| Mediation in Fiscal Year 2007
In fiscal year 2007, OPC, through its mediation service, the Community Dispute Resolution Center (CDRC), mediated 35 complaints, bringing the grand total to 165 complaints mediated. The parties reached an agreement in 26 of the 35 mediation sessions, or 74%, and these agreements accounted for 7% of all complaints resolved by OPC through conviction, adjudication, dismissal, or successful mediation in fiscal year 2007. Experts in the field have used these three measures – “the total number of complaints referred for mediation, the percentage of those cases that were successfully mediated, and the percentage of all complaints that were successfully mediated” – to survey and compare the operation of mediation programs used by different police oversight agencies. The agency’s performance places it at or near the top of all of the programs around the United States.
Since the program began in 2001, 120 of the 165 mediation sessions (or 73%) have been successful and resulted in an agreement between the parties that resolved the complaint. The remaining 45 sessions (or 27%) did not result in an agreement, and the underlying complaints were referred back to the executive director for appropriate action. To date, mediators have helped resolve complaints that allege harassment, the use of language or conduct that is insulting, demeaning, or humiliating, discrimination, the use of unnecessary or excessive force not resulting in injury, failure to provide identification, retaliation, or a combination of the six.
In addition to the statistical success rate, a survey of the participants indicated that 98% of complainants and subject officers who responded found the mediator to be helpful or very helpful, 88% found the mediation session to be satisfactory or very satisfactory, and 96% found the resulting agreement to be fair or very fair. With the aim of the program being to enhance community-police relations, it is important that such a high proportion of participants come away with a positive view of the mediator and the process, as well as the agreement that both sides worked toward reaching. In addition, 48% of the respondents left their mediation session with more positive feelings about the other party, while only 9% had more negative feelings, and 42% indicated no change in their feelings. Finally, OPC is proactively taking steps to protect the integrity of the mediation process by dismissing complaints and pursuing discipline of officers when one of the parties fails to appear for mediation or refuses to participate in the mediation process in good faith.
OPC is pleased that it has achieved and maintained an increased number of complaints referred to mediation, a significant percentage of successful mediations, and a noteworthy percentage of all cases resolved through mediation agreements.
As an illustration of the types of complaints that were referred to mediation in fiscal year 2007, the following are examples that describe the complaint and the mediation session:
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