Calif. PD to Enter Year Probation Period of Federal Oversight
By Sarah Ravani
Source San Francisco Chronicle
The Oakland Police Department could be done with federal oversight in one year — marking a significant moment in the department's history after nearly 20 years of monitoring.
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the department will enter into a one-year probationary period starting on June 1. The probationary period will require the department to maintain compliance with dozens of federally-mandated tasks.
If the department is able to stay in compliance for a year then federal oversight will end. But if the department does not, then federal oversight will continue.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick applauded the department's chief, LeRonne Armstrong, the mayor and other city officials, as well as the monitoring team and experts from Stanford University.
"The good news is that the defendants have achieved substantial compliance, and that the path here has led to tangible improvements in policing in Oakland and to the promise that a culture that understands and supports constitutional policing is taking root," Orrick wrote.
His ruling marks a victory for a department that has gone through multiple scandals and 11 police chiefs in nearly 20 years. The department has seemed close to ending oversight in the past, but problems have kept it from achieving compliance.
The federal oversight is the result of a class-action lawsuit in 2000. Six men in West Oakland argued they were falsely arrested on drug charges and accused four officers, known as "the Riders," of assaulting and conspiring to frame them. Three of the officers were tried on criminal charges and never convicted and a fourth officer fled and remains a fugitive, but the civil case resulted in a settlement that required the department to complete dozens of tasks to improve the way it tracks, trains and disciplines officers.
At the last court hearing in April, Orrick heaped praise on Armstrong and said he expected to issue a ruling about the department entering into a probationary period.
The department still has one task to complete: reducing disparities in discipline among officers.
During the probationary period, the federal monitor, Robert Warshaw, and two members of the monitoring team will keep watch over the department. Their job will be to ensure the department remains in compliance with 11 of the "most critical" tasks of the negotiated settlement.
The department will also have to come into compliance with its remaining task on reducing disciplinary disparities among officers. They will also have to finalize an Instagram policy — the result of a racist and sexist Instagram account set up by a former officer. Nine Oakland officers were disciplined for engaging with the content.
The one-year sustainability period will include three site visits and four reports.
___
(c)2022 the San Francisco Chronicle
Visit the San Francisco Chronicle at www.sfchronicle.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
