Richmond was one of the early adopters of a civilian review process for police, setting up what is now the Community Police Review Commission (CPRC) in 1984. Although the Commission has been robustly managed and staffed for years, there are scant records of its investigations. The current chair is Randy Joseph, and the investigative officer is Jerry Threets. Until recently, the assigned city staff was Shane Johnson, and Bruce Soublet was counsel. The City Council liaison was Jael Myrick until Claudia Jimenez took over in 2020.

The early 1980s were marked by violence and continuing racial strife in Richmond.

These days, however, there is a troubling element to the toughness of this city of 75,000 people. ''In many ways, it's a violent city,'' said Ernest Clements, deputy chief of police, who has been on the force 17 years. ''Each of the last two years we had 28 murders. Lots of cities over 100,000 have one, two or no murders a year.

''A while back we checked our radio logs for one three-hour period for the dispatcher's code that means 'man with a gun,' '' he said. ''We found 17 of those calls in three hours. Every day it is a very frequent call. Our officers are often confronted by a gun.'' (“Antipolice Suit Focuses on a Town's Ills,” New York Times, February 13, 1983, https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/13/us/antipolice-suit-focuses-on-a-town-s-ills.html)

60 Minutes host Mike Wallace covered a story about two white RPD police officers that shot and killed Black residents Johnny Roman, age 25, and Michael Guillory, age 22, in two separate occurrences. In

January 1982, RPD officers Clinton Mitchell and Samuel Dudkiewicz shot Roman four times after attempting to arrest him for a harassment claim. Officer Mitchell reported that he thought Roman reached for a shotgun. Officer Dudkiewicz shot Guillory through his bedroom window and said he thought he was reaching for a weapon – but the police did not recover any guns. The federal lawsuits, Roman vs. City of Richmond and Guillory vs. City of Richmond, were filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) against the RPD, police chief Leo Garfield, and deputy chief Ernest Clements. The trial began in December 1982 but halted six weeks later when the city reportedly settled. However, in an attempt to defend the reputation of the RPD, the five white members of the Richmond City Council voted to reject a $ 760,000 settlement agreed to by family members of Roman and Guillory.

The city council also rejected a second settlement offer of $ 260,000. As the trial continued, it was revealed that the jury members heard that a settlement had been reached and then denied. This revelation led Federal District Judge Robert Aguilar to declare a mistrial. On February 1, 1983, a new trial began with a new jury. During the trial, Richmond’s general population was 48 percent African-American and 40 percent white. The 161-member RPD was 20 percent African-American, and the trial showed the divisiveness between the white and Black officers. The civil suit alleged that the defendants all failed to address a pattern of misconduct and reckless unprofessionalism by a deviant subculture of white police officers on the swing shift who referred to themselves as “cowboys” because of the Western-style boots they wore. Attorneys entered into evidence a photograph of the officers on horseback holding a confederate flag. Several Black officers broke rank and testified at the trial against officers Mitchell and Dudkiewicz. They claimed that an unwritten code of conduct condoned the rogue cowboy violence that led to Roman and Guillory’s deaths. The Black officers represented a group they referred to as the “Guardians of Justice.” They felt compelled to testify against a pattern of misconduct they felt police leaders and city officials condoned. Although officers Mitchell and Dudkiewicz were not found guilty in a criminal proceeding, Roman and Guillory’s families did receive $ 3 million from the civil jury, a much larger amount than the original settlement agreement. The civil suit sent a strong message to the RPD to change its racially biased culture. The lawsuit resulted in the most significant judgment for racially motivated wrongful death in the U.S. history at that time. (Kooi, Brandon. Seven Highly Effective Police Leaders (pp. 384-385). Taylor and Francis)

In awarding $3 million in damages last month to the families of two black men slain by police officers in Richmond, a city of nearly 75,000 people about 15 miles northeast of here, a Federal jury said it was sending a message to that city to change its ways.
But a quick resolution of the problems affecting Richmond and the divisions between its police officers and its citizens seems unlikely. On June 9 the Richmond City Council voted to begin action to appeal the June 3 verdict in favor of the survivors of Johnny Roman, 25 years old, and Michael Guillory, 22. They were two of six black men killed by city police officers in the last three years.( “Racial Problems Continue in a California City,” New York Times, July 7, 1983, https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/07/us/racial-problems-continue-in-a-california-city.html)

Four days after the June 3 verdict, Police Chief Leo Garfield, who had been one of the defendants in the suit, announced that he would retire July 5. In doing so, he issued an attack on the conduct of the trial, accusing Judge Aguilar of bias against police officers.

The judge responded by ordering city attorneys to meet with Chief Garfield to advise him about the trial in the hope that he would ''retract and correct'' his statement. Chief Garfield was not available for comment as to whether he had participated in such a meeting.

His resignation does not solve the problem of who will lead the department in its reform. Deputy Police Chief Earnest Clements, also named as a defendant in the suit, will serve as Acting Chief until a new Chief is hired.

Sgt. Tony Zanotelli, president of the largely white Richmond Police Officers Association, said in a newspaper interview that the suit had damaged police morale. He blamed ''blood-sucking attorneys'' and fellow officers acting as ''puppets for the N.A.A.C.P.''
Police Behavior Criticized

Oliver Jones, staff counsel for the Western Region of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, served as the chief attorney for the plaintiffs.

In the trial, he characterized the behavior of the two police officer defendants as ''reckless and unprofessional.'' Mr. Jones also called several black police officers to the stand. They testified that an unwritten code of conduct condoned violence on the Richmond police force.
Nearly 48 percent of Richmond's population is black; 39.7 percent is white. But only about 20 percent of the 161-member police force is black.

At a prayer vigil held at City Hall at the time of the trial and sponsored by the N.A.A.C.P., C.A. Robertson, president of Guardians of Justice, a group made up largely of black police officers, said, ''Our common cause is to stand up and testify and make the city of Richmond better.''

Three days after the jury's verdict, a spokesman confirmed that the civil rights division of the Department of Justice has undertaken an investigation of five incidents involving Richmond police officers, including the Roman and Guillory killings, for possible violation of Federal civil rights statutes.( https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/07/us/racial-problems-continue-in-a-california-city.html)

Over the last few years, the City Council has expanded the authority and powers of the Commission, but its primary duty to investigate complaints has remained essentially unchanged. The investigations are typically conducted by a professional investigator, the “Police Commission Investigative Officer,” currently Jerry Threets.

The Commission is also required to “keep records of its resolutions, rules, transactions, motions, orders, findings, recommendations, and determinations, which shall be open to the public.” Unfortunately, the Commission has failed miserably to keep records, and there is no complete record of findings by the Commission in its investigation of complaints. The last minutes of a CPRC meeting on the City’s website is over a year old, November 11, 2020.

A Complaint Log dates back to 2012 but has no record of the outcome of investigations. During the years 2016 through 2021, the Complaint Log shows 37 complaints have been filed or investigated by the Community Police Review Commission.

Table of Complaints Since 2016 Derived from Complaint Log

From the Minutes of CPRC meetings, there is no record of any of the complaints being sustained. From Community Police Review Commission | Richmond, CA - Official Website, there are records of only two complaints being sustained, the Pedie Perez incident in 2014 (but heard by the commission in 2018) where an inebriated but unarmed man was shot and killed by Richmond police officer Wallace Jenson and the killing in Vallejo by off-duty Richmond Police officer Virgil Thomas. Neither Jenson nor Thomas were charged by a district attorney. Jenson retired, and Thomas died of COVID-19.

This information is particularly critical because members of the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force continue to advance a myth that the Richmond Police Department is plagued by violence against members of the community. There is simply no record that this is the case.