If you are near an academic or large research library it is best to try this subject in some major databases.
Lexis Academic gets 30 hits in current 2 years for the search: "civilian review boards". Factiva (a better source of news articles than Lexis, thinks a social science librarian colleague here at U of MD) gets 66 in the same 2 years. I would recommend browsing all 30 in Lexis, because trying to limit with words such as "overview" or "survey" or "statistics", etc, risks losing a good article that omits those words. In Factiva, it makes more sense to try some extra words. "Civilian review boards" and survey gets 5 hits, including "Study says about 8 percent of U.S. police brutality complaints justify discipline" By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN Associated Press Writer 404 words. Associated Press Newswires 26 June 2006 01:00 AM, which refers to a Justice Department survey of large state and local forces. In Dissertation Abstracts, the search: "civilian review" and "police departments" gets 3 dissertations, but all of them seem to be case studies of a single or only a few departments. Although I didn't see very promising initial results, it would be wise to try other searches such as "police departments" and Statistic* and "review board", etc.
