NACOLE MID-WINTER BOARD MEETING
Friday – Sunday, January 31-February 1, 2015
The Mission Inn - Riverside, California
Friday, January 30, 2015
8:00 a.m. PST
Roll Call:
Present: Ainsley Cromwell, Joyce Hicks, Christian Klossner, Nicholas Mitchell, Avice Reid, Dawn
Reynolds, Mark Smith, Karen Williams
Staff: Cameron McEllhiney, Liana Perez
Absent (excused): Brian Buchner (Friday only), Brian Corr, Ilana Rosenzweig
Vice President Ainsley Cromwell called the meeting to order at 0814 hours.
President Brian Buchner joined the meeting via conference call at 0831 hours.
Potential Alliance with the Innocence Project:
The Innocence Project has reached out to NACOLE to develop a partnership on a national scale. The first
step is to join them in a resolution. Buchner offered a draft resolution. Mitchell moved, with a second
from Hicks, to adopt the resolution. Motion passed unanimously.
Choose Civility Resolution:
A discussion was held regarding a draft civility resolution similar to the one authored by Santa Monica,
CA. The idea would be to post it on the NACOLE website, send it through the listserv, via e-mail blast,
etcetera. The resolution would encourage respectful treatment and dialogue. There were many
viewpoints about the necessity of such a resolution and the desired result of passing such an outcome.
Several members offered edits to the proposed resolution and it was agreed that this would be brought
up later in the weekend’s discussion after all of the edits were compiled.
Staffing:
Buchner asked the two contractors, McEllhiney and Perez, to give an assessment of the previous year
since Perez became a second contractor in advance of the budget and salary discussions that will be
forthcoming. McEllhiney states the new system is fantastic and she does not know how she managed
everything before Perez came on board. With the addition of more conferences and training
opportunities, it would be impossible to do everything without a second person. The amount of
outreach alone has become a full time job in itself. McEllhiney noted that money should not be the
major issue as she likes working with NACOLE, but if the Board is unable to compensate adequately,
then there will have to be a conversation about prioritizing the duties as they currently exist.
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Perez noted that the main focus of NACOLE was planning the annual conference but now we are a day
to day operation with the outreach. She stated the membership has become more acclimated to being
able to reach someone on a daily basis, and noted she cannot see the organization continuing to grow in
the way that it currently is without at least a full time and a part time person.
Both parties were questioned as to whether they felt the division of duties was appropriate and whether
the organization had grown that much greater to justify paying the salaries that were requested.
McEllhiney noted that the only income to the organization is conference registration fees and
membership fees, and states she feels there would be an uptick in income if there was a full time person
devoted solely to NACOLE who can do the extra marketing and events that could generate revenue.
The question was raised as to whether the organization is where it needs to be from a revenue
perspective in order to make this arrangement work, as we would not want to back off of the services
we are offering.
Buchner then exited the conference call.
Minutes approval:
The minutes of the January 14, 2015 Board of Directors meeting were discussed. Reid moved, seconded
by Mitchell, to approve. Motion passes unanimously.
The minutes of the special January 22, 2015 Board of Directors meeting were discussed. Smith moved,
seconded by Reid, to approve. Motion passes with Reynolds and Williams abstaining.
Secretary’s Report (Williams):
Williams reported that three new members recently joined. She passed out the minutes template and
requested that each person send committee minutes to her so they could be uploaded to the cloud and
also to the member’s only section of the website.
Cloud Storage: Williams, Perez, and McEllhiney then engaged in a discussion of the current cloud
storage and the request to consider whether a professional account is needed. After the three options
were discussed (Google Drive, DropBox, and Microsoft OneDrive), it was determined that there was not
a need to have multiple user accounts, but restrict access to only a few Board members. Additionally, it
was recommended to further explore Google Drive to see if there could be a benefit such as linking to
Google Voice to save money. Reid moved, seconded by Hicks, to upgrade DropBox to a 1 TB storage size
for $120/year. Motion passed.
Williams and Perez presented the Draft Secretary/Director of Operations Responsibilities. After minor
edits to language, Hicks moved, seconded by Klossner, to adopt the document. Motion passed.
Membership Development and Engagement Committee (Hicks/Smith):
Hicks reported the committee’s goals for 2015: increasing membership by 10%, contacting potential
new members by developing contacts with affinity groups and through geographic regions, and
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retaining current members by continuing to add value to memberships. She noted NACOLE’s
membership declined by 34% during the recession and the post recovery years, but as of 2012,
membership is on the increase. She states she believes the increase can be attributed to actions of the
board - increased reach out, more formalized events, additional training opportunities – which
encourage people to join the organization and add value to the membership. Membership today is the
highest that it has been in 6 years and because of current events around the nation, there is a great
potential to keep growing.
Smith noted there would be forthcoming changes to the Mentorship program in order to formalize and
re-energize the program. The possibilities include making it linked to the CPO program and having a
more structured, monitored program.
The new member gathering at the conference was discussed and it was thought that for this year, the
gathering could be before the opening reception, as the very first event of the conference.
Newsletter Committee (Williams):
Williams reported that the committee had set the goals of having three newsletter issues this year with
a continued focus of a mix of academic and other articles. The idea of using the newsletter as a
marketing tool was mentioned and Williams agreed to draft a letter that could accompany a copy of the
newsletter to people who might be interested in membership or other targeted markets.
Election and Bylaws Committee (Cromwell):
Cromwell reported that the committee is looking at election rules as they pertained to last year’s
elections. He stated the wording of the election rules is still being reviewed but proposed language
should be available at the March Board meeting. Reynolds noted the Strategic Planning Committee
submitted proposed housekeeping and structural changes to the Elections and Bylaws committee, and
the committee will be reviewing.
Cromwell noted that voting proxies may be revisited but does not anticipate any changes at this point.
He noted the committee may look into how to conduct voting my mail.
Website and Digital Media Committee (Mitchell):
Mitchell noted that the committee was working on several ideas and setting priorities, specifically in
regard to where resources should be devoted. The ideas that have been tossed around include creating
a searchable membership directory containing member expertise and adding conference content
through a website portal where videos could be streamed. He noted there are lots of logistical hurdles
that need to be crossed before videos and other content can be a viable option.
The question was raised whether taping conference sessions would lead to the speakers or audience
members censoring themselves knowing that their personal intellectual property would be available on
the web. Additionally, Board members questioned who we are building website content for – the
current members or the general public? Is content a tool that we can use to add value to a NACOLE
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membership? Can we create content that can be marketed and sold for a nominal amount? Will adding
videos of conference materials ultimately lead to people deciding not to come to the conference?
The remainder of the discussion was postponed until later in the meeting.
Scholarship Committee (Rosenzweig):
Rosenzweig joined the meeting via Skype. She noted the committee has talked through a number of
things and is committed to doing another dinner fundraiser. There continues to be discussions with the
local committee about fundraising for local scholarships. The committee would also like to have a
giveaway item such as a t-shirt, pin, lanyard, etc.
Rosenzweig discussed the marginal cost per scholarship attendee, which appears to be on par with the
amount charged for a student registration. She requested that the scholarship fund pay NACOLE the
student registration rate for any person given a scholarship. Additionally, she asked that NACOLE
consider paying for t-shirts or donating a flat amount to the scholarship fund.
If the fee to NACOLE for scholarship attendees can be lowered to the student rate, the committee would
like to up the amount given towards travel from $200 to $500. The general agreement amongst the
Board (it was determined that this did not need a formal vote) was to accept the student base rate and
increased travel amount.
Training, Education, and Standards Committee (Rosenzweig):
Rosenzweig reported on current and future programs. The February Academic Symposium in Seattle is
sold out with 123 attendees and a waiting list of 9. It appears that there will be a profit of around
$3,000. She has been in contact with Sam Walker, who has a former student at Arizona State who is
interested in partnering with NACOLE for a symposium. There is a question of timing – would like to
have another symposium in 2015 but there is only a small window of opportunity in the fall when it
could occur. Mitchell and Klossner stated they would be willing to contact Fordham Law in New York
City to possibly have an event on the east coast.
A discussion was held regarding the Austin joint ILEAA/NACOLE training event and the opportunity to
partner with ILEAA for a training conference in Memphis this year. Many of the details for the Memphis
event have already been set without NACOLE’s input. If it is determined that NACOLE does not partner
in the Memphis event, it was recommended that a joint committee of NACOLE and ILEAA people work
together to put on an event in 2016.
Rosenzweig noted two regional conferences have been set in Akron, Ohio and St. Petersburg, Florida. A
third had been planned for Philadelphia but will not be feasible this year. The committee is looking to
see if Chicago can be substituted for Philadelphia
Other program notes: a webinar has been scheduled on Predictive Policing for March, and there are 53
registrations to date. The CPO program is looking for suggestions for resources. People came to the
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2014 conference to ensure their credential did not expire. A possibility is to reach out to the federal
government to see if they will certify the CPO program.
Website Committee (Mitchell) (Part II):
Discussion continued about video content on the website. One thought was to put a session on as a
marketing “teaser.” Another thought was to make a video with testimonials from scholarship recipients.
The committee agreed to work with the conference committee to explore the potential of taping some
sessions at this year’s conference. Questions were raised about the purpose of videoing conference
sessions and circled back to providing value to the membership. It was determined that as potential
conference sessions were discussed, a few would be identified as being good to record (no more than
three to four sessions).
Mitchell also reported that per the webmaster, the cost to develop a searchable membership directory
could run approximately $1500. Another board member brought up creating a searchable archive of
issue papers from agencies in an online reading room format.
Meeting concluded for the day at 1708 hours.
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Saturday, January 31, 2015
8:00 a.m. PST
President Buchner called the meeting to order at 0823 hours.
Conference Planning Committee (Klossner):
Klossner and McEllhiney went through the Conference Committee’s recommended conference sessions.
Several were discussed and tweaks made to subject matter and direction of the session. After reviewing
the sessions, it was determined that enough sessions were approved to have a third set of concurrent
sessions on some, if not all, days. Due to the space that is reserved for the conference, the only
additional cost would be the audio/visual associated with a third breakout room.
Topics that appeared to be missing from the accepted sessions were discussed:
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Mediation is not going to be a topic in 2015 but a resource section on the thumb drive will be
included.
Militarization of police – might be touched on in other sessions
Implicit bias – would be a topic that has to be developed.
Legal Updates – Timothy Mygatt and Ezekiel Edwards have expressed interest in returning to do
another presentation.
After discussion, the following sessions were adopted:
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Changing Policies and Implementing Programs to End LGBTQ Discriminatory Policing Practices
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International Perspectives on Civilian Oversight
Oversight of Violence and Suicide in Jails and Juvenile Facilities: Asking the Questions that
Matter, Identifying Issues Not to Miss
Police Tactics: Appropriate Decisions to Increase Officer and Public Safety
Search and Seizure of Persons under Fourth Amendment
Conducting Large-Scale, Complex Oversight Investigations
Prosecuting Misconduct
What do Board and Commission Members Need to Learn?
Police Use of Emerging Technology: Implications for Oversight
Chiefs and Sheriffs Panel
Investigating and Prosecuting Non-Fatal Force Complaints
CPRC History
Using Data to Challenge and Change Police Policy: Speaking Softly, Carrying Data to Effect
Change (combined with) Using Transparency and Open Data to Enhance Accountability
Racial Reconciliation, Truth-Telling and Police Legitimacy (combined with) Building a Road Map
to Community Trust
Early Intervention Systems in Law Enforcement: Using Research and Experience to Guide
Practice
Assessing Credibility: Conducting Effective Interviews and Evaluating the Statements of
Complainants, Witnesses and Law Enforcement Officers
Developing Issues for Law Enforcement and Law Enforcement Oversight
Effective Evaluation of Officer-Involved Shooting
Mental Health Issues and the Justice System
Body-Worn Video Cameras for Law Enforcement Part II: Constitutional Concern, Standardization
of Policies, and Finding Common Ground for Both Communities and Law Enforcement
Community Engagement for Oversight Agencies: Why it Matters and How to Do It Right
Many Roads to Reform: The Different Roles Played in Moving an Agency Toward Effective
Reform
Force Encounter Analysis (to be developed)
Legal Updates
Implicit Bias (to be developed)
De-escalation (to be developed)
Civilian Oversight and Community Participation and Representation: Stories from Southern
California
Keynote/Featured speaker ideas were discussed and it was determined that the Board would reach out
to Vanita Gupta and Kamala Harris as potential speakers.
Strategic Planning Committee (Reynolds):
Reynolds noted the major task of the committee had been to create a policies and procedures manual
encompassing all of the various policies, programs, procedures, and other miscellaneous associated with
the organization. She provided a draft copy for review at the meeting. After a bit of time going through
the policy, it was suggested that each person review individually and give edits and changes to Reynolds
by the end of February so the document could be approved at the March Board of Directors conference
call.
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One of the major goals of the project was to go through all of the policies and procedures to make sure
the language is simple and consistent. An item that was noted while reviewing the Bylaws is the need to
indemnify the Board, as that is traditionally required in an organization’s Bylaws. While that will need
to be voted on by the membership at the Annual Meeting, most likely, any grammatical/non substantive
changes to the bylaws could be adopted by the membership by meeting not attached to the annual
meeting.
Executive Session:
An executive session was held to discuss compensation and contract/employment terms for the two
non-Board members providing services to NACOLE.
Budget Discussion (Cromwell/Reid):
Cromwell and Reid began walking through the proposed budget line by line. A discussion about
potential revenue from a joint ILEAA/NACOLE event was had, with the determination that the
anticipated revenue would be left in the budget for either that event or another training opportunity to
be determined. Other small tweaks to the proposed budget were made and conference attendance
numbers and cost was discussed.
Meeting concluded for the day at 1807 hours.
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Sunday, February 1, 2015
8:00 a.m. PST
President Buchner called the meeting to order at 0818 hours.
Choose Civility Resolution – Part II (Buchner):
The revised resolution was shared with the Board. Reid moved, seconded by Reynolds, to adopt the
revised resolution. After additional discussion, a few additional edits were made and Williams made a
friendly amendment to accept the newly revised resolution. Motion passed unanimously. Buchner will
determine when it is appropriate to send to the membership.
Intellectual Property Discussion (Buchner):
Buchner stated there were several groups using the NACOLE logo and stating they are a “certified”
organization or “endorsed by NACOLE.” In discussing this issue with the attorney, it was recommended
that the TM notation be added to NACOLE, National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law
Enforcement, and our logo. The (c) mark should be used with the Certified Practitioner of Oversight.
Mitchell noted that the NACOLE name is more valuable to the organization that trying to protect “CPO”
if we are going to have to spend money to protect our various marks. It was stated that once we have
an officially registered trademark, it will ensure no one can file a competing trademark. Additionally,
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NACOLE will have to police the marks. At the end of the discussion, it was agreed to put $1000 into the
budget for the research and paperwork needed to protect our marks.
Board Development (Buchner):
A brief discussion of future board vacancies was had and focused on the need for good succession
planning and a racially and ethnically diverse board in the future. Hicks and Smith agreed to put
together a list of desired traits for future board members, ranging from racial and ethnic diversity to the
type of oversight practiced, to the type of employee (employee/volunteer/manager/subordinate), etc.
Suggestions can be sent to them. The idea of having a rule about having multiple people on the board
from the same office or region was discussed, with the determination being that the membership
decides who they desire to see on the Board.
Budget Discussion, Part II (Cromwell/Reid):
Reid and Cromwell continued to walk through the proposed budget line by line.
Of particular debate was a proposal from Sponsel, the CPA firm which conducted the audit of the 20122013 NACOLE finances. They proposed doing an audit of the 2014 financials for $5000, and a lengthy
discussion ensued about whether a yearly audit was needed. Perez noted that the tax professional
explained that the financials can be “certified” which is significantly cheaper than a full audit (likely
around $2000). Cromwell noted he is in support of having an audit every three years and to certify the
books the other years. It was stated that an audit could potentially be a prerequisite for any grants
applied for. After discussion, $2500 was put into the budget to have the 2014 financial records certified.
Buchner stated that he did not believe we should support a line item for a grant writer in this year’s
budget. Reynolds explained her rationale for wanting to maintain a little bit in the account and gave
history of how the grant process has worked since she had started on the projects. A small amount of
money was left in the grant writer line item.
The discussion turned back to the potential to join ILEAA in a Memphis training. Hicks moved, seconded
by Reynolds, to not have NACOLE participate in the Memphis ILEAA event. In a 2-4-1 vote, the motion
failed. (Yes votes: Smith, Hicks; No votes: Buchner, Klossner, Reynolds, Williams; Abstention: Mitchell;
Absent: Cromwell and Reid – left at 1020 hours)
Hicks then moved to amend the title in the proposed budget from “Memphis ILEAA” to “Training Event”.
Klossner seconded the motion. In a unanimous vote, the motion passed.
After finishing reviewing the budget in a line-by-line method, Klossner moved, seconded by Hicks, to
adopt the budget as adjusted during the course of the budget discussion. Williams offered a friendly
amendment to increase the payroll tax amount to $4000 and it was accepted. The budget to be voted
on consists of total revenues of $218,540.00 and total expenditures of $233,925.00, creating a net
income of $-15385.00
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In a roll call vote, Buchner, Mitchell, Smith, Klossner, Williams, Reynolds, and Hicks vote yes. Motion
passes unanimously.
Williams moved, seconded by Mitchell, to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 1206 hours.
Respectfully Submitted,
Karen U. Williams
Secretary
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March 11, 2015