Don't block auditor.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Cristina Beamud, the city of Eugene's new police auditor, has hired her staff, moved into a new downtown office, and started educating newly appointed Civilian Review Board members about the law enforcement policies they'll need to understand to help her monitor investigations of complaints against police.

Less than 10 months after she was hired, the new auditor is ready to start providing the independent oversight system that Eugene voters approved in 2005 in the wake of a police officer sex abuse scandal. Just one hurdle remains: the completion of bargaining between the city and the Eugene Police Employees' Association over the changes in policies and procedures that are necessary for the new auditor and review board to do their job.

This collective bargaining is an important task, one the city agreed to in a memorandum of understanding with the union before the 2005 election. Although the city's Police Commission consulted with union officials when it crafted the oversight system that eventually was approved by voters, the city is still legally required to negotiate some of the procedural and policy changes required to put the new system in place.

It shouldn't take long for the city and union to reach agreement, although issues such as the confidentiality of investigations will require serious discussion and legal analysis. But many of the issues, such as a proposed change to the police operations manual requiring that the auditor be notified of police shootings, are no-brainers and should be quickly resolved.

But the union could cause serious problems if it refuses to negotiate in good faith, or attempts to use the bargaining process to weaken or undermine the independent oversight system approved by city voters. The union's decision earlier this year to file a labor grievance alleging that the city violated its agreement with the union by allowing Beamud to start accepting citizen complaints against officers raises concerns about its intentions.

On its face, the union's grievance has little merit. Beamud has done nothing more than receive complaints and forward them to police department investigators - a function routinely performed by the city's Human Rights Commission and city manager's office. The auditor has not conducted any reviews, formal or informal, of police investigations.

If the grievance was intended as a reminder to the city that it must not proceed further without bargaining with the union, then that's understandable, although such hardball tactics hardly seem necessary. But if it was the first volley in a new battle with the city over the new oversight system, then the union should reconsider. It should also reflect on the message voters sent when they approved a rigorous new external review system in reaction to a heinous sex scandal that festered undetected for six years before two predatory officers, Roger Magana and Juan Lara, were finally brought to justice.

There are unsettling indications that the police union is still resisting the idea of a police auditor who operates independently of the city manager and under the authority of the City Council. A recent guest viewpoint in this newspaper by a police union official linked the establishment of an independent auditor to the desire by some council members to abolish the city manager form of government.

It's certainly true that some council members would prefer a strong-mayor form of city government - a change that this newspaper has long and vigorously opposed. But that's a separate debate from the establishment of the independent auditor's office that voters approved to provide the accessible, impartial, transparent and accountable oversight that's essential to restoring this community's trust in its police department.

The Eugene Police Employees Association should bargain in good faith and do everything possible to ensure that Eugene residents get the police oversight system that they voted for - and for which their tax dollars are already paying.