Internal Affairs (IA) investigations have been conducted by police departments for years.  Each department has its own way of conducting investigations; an entire unit devoted to the investigation of policy violations or a select individual in the department to conduct the investigation.  Many departments cannot afford to have a full time IA unit and depend on a seasoned criminal investigator.  Almost every department has noticed an uptick in the number of citizen complaints involving officers over the past several years.  The increase in complaints has resulted in public skepticism in IA investigative outcomes.    According to the President’s Task Force on 21 Century Policing, one of the basic principles of policing is the need for police departments to achieve legitimacy in the eyes of the communities they serve.  Police should practice procedural justice when interacting with members of the public and police managers should also practice procedural justice when dealing with their own officers.  Police departments need to be more open and transparent with the public.  Therefore, it has become imperative that departments have policies in place to address internal investigations.  This raises the question, “How can a department conduct an investigation that the public will accept?”.  One answer is to outsource the IA investigation.  There are numerous advantages to outsourcing IA investigations.  Some advantages on the government side include improved efficiency, lower cost of resources, and lack of outside interference.  Additionally, outsourcing allows the department to be more transparent by not being involved in the investigation.  

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One advantage to outsourcing is that it leads to improved efficiency of the department and the local governmental jurisdiction.  The private agency has the incentive to cut cost and to be more efficient.  The private agency will need to be competitive with other agencies and will have to present a cost savings to the jurisdiction.  This will lead to competition among investigative agencies lowering the cost of investigations.  (Additionally, the private agency is interested in making a profit, therefore the cost of the investigations will be lower.)  IA investigations can be protracted and take several months or even years before concluding.  IA investigators may be reliant upon outside criminal investigators and forensic specialists who are inundated with other cases.  This impacts the case load of the IA investigator and requires additional time to conduct an adequate investigation.  A private agency will allow the jurisdiction’s investigator to continue with other cases while waiting for specialized investigative results.

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Outsourcing investigations will lower the cost of manpower.  Manpower is one of the most expensive commodities in any local government.  Finding new ways of using manpower more efficiently reduces cost and allows more effective law enforcement.  As stated earlier, jurisdictions may rely upon an IA Unit, a single detective, or enlisting a senior criminal investigator to conduct the internal investigation.  Having an IA Unit with several investigators can be cost prohibitive to smaller departments who have limited manpower.  Similarly, having a single detective assigned to conduct IA investigations, removes an investigator from conducting criminal investigations and reduces the efficiency of the investigative unit.  Finally, using a senior criminal investigator who has experience only in criminal investigations, may not know or understand the intricacies involved in internal investigations.  Each of these options cost the department needed investigators and manpower.  Furthermore, the untrained investigator may create a situation of higher liability due to the lack of experience and training in this specialized field.  Private agencies employ investigators with experience in internal investigations, having knowledge that a criminal investigator may not possess.    

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Private agencies offer several options for the cost of an investigation.  Private agencies may offer the ability to pay for individual investigations.  This can be done for all investigations or just those investigations which are considered to be high profile such as Officer Involved Shootings, Use of Force Incidents, Criminal Allegations, and Gross Misconduct investigations.  Private agencies offer police jurisdictions and local government entities flexibility.  Officials can replace the private agency if it isn't meeting contract standards, cut back on service, or downsize as needed.  It also allows governmental officials to spend less time managing personnel, thus allowing more time to see that essential services are efficiently delivered.  

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Every governmental jurisdiction has a vested interest in the outcome of any internal investigation.  The jurisdiction may face liability as an outcome of the investigation.  As such, local governments may interfere or attempt to influence the direction or even the results of the internal investigation.  Using a private agency creates a degree of separation from local influence.  It allows the jurisdiction to rely upon qualified investigators adept at internal investigations as well as officer’s rights.  

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Outsourcing also allows for transparency.  The department will be looked upon favorably for stepping outside of the department and seeking a qualified third party to conduct the IA investigation.  The ability for the public or the media to question the department’s integrity will be reduced.  The department is demonstrating that it is unbiased by outsourcing the investigation. IA investigations can be long and tedious and may take months to complete, especially those involving officer involved shootings or use of force incidents.  Not only are these investigations time consuming, the public will question the investigative conclusions.  Having the involved agency conducting the IA investigation may affect the public’s perception of the objectivity of the investigator and the department.  Privatization allows the department to be objective as no department personnel are involved in the investigation.  All investigations, interviews, and reports are written by investigators that have experience in conducting IA investigations as well as questioning of law enforcement officers.  By using the outside investigator, common issues surrounding the “Officer Bill of Rights” and “Garrity Rules” can be addressed without having to rely on a two-minute lesson given on the job by the command staff.

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In conclusion, outsourcing IA investigations benefits a department by not only saving money but also developing transparency among the public and the media.  The IA contractor will also be objective and allow the department to concentrate on the day to day operations rather than overseeing what could be a high-profile internal investigation.  Through the privatization of internal affairs investigations, government entities can increase the efficiency of the investigation, by having highly trained investigators that concentrate on the single investigation.  Outsourcing reduces the number of investigators that are designated to non-criminal, administrative investigations.  This allows already strained manpower the ability to concentrate on criminal investigations.  Outsourcing reduces influence of the department and local government.

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