A few months ago, Paul Parker, the head of the Sheriff’s Department’s civilian oversight board, resigned from his position out of frustration.
“I just felt like I wasn’t able to make the progress that I thought was necessary,” he said Friday.
Will the City of San Diego Commission on Police Practices be better suited?
After a monthslong nationwide search, the City Council on Tuesday will consider Parker for executive director of the commission — an oversight group that oversees the San Diego Police Department.
Creation of the commission began in November 2020, when voters overwhelmingly passed Measure B. The ballot measure sought to replace the city’s former Community Police Practices Review Board with an independent oversight group staffed with professional staff and authority to investigate police shootings, in-custody deaths and certain incidents of alleged misconduct.
But in a way, the group’s work is only just beginning.
For years after the vote, an interim version of the commission languished under a wave of member resignations and a backlog that reached about 150 cases.
The board is now full of members, but it will take a few more months to submit procedures that will govern how they conduct investigations and issue disciplinary recommendations — procedures that must be approved by the city council.
If appointed, Parker would come in on the ground floor.
“He is courageous, he has courage and he thinks outside the box,” said commission chairwoman Gloria Tran. “And that’s what we need if we want to bring about change.” We are excited to bring on someone of his caliber, who knows San Diego, as we build this foundation.”
Parker, 53, is a former police officer who migrated to medical examiners’ offices in Arizona and Nevada before coming to San Diego County in 2017 to lead the Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board, or CLERB. The group provides oversight for the county sheriff’s department and probation department.
He left the following year when he was named chief deputy director of the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner, but returned as CLERB executive director in 2020.
While serving as head of the board, Parker worked to expand the board’s role and authority, particularly regarding deaths in county jails. San Diego County has had a high number of in-custody deaths for more than a decade. So far this year, five people have died while in the sheriff’s custody.
In his March resignation letter, Parker hoped the board would continue to build on its successes.
Under his leadership, CLERB doubled its resources from five positions and a budget of less than $1 million to 10 positions and a budget of $2 million.
The department has begun calling Parker or his team to the scene of investigations that could result in a CLERB review. Previously, the Board of Supervisors had to wait to begin its investigation until the Sheriff’s Department referred the case — a process that sometimes took months. The agency also began publicly announcing jail deaths instead of waiting until lengthy internal investigations were completed.
“With his extensive experience, commitment to transparency, and oversight leadership, Mr. Parker is well-positioned to lead the Commission, ensuring fair and professional law enforcement services for the community,” the city said in a staff report on the appointment.
But some changes were never implemented, despite Parker’s lobbying.
He spearheaded an effort to expand the board’s oversight to include prison medical staff, since health care workers are frequently involved in treatment decisions and practices that lead to in-custody deaths. .
Parker also repeatedly pressed Sheriff Kelly Martinez to scan sheriff’s deputies en route to the jail to help prevent drug trafficking and overdoses, and to release sheriff’s and probation department records, including internal reports from the department’s Critical Incident Review Board.
“I felt like I was talking to myself,” he said of his time at CLERB. “I was banging my head against the wall.
“I was definitely too proactive for this board.”
Suffice it to say, Parker understands the frustrations that can sometimes arise from watchdog groups. But he sees potential in San Diego’s new commission — and it seems to him that everyone, from the city to the police chief to the commissioners, wants to see it succeed, he said.
And the San Diego model excites him, Parker said Friday. Compared to CLERB, the city commission has better access to police department documents, making it easier to identify systemic issues and trends, he said.
“And not just the bad things, but also to identify, ‘Hey, this is like a gold standard.’ This is a good thing. It’s exciting for me,” Parker said.
Despite the inherent frustrations, the oversight boards’ mission is worth it, in his opinion.
“It makes a conversation easier,” he said. And although he has had challenges leading CLERB, he is proud of what the board has accomplished. “My goal was to move forward as much as possible, to be as transparent as possible, knowing that these recommendations will start a conversation. »
He said if he was appointed, he would spend his first weeks doing a lot of listening. He wants to hear from the community, the city, the police department, staff members and commission commissioners.
“I just want to listen, listen, listen for the first month, month and a half,” he said.
Parker, who lives in Little Italy, would receive an annual salary of $203,700 along with other benefits, according to a staff report.
California Daily Newspapers
