{"id":335515,"date":"2026-05-28T04:30:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T04:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/335515\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T04:30:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T04:30:42","slug":"judge-oversight-of-oakland-police-department-could-end-in-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/335515\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge: Oversight of Oakland Police Department could end in September"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The Oakland Police Department took a monumental step forward Wednesday in escaping the watchful eye of a federal judge<\/a> for the first time since the infamous Riders scandal more than 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

The agency received praise Wednesday from U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick, who said the department was on track to move out of from under federal court oversight that has hounded the agency since 2003. Orrick set a Sept. 29 court date to double-check the department\u2019s compliance with dozens of reforms it has completed over the years, at which time the agency could finally be released from his control.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can say \u2018Mission accomplished,\u2019\u200c\u2009\u201d Orrick said, in remarks that kicked off a hearing Wednesday. \u201cBut I do congratulate the city and OPD on getting this far.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move comes days after the federal monitor overseeing the agency found the department had hit every benchmark from the landmark Riders settlement that required wholesale reforms to how Oakland polices its residents and holds itself accountable when its officers do wrong. That included three lingering problem areas that had bedeviled the agency for years \u2014 among them, the speed with which it investigated misconduct claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Oakland leaders praised the move, even as police accountability advocates warned of the \u201cdangerous message\u201d ending oversight sends to a department whose history is littered with scandal.<\/p>\n

Speaking moments after the hearing, Mayor Barbara Lee stressed: \u201cThis is not the same police department as before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a milestone,\u201d said Lee. \u201cWe still have to make sure we don\u2019t backslide.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Council President Kevin Jenkins called Wednesday\u2019s hearing \u2014 and Oakland\u2019s ability to complete every task set out in its Riders settlement agreement \u2014 \u201ca monumental occasion for the city of Oakland.\u201d Councilmember Ken Houston expressed confidence that the oversight would end as planned in September, adding that \u201cit\u2019s a different police force now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the hearing\u2019s celebratory atmosphere, concern lingered among some police accountability advocates about the possibility of a federal judge no longer keeping tabs on Oakland\u2019s officers.<\/p>\n

In a statement ahead of Wednesday\u2019s hearing, the Anti Police-Terror Project lamented the city\u2019s potential loss of a \u201clast line of defense against a police department that has never been able to police itself,\u201d citing how \u201ceven with a federal monitor watching, the scandals never stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe oversight process was expensive, slow, and deeply flawed, but it still provided a level of public scrutiny over a department with a long history of harm,\u201d read the statement. Project leaders specifically raised concerns about the ability of the Oakland Police Commission and the Community Police Review Agency to oversee the department moving forward, given that \u201cboth are critically under-resourced.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means Oakland is moving toward a reality where there is no fully functioning independent body standing between OPD and the communities it polices,\u201d the statement said. \u201cThis is unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court-monitored oversight stems from the notorious Riders scandal, when four officers were accused of going rogue, beating West Oakland residents and planting drugs on them, all while filing falsified police reports. A 2003 class-action lawsuit resulted in a $10.9 million payout to scores of people who claimed abuse at the hands of those Oakland cops.<\/p>\n

Since then, a federal judge has overseen the department through an appointed monitor, Robert Warshaw, who has long drawn the ire of a rotating cast of mayors and police chiefs who questioned his financial motivations for staying on the case. All of them fought unsuccessfully to end the oversight arrangement \u2014 repeatedly coming close, only to watch the department once again become embroiled in scandal.<\/p>\n

The police department nearly escaped oversight in 2016, right before allegations emerged that numerous officers sexually exploited a teenage girl in a scandal that spread to multiple other agencies across the East Bay.<\/p>\n

In 2022, veteran homicide detective Phong Tran was accused of bribing a witness in a murder case and then lying about it. The ensuing fallout\u2014 which came just as the department cleared all but one benchmark \u2014 led multiple members of OPD\u2019s top command staff to be disciplined, while numerous criminal cases were dismissed or overturned, including at least three murder convictions.<\/p>\n

Last fall, former Chief Floyd Mitchell openly criticized the stringent nature of federal court oversight while resigning from the department after just a year and a half on the job, leaving the agency searching for a new leader for at least the 10th time since 2015.<\/p>\n

Yet signs of progress emerged in January<\/a>, when Orrick lauded Lee and her decision to install the city\u2019s former inspector general, Michelle Phillips, as an official in the department\u2019s top ranks who reports directly to the mayor. That move \u2014 along with the appointment of OPD veteran James Beere<\/a> as as the agency\u2019s interim police chief, and his decision to assign Deputy Chief Aaron Smith to head the internal affairs unit \u2014 were received warmly by the judge, which has often criticized OPD\u2019s \u201cability to police itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one until (Mayor Lee) has demonstrated an awareness and holistic understanding of what we need to do,\u201d Orrick said at the January hearing.<\/p>\n

In a report released Friday, Warshaw said the Oakland Police Department had met all 51 benchmarks needed to escape federal court oversight \u2014 an achievement never before reached by the department. Notably, the agency completed more than 85% of its internal affairs investigations within 180 days, a mark the department had struggled to reach in recent years. It also reformed its internal affairs procedures, and has made significant progress in ensuring its disciplinary policy is imposed in a \u201cfair and consistent manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there is still work to be done, the Mayor\u2019s leadership and the Department\u2019s commitment to addressing these three Tasks have culminated in success,\u201d Warshaw\u2019s report said.<\/p>\n

The signs of progress come as Oakland\u2019s leaders consider weakening other forms of oversight for their police department. A proposal that could appear before Oakland voters in November would take away the Oakland Police Commission\u2019s ability to help hire the police chief or appoint the city\u2019s inspector general. Its own members also would have more direct supervision from the Oakland City Council, undermining a key aspect of its independence.<\/p>\n

Reporter Shomik Mukherjee contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 The Oakland Police Department took a monumental step forward Wednesday in escaping the watchful eye…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,184,861,7,8,723,138,332,1529,181,23,100,143,145,144,407,182,408,94685],"class_list":["post-335515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alameda-county","tag-bay-area","tag-bay-area-crime","tag-california","tag-california-news","tag-crime","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-east-bay","tag-east-bay-crime","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-oakland-police-department","tag-pm-report","tag-police-accountability","tag-social-alert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}