OAKLAND, CA - On Tuesday, September 29, a federal judge ended federal monitoring of the Oakland Police Department (OPD) after 23 years, capping it as the longest-running oversight of a police department in U.S. history.
In 2000, after a rookie officer came forward to report abuse of power by a group of officers known as the Oakland "Riders," the police department made national news. The four officers involved were arrested and charged with making false arrests, planting evidence, using excessive force, falsifying police reports and assaulting people in Oakland, a predominantly African-American area, ABC News reported.
Three of the officers were acquitted after two separate juries were deadlocked on most of the charges, and the fourth officer remains a fugitive who is believed to have fled the country.
The case resulted in the department coming under federal oversight in 2003 and being required to enact dozens of reform measures along with reporting its progress to an outside monitor and federal judge. That same year, the city of about 400,000 people settled a class-action police abuse lawsuit involving 119 people for $11 million.
Over the years, OPD has had constant leadership turnover. In 2023, police chief LeRonee Armstrong was fired after a probe found that he covered up officer misconduct. The current chief, James Beere, took office in July, making him the 16th head of the department over two decades of federal oversight.
In May, the department's federal monitor issued a report saying that OPD had complied with all 51 court-mandated reforms stemming from the 2000 police brutality and corruption case. "This is the first time in 23 years that OPD has achieved each of the 51 tasks in the (settlement agreement.) No one can say, ‘mission accomplished.’ But I do congratulate the city and OPD for getting this far,” San Francisco judge William Orrick said during a hearing in May.
Some civil rights organizations had asked Orrick to delay releasing the department from federal oversight for at least a year after court-appointed monitor Robert S. Warshaw said in a progress report this month that he had found OPD had again fallen below the threshold for timely investigations into severe misconduct violations.
But on Tuesday, Orrick noted that it was important for the court "to get out of the way." And while plaintiff attorneys at the hearing noted that the department fell short of completing 85% of its serious misconduct investigations within 180 days, they did not oppose the ending of federal oversight.
OPD Chief Beere acknowledged those cases to the judge, explaining that many were complex officer-involved shootings. "We did slip a little bit,” said Beere. “But we own our mistakes." The Oakland police union said the decision was an "important new beginning" for the department and reflects years of hard work by officers.
"The next chapter for the City and OPD must be about recruiting officers, rebuilding staffing levels and giving the men and women of OPD the resources they need to keep Oakland safe,” said Cesar Leyva, interim president of the Oakland Police Officers Association.
"I'm particularly grateful to the men and women of the Oakland Police Department ... for achieving substantial compliance,” Orrick said. “May it ever be thus."
Comments