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11 Am. J. Police 1 (1992)
The Effectiveness of Civilian Review: Observations on Recent Trends and New Issues regarding the Civilian Review of the Police

handle is hein.journals/ajpol11 and id is 337 raw text is: American Journal of Police Vol. XI, No. 4 1992 1 THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CIVILIAN REVIEW: OBSERVATIONS ON RECENT TRENDS AND NEW ISSUES REGARDING THE CIVILIAN REVIEW OF THE POLICE Samuel Walker University of Nebraska at Omaha Vic W. Bumphus Michigan State University Civilian review of the police has been a controversial issue in policing for nearly forty years (Terrill, 1991). The concept is defined as a procedure under which citizen complaints against police officers are reviewed at some point by persons who are not sworn officers. Virtually all proposals for civilian review were defeated in the 1960s, but in the last few years the concept has spread rapidly among big-city police departments. By 1992 over two-thirds (68%) of the police de- partments in the 50 largest cities had some form of civilian review (Walker & Bumphus, 1991; Walker, 1992). This paper reports the findings of a survey of the 50 largest cities and discusses the important new questions raised by this data. The central issue regarding civilian review has traditionally been the question of whether it is appropriate for citizens to be involved in the complaint process. The police have opposed civilian review on the grounds that the concept intrudes on their professional autonomy, that persons who are not police officers are not competent to evaluate police actions, and out of fear of greater scrutiny of police behavior. The civilian review issue has also been a civil rights issue, pitting the African-American community against predominantly white police de- partments.

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