RISK MANAGEMENT FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES: TWO CASE STUDIES

Law enforcement agencies lack clear guidance on best practices for managing agency-wide risk. Conventional risk management focuses on reducing the risk of legal liability for police misconduct. This legal liability paradigm, which targets the narrow range of risks that lead to municipal financial liability, persists despite significant limitations. This thesis uses the case study method to examine the risk management practices of the Seattle Police Department (SPD) and the Oakland Police Department (OPD), two agencies whose approach to managing risk, having been shaped by federal court oversight and community activism, embraces a more capacious understanding of the harms caused by police activities. This thesis analyzes two established risk management strategies, early intervention systems and incident review boards, and two promising strategies, Compstat-style risk management meetings and sentinel event reviews. The study finds that early intervention systems may gain utility from advances in machine learning, that incident review boards play an essential role in ensuring an agency’s continual risk-oriented self-scrutiny, and that sentinel event reviews can align agency practices with community values. Finally, the thesis finds that OPD’s risk management meetings, which it uses to provide strategic oversight of agency-wide risk, are effective, and recommends agencies consider implementing a similarly iterative and holistic process. Civilian, Oakland Police Department Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.