A potential deal that would give two well-known law enforcement figures a chance to probe the Police Department may not provide all the answers the City Council needs to improve the agency, 1st Ward Councilwoman Esther Estrada said.
City Hall officials have recently worked on a contract that would let Cal State San Bernardino criminologist Larry Gaines and former Rialto and Fontana Police Chief Frank Scialdone conduct a review of the San Bernardino Police Department.
Talk of a probe follows news from early September when the San Bernardino Police Officers Association took a vote of no confidence in Police Chief Michael Billdt.
City Hall officials have recently worked on a contract that would let Cal State San Bernardino criminologist Larry Gaines and former Rialto and Fontana Police Chief Frank Scialdone conduct a review of the San Bernardino Police Department.
Talk of a probe follows news from early September when the San Bernardino Police Officers Association took a vote of no confidence in Police Chief Michael Billdt.
Billdt plans to retire in March. Mayor Pat Morris has supported Billdt, but also supported an outside inquiry as a step to improving the Police Department.
Estrada made her views public at Monday's City Council meeting. In an interview the following day, she repeated her concerns that Gaines and Scialdone may not be given enough scope to completely assess how the Police Department may need to be improved.
"The whole point of having Frank Scialdone go in there was to do an unbiased review and look into everything without being filtered," Estrada said today.
The proposed contract would use $24,500 in city money, Estrada said. That amount is $500 below the threshold that would require the council to vote on the contract.
Estrada said that as presently conceived, the possible contract that would let Gaines and Scialdone have an insider's view of the Police Department would assign a police liaison and also focus the probe on three issues.
Those issues are the department's use-of-force reporting policy, the length of time it takes to complete internal-affairs investigations and what factors are used to determine whether officers accused of wrongdoing are investigated by the Police Department or outside agencies.
The police union has cited those issues as major points of concern. Monday, Morris said that zeroing in on those matters could allow Gaines and Scialdone to get to the bottom of labor-management problems in the department.
The deal "is one that addresses the three central issues that were raised by the (police union)," Morris said.
Today, Scialdone said he and Gaines will examine whatever issues San Bernardino officials ask them to. He also said that a Police Department liaison is necessary to their work, but that doesn't mean their probe won't be independent.
"Number One, nobody in the Police Department will supervise our investigation. Nobody in City Hall will supervise our investigation," Scialdone said.
Interim City Manager Mark Weinberg said Monday that the contract for the Police Department study has not yet been executed. He said he was presented with the potential deal mere hours after showing up to work on Oct. 15, his first day on the job.
"I need to step back just a little bit and find out what the will of the council is," Weinberg said.
Billdt said today that the contract is still a work in progress and that he did not wish to comment on the issue until a deal is finalized, save to repeat his view that the differences between himself and the police union can be resolved.
Rich Lawhead, president of the police union, said any outside investigation needs to go deeper than the three policy issues previously cited by union leadership and by Morris.
Like Estrada, Lawhead said he was concerned that police administrators may be able to limit what Gaines and Scialdone can see, but he's still waiting to see the final contract that the city will offer Gaines and Scialdone.
"We want to give the new city manager an opportunity," Lawhead said.
andrew.edwards@inlandnewspapers.com
Estrada made her views public at Monday's City Council meeting. In an interview the following day, she repeated her concerns that Gaines and Scialdone may not be given enough scope to completely assess how the Police Department may need to be improved.
"The whole point of having Frank Scialdone go in there was to do an unbiased review and look into everything without being filtered," Estrada said today.
The proposed contract would use $24,500 in city money, Estrada said. That amount is $500 below the threshold that would require the council to vote on the contract.
Estrada said that as presently conceived, the possible contract that would let Gaines and Scialdone have an insider's view of the Police Department would assign a police liaison and also focus the probe on three issues.
Those issues are the department's use-of-force reporting policy, the length of time it takes to complete internal-affairs investigations and what factors are used to determine whether officers accused of wrongdoing are investigated by the Police Department or outside agencies.
The police union has cited those issues as major points of concern. Monday, Morris said that zeroing in on those matters could allow Gaines and Scialdone to get to the bottom of labor-management problems in the department.
The deal "is one that addresses the three central issues that were raised by the (police union)," Morris said.
Today, Scialdone said he and Gaines will examine whatever issues San Bernardino officials ask them to. He also said that a Police Department liaison is necessary to their work, but that doesn't mean their probe won't be independent.
"Number One, nobody in the Police Department will supervise our investigation. Nobody in City Hall will supervise our investigation," Scialdone said.
Interim City Manager Mark Weinberg said Monday that the contract for the Police Department study has not yet been executed. He said he was presented with the potential deal mere hours after showing up to work on Oct. 15, his first day on the job.
"I need to step back just a little bit and find out what the will of the council is," Weinberg said.
Billdt said today that the contract is still a work in progress and that he did not wish to comment on the issue until a deal is finalized, save to repeat his view that the differences between himself and the police union can be resolved.
Rich Lawhead, president of the police union, said any outside investigation needs to go deeper than the three policy issues previously cited by union leadership and by Morris.
Like Estrada, Lawhead said he was concerned that police administrators may be able to limit what Gaines and Scialdone can see, but he's still waiting to see the final contract that the city will offer Gaines and Scialdone.
"We want to give the new city manager an opportunity," Lawhead said.
andrew.edwards@inlandnewspapers.com
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