Two weeks before a highly anticipated court hearing that could be the last in the Oakland Police Department’s 23-year federal oversight program, the department may be facing another setback.
OPD has fallen out of compliance with one of the key final tasks in its reform program, according to a report filed Tuesday by Robert Warshaw, the department’s independent monitor.
The finding marks a blow to OPD, which returned to compliance with the task during the last reporting period after a year of noncompliance.
Known as Task 2, the requirement calls for OPD to complete at least 85% of its most serious police misconduct investigations within 180 days. According to the monitor’s report, during the first quarter of the year, 83% of investigations involving the department’s most serious misconduct allegations were completed within that timeframe.
Meeting the deadline is important because state laws can prohibit police departments from disciplining officers for misconduct if investigations into their actions aren’t finished on time.
Warshaw did not state in his report whether the new finding will impact plans to release the department from oversight.
“We remain optimistic that IAB [Internal Affairs Bureau] leadership is working diligently to continue to streamline the intake and investigative process,” Warshaw wrote.
Jim Chanin, one of the two attorneys who sued OPD and the city in the case that led to OPD’s federal oversight, said he was frustrated by the lack of clear direction from the monitor.
“We’re supposed to end the NSA [Negotiated Settlement Agreement] on Sept. 29, and I think he should say something,” Chanin said. “We’re paying him money. We need the wisdom of his point of view.”
John Burris, Chanin’s co-counsel, said the findings are “disappointing,” but he doesn’t think they will result in the federal judge extending OPD’s oversight program.
“Even though we prefer to have everything in compliance, it may be an impossible task,” he said. “The question is whether or not significant progress has been made to move the department in a positive direction.”
Warshaw’s report also found that OPD continued to meet court-ordered requirements governing how it receives and investigates misconduct complaints and how it imposes discipline.
The report is part of OPD’s ongoing federal oversight, stemming from a 2003 agreement between the city and plaintiffs in a civil rights lawsuit. OPD has been in a “sustainability period” since May 2022, during which it is working to demonstrate that the 51 court-ordered reforms have become lasting practices.
The sustainability period was initially expected to last one year, but U.S. District Judge William Orrick has extended it as various problems have popped up.
Warshaw’s latest report focuses on three remaining requirements involving the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau: the timeliness of misconduct investigations, complaint procedures, and consistency in discipline.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 29 at the San Francisco federal courthouse.
The Oakland City Attorney’s Office and OPD did not respond to The Oaklandside’s request for comment.
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