Representatives from several groups have approached your elected officials and a

Representatives from several groups have approached your elected officials and asked that a Citizens’ Oversight Committee be formed. This is not in response to any specific incident. Rather, the request was very general in nature, and no guidance was
offered. Your Mayor, County Executive, or other Chief Elected Official has contacted you and directed you to develop such a committee. It should be noted that the elected officials
are generally new to their offices.According to what you have been told, this committee will review citizen complaints and the use of force by your law-enforcement agency; it will replace any
previous committees that were initiated by former elected officials. Additionally, the committee may make a recommendation about a course of action, but it does not have the authority to act. Any recommendation that requires a personnel action will be referred to the jurisdiction’s Human Resources Department (if required), to you if you are the Chief of the Department, or to the appropriate legal authority if it is so warranted. Your considerations for this assignment include, but are not limited to, the following:
• The selection process for the Committee. Who will determine the makeup of the Committee? From what parts of the community will they be selected?
• What steps need to be taken to educate the members of the Committee about your department?
• How often is the Committee required to meet? Is it monthly, quarterly, or on an as needed basis?
• Is funding needed for the operation of the Committee? You are in the middle of your budget year; your budget may require amendment. Will this require adjusting funding for other parts of your department?
• How do you present this to the community? To the media? Do you consider
utilizing social media?
Your project should include a timeline; you may construct any supporting materials. Students in past classes have written documents in Microsoft Word, made PowerPoint presentations, and even made videos. The project should be developed to the
draft stage, but suitable for presentation to your Mayor or Chief Elected Official. There is not a limit or minimum of words, pages, or slides if you choose to develop a Word document or PowerPoint; you should be able to describe and fully support your concept.