Policy Advisory Report Comparing Community Oversight Board and Metro Nashville Police Department Investigative Findings

There are syntactical differences between the investigative findings of the Community Oversight Board (referred to as The Board, or COB) and Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD). Metro Nashville Community Oversight (MNCO) researchers compared Nashville’s policies to peer cities, including Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, San Francisco, and Seattle. Four of the five peer cities were under some form of federal agreement with the Department of Justice. One of the outcomes of these agreements was to create a standardized set of investigative findings across police and oversight bodies. The one peer agency not under federal agreement, Atlanta, is a city that has long had problems with low rates of acceptance from Atlanta Police as it relates to their investigative findings. MNCO makes four specific recommendations: I. The COB and MNPD should meet and develop a shared set of definitions for investigative findings. They should work to develop such standards within 60 days of the issuance of this report. II. The COB and MNPD should modify Section IX.B of their Memorandum of Understanding to require MNPD to operate under a presumption of correctness regarding the Board’s investigative findings. III. The COB and MNPD should modify Section IX.B of the Memorandum of Understanding to require MNPD meet a standard of preponderance of the evidence when it disagrees with the findings of the Board. IV. The COB and MNPD should modify Section IX.B of the Memorandum of Understanding to include language outlining that, absent preponderance of the evidence that the Board’s findings are in error, MNPD should implement the recommended discipline from the Board.