Who’s Policing the Police?: A Comparison of the Civilian Agencies that Perform Oversight of Police in Texas’ Five Largest Cities

REPORT : Nov. 19, 2020 GOVERNANCE

Police Report cover

This report finds that civilian police oversight groups need more resources, fewer legislative hurdles, and proper experience and training.

This report analyzes the civilian agencies that perform oversight of police in Texas’ five largest cities: Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth.

The Kinder Institute used the National Association for Citizen Oversight of Law Enforcement’s (NACOLE) best practices as a framework. Each city’s oversight board was analyzed to see how well they aligned (or diverged) from best practices, and a narrative was developed using the following categories:

  •  Degree of independence from police
  •  To whom do they report?
  •  Data access
  •  Police staff access
  •  Public outreach practices
  •  Staffing
  •  Budget
  •  Transparency and reporting practices
  •  Legal powers and status
  •  Policy analysis and recommendations

The analysis finds that Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth are much closer to meeting national standards for citizen oversight, as their police “monitors” have not only independence from the police department, but also full-time, professional staff members. Staff don’t just review use-of-force cases, but also conduct their own investigations. In comparison, San Antonio and Houston civilian oversight agencies suffer from a lack of data access, a lack of independence, uncertain legal status and a complete lack of transparency and public reporting.

While we hope that this guide helps policymakers across Texas, we must emphasize that each city has local policing concerns. Police departments in Texas — and indeed across the United States — are extremely local institutions. The five police departments in this report all have different issues; they also have different issues compared to those in Texas’s rural cities, college towns or border metropolises. Their civilian oversight agencies should, accordingly, have some different functions.

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IN THE NEWS
Police oversight groups need more resources, better training, fewer legislative hurdles
Nov. 19, 2020 - RICE NEWS
Study: Houston’s Police Oversight Board Among Least Effective In Texas
Nov. 19, 2020 - HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA
Police oversight board in San Antonio lacks authority, investigative powers, researchers find
Nov. 19, 2020 - SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
Opinion: Police oversight in Houston is lax compared to Austin and Dallas
Nov. 19, 2020 - HOUSTON CHRONICLE
New Study Finds Civilian Oversight Of San Antonio Police Lacks Transparency, Data
Nov. 19, 2020 - TEXAS PUBLIC RADIO
How is Houston's civilian police review board?
Nov. 19, 2020 - FOX 26
New report: Houston police oversight board lagging behind major Texas cities
Nov. 23, 2020 - COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWS
Houston’s police oversight board ‘least robust’ of largest Texas cities, report finds
Nov. 24, 2020 - HOUSTON CHRONICLE
‘We want a real overview process’: Bexar County, deputies’ union clash over accountability
Dec. 5, 2020 - SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
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Mar. 22, 2021 - TEXAS PUBLIC RADIO
Mayor Sylvester Turner announces slew of police reform initiatives
Apr. 29, 2021 - COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWS
In Mayor Turner’s Police Reform, Houston Works To Correct Police Oversight Shortcomings
May. 6, 2021 - HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA
Houston appoints 7 new members to police oversight board
Jul. 7, 2021 - ABC 13
New Houston Police Oversight Board Chair Lays Out Vision For The Board’s Future
Aug. 17, 2021 - HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA
How much power do police oversight offices really have?
Jun. 27, 2022 - TEXAS OBSERVER
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