Oakland Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan was sworn in as the interim chief on Thursday, replacing Police Chief Anthony Batts, who only two days before had announced plans to resign in November.
The swift appointment of Jordan, a 23-year department veteran who has previously served as an interim chief, is intended to bolster the city's compliance with court-ordered reforms, city officials said.
Jordan has been the Police Department's top authority on bringing the force into compliance with a consent decree ordered after four officers were accused more than a decade ago of systematically beating and framing suspects.
The consent decree is the most critical issue facing the department, as a federal judge warned last week that the city faces the possibility of having its Police Department placed in federal receivership due to its failure to fully comply with the court order. Such a move could result in the city losing control over its police budget, its biggest general fund expense.
Led reform effort
City Administrator Deanna Santana said a primary reason she tapped Jordan for the job is because he is "intimately familiar with all of the city's obligations related to the court agreement and has led the reform on those efforts."
Santana said in an interview that she talked to Robert Warshaw, the court monitor in charge of evaluating Oakland's progress on the court agreement, several times in the previous two days about Jordan being the chief.
"He has stated to me that Chief Jordan can move us in the right direction," Santana said.
It's unclear how much the challenge of meeting the reforms had to do with the departure of Batts, who quietly sat on the side of the room during a news conference Thursday in which Santana named Jordan as interim chief.
On Sunday, Warshaw sent a report saying the department had slipped under the leadership of Batts, who announced his resignation two days later. Batts will serve as an adviser to Santana and Jordan until he leaves on Nov. 5.
"We are seriously concerned with the department's stagnation - and now, reversal - in achieving compliance," wrote Warshaw, a former police chief of Rochester, N.Y., and deputy drug czar under President Bill Clinton. "It is ultimately the leadership of the department that must be the impetus for reform and public confidence."
'Special adviser' named
Santana said she would not start the process for hiring a permanent chief until after Jan. 26, the next court date the city has with U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson. In addition, she also announced the hiring of a "special adviser," Thomas C. Frazier, to help Jordan deal with the consent decree. Frazier was the federal monitor of consent decrees involving the Los Angeles and Detroit police departments.
Batts resigned, saying the bureaucracy in Oakland's city government left him little freedom to make decisions. Jordan on Thursday sidestepped questions about politics and said he looks forward to working "collaboratively." He said the reforms are important.
"The fact that we are asked to do constitutional policing should not surprise anyone in this organization," Jordan said.
Jordan started his police career in Oakland and has steadily risen to the top. He has worked in nearly every role in the department. From 2001 to 2004, he was chief of the Oakland Unified School District - a period during which he came to know Mayor Jean Quan, a school board member for part of that time.
"The bottom line of what the judge is looking for is whether or not we can change the culture within the police force and its relationship with the community," Quan said at the news conference. "I'm optimistic that with Howard's leadership we can do that."
Previous stint
Jordan previously led the department as interim chief in 2009 for almost eight months, during one of the most difficult periods in the history of the department, after a gunman killed four police officers. Jordan applied for the permanent job, but was passed over for Batts, then the police chief in Long Beach.
John Burris, an attorney who represented plaintiffs in the civil suit that led to the Oakland Police Department's court oversight, said Jordan was "a good choice."
"He's a known quantity, and he's demonstrated a commitment to the principles" of the court agreement, Burris said.
Safety summit Mayor Jean Quan will unveil a crime-prevention plan on Saturday at a Neighborhood Safety Summit. Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan, District Attorney Nancy O'Malley and School Superintendent Tony Smith will be there. It's open to the public. When: 8 a.m.-1:30 p.m.Where: Laney College gymnasium, 900 Fallon St., Oakland
For more information: www2.oaklandnet.com/SafetySummit ]
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