Oakland Police
Almost a decade ago, dozens of Oakland residents filed an explosive class action lawsuit against the city’s police department, alleging a group of rogue officers had violated their rights by beating them, planting evidence and filing false charges. The “Riders” scandal (named after the self-appointed moniker of the bad-apple officers) and federal lawsuit by 119 plaintiffs (Delphine Allen, et al v. City of Oakland) led to a Negotiated Settlement Agreement in 2003 intended to reform OPD. The implementation of the NSA, as it came to be known, is overseen by a team of monitors appointed by Judge Thelton Henderson of the Northern District of California.
Eight years on, the Oakland Police Department is still not in full compliance with the NSA’s stipulated reforms. According to reports presented by OPD staff and the monitoring team, the department needs to conduct sufficient integrity tests, making sure units are supervised by their primary sergeant, maintaining consistent training and reporting protocols for Use of Force incidents as well as investigating such matters in a timely fashion, and properly utilizing new databases that track personnel records, deployment and car stops. Continue reading