Q&A
Balancing liability and just governance in police misconduct cases
4:28:07
·
98 sec
Council Member Brewer questions Randy Mastro about the city's approach to civil cases against police officers and how to balance minimizing liability with just governance. Mastro proposes a proactive approach to risk management.
- Mastro suggests dedicating more resources to risk management and financial consequences
- He proposes reviewing cases at inception to identify systemic problems
- Emphasis on the need for a fresh perspective due to the expansion of liability cases
Gale A. Brewer
4:28:07
Alright.
4:28:08
Is it acting in anyone's best interest to fight the civil case against a police officer if it enables the officer to cross the line again?
4:28:16
How do you balance minimizing liability in the short term versus fulfilling the city's obligation to govern in a just manner.
4:28:24
This is an ongoing issue.
Randy Mastro
4:28:27
Well, I I I think I alluded to this earlier that the role of court counsel, I think that we can do more than just take the incoming and have some dedicated resources to risk management and the financial consequences.
4:28:44
I think that the great minds at corp counsel's office, we should have a larger dedicated team to reviewing those cases at inception, trying to figure out where the problems are.
4:28:54
Systemically an individual.
Diana Ayala
4:28:56
Why do
Gale A. Brewer
4:28:56
you think you can do it any differently than some of the great Victor Carpenter included before you haven't been able to do that?
Randy Mastro
4:29:03
Well, I don't think it's a question of, you know, not being able to do it, and I I stand on the shoulders of giants.
4:29:12
I think we have seen an expansion, an expansion of liability and cases
UNKNOWN
4:29:18
Right.
Randy Mastro
4:29:19
To a new level.
4:29:21
And I think
Gale A. Brewer
4:29:21
higher this year than ever.
Randy Mastro
4:29:23
Right.
4:29:23
And that's why I think it requires a fresh perspective, not just to wait for the cases and try and figure out how to mitigate their cost to the city, but try to get to the root causes, who's causing them, and systemic and that the law department can play more of a role in evaluating those cases on the front end and identifying to the police department where there need to be changes.