Provide additional information in its monthly towing report about the reason that a vehicle was stopped and the reason the Department needed to tow a vehicle.

Implement a process for the chief to review the monthly tow reports and follow up on any cases related to unlicensed drivers to determine if the reasons for the tows comply with the directives from city council.

Response:

The City agrees with these recommendations.

Recommendation:

To ensure that gasoline cards are used consistently and appropriately, the Department should develop a formal process by December 2016 for monitoring gasoline invoices and transactions. The Department should implement a policy that includes the following:

A requirement for gasoline cards to be issued to patrol vehicles as a means to track gasoline usage against vehicle mileage. The requirement should also include a description of how the Department will identify the officer responsible for each gasoline card purchase, either by assigning a unique identifier to each officer or by using a vehicle assignment log.

Procedures for obtaining explanations for any gasoline purchase that appears out of the ordinary.

Response:

The City agrees with these recommendations.

Recommendation:

To ensure that it is appropriately maintaining custody of evidence items and complies with POST recommendations, the Department should conduct the following activities:

Conduct a comprehensive inventory to develop an accurate list of evidence and property.

Update by September 2016 its evidence oversight policies to provide explicit direction, based on POST guidelines, to staff and management who perform evidence oversight activities.

Perform its monthly evidence inspections per its policy.

Develop a process by September 2016 for the chief to review compliance with the monthly inspection requirement.

Perform annual audits that are thorough and well documented.

Response:

The City agrees with these recommendations.

Recommendation:

To ensure that it uses consistent standards to evaluate whether information found in assessment of an officer candidate’s moral character could lead to conflicts of interest, the city council should establish screening criteria for the types of activities it considers to be incompatible with the official duties of an officer, such as in the areas of drug use, financial liabilities, and traffic citations.

Response:

The City agrees with the recommendation that the Department use consistent standards to evaluate an officer candidate. However, the City disagrees that the “city council should establish screening criteria…” California Government Code Section 1031, and as further defined in the POST Commission Regulations 1950 through 1955, is comprehensive in establishing the requirements for police officers. The department currently evaluates all candidates per the aforementioned POST criteria.

Recommendation:

To minimize the potential for conflicts of interest, the Department should develop a written policy by September 2016 that formalizes its practice of preventing officers from being involved in cases associated with their family members.

Response:

The City agrees with this recommendation.

Recommendation:

To comply with state regulations, better assess candidates’ ability to interact effectively with the community and other officers, and ensure consistency, the Department should document its interview questions, including at least one question from each of the six areas in the POST interview guidelines, by September 2016.

The City agrees with this recommendation, which is currently being implemented by the Department.

Recommendation:

To more effectively work with its community members, the Department should do the following:

Solicit and incorporate feedback from the community and create a formal community engagement plan that is tailored to meet community needs by December 2016.

Implement a process by September 2016 for the chief to review all promotional materials and presentations and ensure they are communicated in English and Spanish, where appropriate, according to the direction provided by the city manager.

Response:

The City agrees with these recommendations.

Recommendation:

To provide feedback and information to the Department, the city council should consider the formation of a community advisory group.

Response:

The City agrees with this recommendation.

Recommendation:

To ensure that its policy is being implemented correctly and to prevent further inappropriate reimbursements, the City should monitor at least semiannually the implementation of its new policy on expense approvals that it adopted in February 2016.

Response:

The City agrees with this recommendation.

Recommendation:

To ensure that the Department appropriately budgets for planned expenses, the City should continue to monitor its new policy on budget development that it adopted in January 2016. Specifically, the chief should monitor the budgeted and actual expenses of the Department each month, paying close attention to any areas where those expenses vary significantly from the amount budgeted, and discuss this analysis with the city manager each quarter to identify any weaknesses in its budget process.

Response:

The City agrees with this recommendation.

With regard to the overall timelines set forth in the recommendations, no evaluation of how those timelines were determined is provided in the report. While the City remains committed to continuing progress and implementation as quickly as possible, it is important to note that the City’s new Police Chief will begin employment on July 6, 2016. It will be important to provide the new Chief an appropriate period of orientation and time to establish working relationships with both the staff of the Department and the community. Furthermore, it will be important for the new Chief to develop a realistic work plan to accomplish these recommendations, balanced with other Department goals established, resource constraints, and ongoing needs focused on improving overall public safety. As a result, the City is unable at this time to commit to specific target dates identified within the recommendations.

The City thanks you and your staff for the constructive approach taken in conducting this analysis. We appreciate the commitment you share with us to serve the public and to utilize public resources in the most ethical and effective manner possible. The City accepts the recommendations of this report and will move forward to work on implementation.

Sincerely,

Steven Adams
City Manager

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cc. City Council, City Attorney, Chief of Police

LIST OF KING CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT IMPROVEMENTS

Every person who was arrested or suspected in the corruption case from February 25, 2014 has been removed from the Police Department and City employment. Only four sworn personnel remain who worked for the Police Department prior to February 25, 2014. These four members have been thoroughly vetted.
The process of staffing the Police Department has been slow and deliberate. Standards for hiring have been raised to the point where only 1/3rd of applicants put into background actually pass background and get hired.
The Police Department was able to return to protecting the community 24/7 sooner than expected, saving a significant amount of money due to the high cost of the Sheriff’s Office contract for evening patrol.

The Lexipol policy manual has been completely updated. All personnel are required to confirm all new or updated policies have been read and understood.
As of January 1st, 2016 all sworn personnel were required to wear body cams. All enforcement contacts are to be recorded.
A new policy has been implemented that prohibits any member of the Police Department or their immediate family from coming into possession of any vehicle towed/impounded by the Police Department. This prohibition extends to any means of coming into possession of the vehicle, including through a lien sale auction. All impounded vehicles must receive supervisor approval before being towed. Unless the driver is a repeat violator, every effort is made to find a licensed driver to take possession of the vehicle. The Police Chief reviews circumstances surrounding all towed vehicles. A tow report is included in city council agenda packets on a monthly basis detailing all vehicles towed during the period between council meetings. All personnel can now issue a release for an impounded vehicle 24/7, accepting check or money order, so people don’t have to wait until the front office is open to get release, thereby not incurring additional storage fees.
The Police Department is now monitored 24/7 by surveillance cameras that record any motion. Areas recorded include inside and outside of evidence room and evidence handling room, the entire jail facility, records, front lobby, perimeter of building, every hallway, and armory.
The locks were changed on entire police building. Locks are now combination coded so the code can be changed frequently.
The evidence room and armory now have electronic locks (the evidence room has a double lock), activated by a key fob issued to a select few. Every time either room is accessed, in addition to being recorded, the entry registers on a computer program with the time and name of the person who entered and how long they were inside.
All computers and servers have been upgraded and secured.
All internal affairs investigations on all personnel involved in February, 2014, event have been completed and appropriate personnel action taken.
MOUs have been negotiated with bargaining units to significantly increase salaries of all employees to aid in recruitment and retention.
All in-car MDTs (Mobile Data Terminals) have been upgraded.
Secure wifi has been added to the Police Department.
POST background audits have been conducted and PD is in compliance.
POST training audit was conducted. Two officers were out of compliance for perishable skills. One of the officers has been on long-term modified duty. The Police Department is arranging for the other officer to receive the training. All other officers are in compliance.
A training manager has been assigned to maintain all training records and compliance.
Use of Force form was expanded to report any/all use of force. Each form submitted is reviewed by the Sergeant, Commander, and Police Chief.
Use of Force information is reported to the State annually.
Weapons and ammunition are audited monthly.

The evidence room is audited annually, which was last completed in December for 2015.
An additional tow company was added to rotation list. All tows are requested via radio, no exceptions per policy, and rotation is used.
The press release format has been standardized and all media outlets are given the police chief’s cell phone number, as well as the Commander’s.
All overflow records are now behind a locked cage area, preventing unauthorized access.
Vehicles are inspected monthly for safety and cleanliness.
New file cabinets have been installed to secure all internal affair, background, and training files.
Two new 2016 Ford Interceptor patrol vehicles have been added to the fleet. New graphics were used on the vehicles as an ongoing “rebranding” of the Police Department.
All members of the Police Department participated in developing a new motto for the Police Department: “Proud to Protect….an Honor to Serve” Graphics have been ordered to put the motto on patrol cars and police building. Motto added to letterhead and business cards. Motto will be part of the “branding” of the Police Department.
Furniture and appearance of the Police Department facility has been improved to communicate pride and professionalism.
New secure, dedicated computer and server installed for retention of body cam and Taser cam video.
The City has received new Tasers with cameras to be deployed as soon as training is completed.
The Police Department has contracted with Lexipol to provide Daily Briefing Trainings. These trainings test all personnel in their knowledge of the policy manual. In addition, all personnel are notified when a new policy has been added or an existing policy updated. They must acknowledge reading and understanding the policy. Command staff can monitor officer activity to ensure compliance.
Handheld radios have been updated for better reception.
The hiring process has been streamlined to get eligible applicants into background sooner. The Police Chief and Commander visit police academies to recruit new personnel. Applicants are interviewed within days of submitting an application.
A full-time police detective position has been funded, along with a new T1 Line for the Police Department.
A new Interim Police Captain (a retired police chief) was hired to take over administrative tasks to assist the Commander and Chief in mentoring new personnel.
An Interim, part-time, Police Detective has been hired to investigate a number of cold case and current homicides. This Interim is a retired Monterey District Attorney Homicide Investigator.
The Police Detective and Police Commander have been provided with take-home cars and equipment to immediately respond to critical incidents, such as murders.
Several community outreach programs have been expanded/continued, including: Coffee with a Cop, Town Watch, 4C4P, and the Police Department has joined the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary.
A King City Police Facebook page has been developed.
The City website has been updated and police applicants can now apply on-line.
Code Enforcement complaints are now tracked and progress in solving monitored.
The Police Department participated in the “Officer of the Year” awards sponsored through the Monterey County Peace Officers’ Association.
The Police Department obtained access codes and remotes for all gate guarded properties in the city.
A new city-wide Surveillance Camera Registry has been implemented. Homeowners and businesses are encouraged to register their surveillance cameras to aid in criminal investigations.
The Police Department purchased a new system to read cell phone data to aid in homicide/serious felony investigations.
The Police Department is partnering with several allied agencies to reduce violent crime in the city, including other South County police departments, CHP, Sheriff, Parole, Probation, and FBI.
The Interim Chief is holding department-wide meetings to reinforce ethics, policy, information sharing, etc.
The Police Department has recently upgraded their body worn camera system to retain and retrieve data more efficiently.

Comments

California State Auditor’s Comments on the Response From King City

To provide clarity and perspective, we are commenting on the response to our audit from King City (City). The numbers below correspond to the numbers we have placed in the margin of the City’s response.

We disagree with the City’s assertion that the Summary does not provide the reader with a balanced reflection of our findings. The Summary provides information that supports the overall conclusions of the report and presents our findings in a fair and objective manner. Specifically, we state here that the King City Police Department’s (Department) officer investigation and discipline processes comply with legal requirements, but that it should strengthen its current processes for receiving and addressing personnel complaints. Later, we contrast our finding that the Department could not demonstrate that it performed regular reviews of the types of citations its officers issue with the interim chief’s assertion that he reviewed citation data in the past to help him direct officers on enforcement strategy. We also indicate here that the Department has been producing towing reports—a directive from the city council—but we believe that these reports could be improved by including additional information that would provide the city council and the community with a more complete understanding about the circumstances of the tows.

Furthermore, the City mischaracterizes our audit results by indicating that we found appropriate policies in place or under development in almost all areas. As we state here, although the Department has policies, procedures, and practices in place to help guide its operations, we conclude that the Department needs to improve its management processes to prevent officer misconduct and noncompliance with policies and to gain greater community confidence in its operations.

The City is incorrect in stating that we characterize the Department’s current complaint policy as being haphazard. We state here that without a standardized process for responding to verbal complaints—allowing supervisors to make unilateral decisions on the merits of the complaint—the Department could review complaints haphazardly or potentially mishandle issues altogether.

While preparing our draft report for publication, some page numbers shifted. Therefore, the page number the City cites in its response does not correspond to the page number in our final report.

We agree that a community advisory group could be established to provide broader functions beyond serving as an additional resource for receiving complaints. In fact, we point out here that the Department could benefit from a community advisory group that could be used to discuss and communicate to the Department the community’s concerns about law enforcement, and we recommend here that the City consider the formation of such a group. We also acknowledge here the City’s consideration of forming a community task force to develop a comprehensive plan to address youth violence.

The City’s response disagrees with our recommendation for establishing screening criteria for the types of activities and circumstances it considers to be incompatible with the official duties of an officer, such as in the areas of an officer candidate’s past drug use, amount of debt, and traffic citations received. Although the City references state law that requires each peace officer to meet specific minimum standards, including certain citizenship, age, fingerprinting, moral character, and education requirements, it is not precluded from establishing selection criteria that are more stringent than these standards. Likewise, the City references regulations established by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) that outline peace officer selection requirements, reading and writing ability assessments, oral interviews, background investigations, medical evaluations, and psychological evaluations, yet the City is not prohibited from establishing screening criteria that are more stringent than those required by POST’s regulations. Moreover, neither the statutory requirement nor the regulatory requirement stipulate screening criteria to help agencies determine whether an officer candidate is of good moral character or whether their past behavior indicates unsuitability to perform the duties of a peace officer. We describe an example where we found another police department had established criteria that disqualified candidates who had used drugs in the preceding five years—criteria not included in either the statutory or regulatory requirements. Moreover, as the elected representatives of the City, we believe the city council is the ideal decision making body to impartially identify the screening criteria for individuals seeking to be selected to police the community. Accordingly, we stand by our recommendation.

In developing the time frames included in our recommendations, we considered the level of effort that would likely be involved in implementing the recommendation, the risk to the City and the Department if implementation was prolonged, the potential demands on the newly hired chief, and the availability of the interim captain to assist with implementation efforts during the chief’s transition. Although we acknowledge that the new chief needs time to establish working relationships, we believe that many of the recommendations can be implemented in the short term, particularly with assistance from the interim captain.

Neither the City nor the Department provided us with this listing of improvements during our audit fieldwork. Accordingly, we cannot substantiate the validity of these claims. Further, this list includes several actions that are unrelated to the scope of our audit, such as upgrading computer and network equipment, obtaining body cameras, changing locks in the police building, and hiring a police detective.

During our audit fieldwork, we determined that the Department’s policy manual had not been completely updated. Specifically, as we describe here, although the Department’s towing policy bans employees from purchasing vehicles that the Department has towed, the policy does not reflect the city council’s directive that the Department conduct two trainings each year on proper towing procedures. Further, the policy does not include the city council’s requirement that officers obtain the sergeant’s approval before towing a vehicle, nor does it reference the monthly reporting to the city manager or how that report should be compiled or presented.

The City’s statement is inaccurate. As stated here, we determined that the Department did not perform an annual audit of the evidence room in 2015—a fact supported by the interim chief and the Department’s evidence room access logs.