The City of Rohnert Park takes seriously complaints regarding the Department of Public Safety’s service and the conduct of its members. In 2022, the City adopted an Independent Police Auditor program, the purpose of which was to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Department of Public Safety’s process for handling investigations into complaints by a member of the public. The City retained OIR Group, led by Michael Gennaco and Stephen Connolly, to act as its initial Independent Police Auditor (“IPA”). As requested, the IPA evaluated a first installment of case files that were completed by the Department in response to civilian complaints from 2023. The IPA’s report has been published on the Council’s Department of Public Safety’s pages
linked here.
The Independent Police Auditor agreed with the Department’s final determination reached in each of the eight investigations reviewed. The IPA found that the Department was taking complaints seriously and investigating complaints in good faith. The report also commended the professionalism of officers in the field. Moreover, the IPA report does not state that members of the Department used unreasonable or excessive force in any of the cases reviewed. The Department recently released data concerning its use of force in 2024 which included 34,845 officer contacts. The Department reported that it did not use lethal or deadly force in any of those contacts, did not show or use force 99.91% of the time, and there were only sixteen incidents involving residents of Rohnert Park where the Department showed or used force.
The IPA’s report also provides fifteen recommendations on ways the Department can improve its complaint investigation processes. The Department of Public Safety takes these recommendations seriously and is evaluating implementation of these recommendations for future investigations. Guidelines for the reporting, investigation, and disposition of complaints regarding the conduct of the members of the Department of Public Safety are set forth in the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety Policy Manual, Personnel Complaints Policy. I encourage you to review the Department’s policy which can be found on the Department’s webpage
linked here.