But the department isn\u2019t in the clear yet. Orrick set what may be the final case management conference for Sept. 29. <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/oaknorth.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-27-at-4.03.45-PM-scaled-e1779923969320-1024x334.png\")
Mayor Barbara Lee and U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick in a San Francisco courtroom. (Screenshot)<\/p>\n
The goals were established<\/a> as part of a negotiated settlement agreement between more than 100 plaintiffs in a lawsuit that alleged Oakland officers Matthew Hornung, Jude Siapno, Francisco Vazquez, and Clarence \u201cChuck\u201d Mabanag, a group known as the \u201cRiders,\u201d were responsible for kidnapping and brutalizing people and planting evidence. All four were fired and criminally charged. Three of the officers were acquitted of most counts. The alleged ringleader, Vazquez, fled before the trial and is still sought by the FBI.\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to agreeing to reform its Police Department, the city paid $10.9 million to settle the case.<\/p>\n \u201cThis forward progress belongs to the entire city,\u201d Lee said in court, crediting the Police Department, civilian oversight of the department, city leaders past and present, and residents who fought to hold the department accountable. <\/p>\n The two attorneys who brought the case \u2014 John Burris and James Chanin \u2014 were more cautious in their remarks. <\/p>\n Chanin pointed out that just two years ago, the federal monitor found great disparity in the way internal affairs investigators discplined officers, with nearly half of the cases against Black officers and more than a quarter brought against Hispanic officers sustained, while no cases were sustained against white officers. While there was less disparity in the 2025 report, Chanin said a \u201cdouble standard\u201d remained. <\/p>\n Burris stressed that it took longer than anyone expected to meet the settlement goals, which are intended to sustain the department well into the future. <\/p>\n \u2018What we tried to do here is pave the way for the next generation of people,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I hope, hope, hope, that when this is done, whenever that is, we have done exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n Lee, who has been mayor for less than a year, said the current department is very different from the one that sparked the case. Changing an institution, she noted, takes considerable time. <\/p>\n She added that if something \u201cunfortunate\u201d occurs, the city will be transparent about it. \u201cWe\u2019re here to prove to this court and to every resident of Oakland that these charges are not a snapshot in time,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Orrick, who has been overseeing the case for the past nine years, inheriting it from U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson, said that city leadership has made the biggest difference in the case, \u201cfor good or ill.\u201d <\/p>\n In 2023, he said there remained a \u201ccultural rot\u201d keeping true reform from happening in the department. That year, then-Mayor Sheng Thao took office, only to be indicted on federal corruption charges<\/a> to years later. And then-Chief LeRonne Armstrong was fired over his handling of two internal investigations. <\/p>\n On Wednesday, Orrick said that in the past year, the city\u2019s commitment has been clear. <\/p>\n \u201cThings will go wrong, and that\u2019s just part of institutions,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it is having the structures set up, having the accountability to ensure that the city knows what\u2019s going on at OPD and vice versa, and people aren\u2019t pointing fingers at each other but are trying to meet those goals \u2014 all of that is critical.\u201d<\/p>\n