{"id":480688,"date":"2026-09-30T18:02:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T18:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/480688\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T18:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T18:02:25","slug":"a-new-beginning-oakland-police-to-exit-federal-oversight-after-23-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/480688\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A New Beginning\u2019 : Oakland Police to Exit Federal Oversight After 23 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oakland\u2019s police department came under a consent decree in 2003, after a massive police brutality scandal rocked the city\u2019s law enforcement agency.<\/p>\n

Sep 29, 2026<\/p>\n

Updated 6:24 pm PT<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Phillip Burton Federal Building and United States Court House in San Francisco on Sept. 29, 2026. A judge released the law enforcement agency on Tuesday from more than two decades of court-ordered federal oversight. \u00a0(T\u00e2m V\u0169\/KQED)<\/p>\n

A judge released Oakland\u2019s police force on Tuesday from more than 20 years of federal oversight<\/a>, thought to be the longest for any American law enforcement agency.<\/p>\n

The department will regain full independence after U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick said that the \u201cseason for judicial oversight is over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it was important for this court to play the role it has, now it\u2019s important for the court to get out of the way, and let the people of Oakland and their leaders fill their future,\u201d Orrick told the San Francisco courtroom, filled with Oakland city officials.<\/p>\n

OPD has been subject to court oversight since 2003, when it settled an $11 million class action lawsuit in the wake of a notorious police brutality<\/a> and corruption scandal. Four officers, known as the \u201cRiders,\u201d were accused of beating, planting evidence and falsely arresting West Oakland residents, and engaging in intimidation, beatings, kidnapping and racial discrimination.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Phillip Burton Federal Building and United States Courthouse in San Francisco on Sept. 29, 2026.\u00a0(T\u00e2m V\u0169\/KQED)<\/p>\n

The department agreed to a federally mandated consent decree that required it to implement 51 organizational reforms related to the use of force, discipline, supervision, training and internal affairs investigations.<\/p>\n

James Chanin, who has represented the plaintiffs in the case, called the department\u2019s change since then \u201castronomic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a much different department than they were. It\u2019s like night and day,\u201d he told the court on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Initially, court oversight was expected to last between five and seven years. Instead, it\u2019s been delayed by repeated missteps<\/a>, backsliding, a revolving door of police chiefs and multiple city administrations.<\/p>\n

OPD met most of the requirements years ago, and has been responsible for sustaining them since 2022. But they\u2019ve continued to fall short of a few of the tasks, keeping them in limbo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, I am hoping to say we\u2019ve pushed this rock as far as we can \u2026 and it\u2019s up to the city to push it [the rest of the way].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about today, it\u2019s about tomorrow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Brigid Martin, Oakland\u2019s special counsel, said in response that the city \u201chas absolute certainty about what will happen tomorrow, and then next day and the day after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNSA compliance is not a temporary obligation; it is the core of Oakland\u2019s police operation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"James Beere, who was selected as Oakland Police Chief this year, speaks at a press conference at Oakland City Hall on Oct. 23, 2025\u00a0(Martin do Nascimento\/KQED)<\/p>\n

Oakland Police Chief James Beere said that the department had to make \u201chard decisions\u201d between completing investigations within a 180-day timeline and achieving the thoroughness required in complex cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe expectation for our investigation is not an excuse, but the expectations are not the same as they were twenty years ago,\u201d Beere said.<\/p>\n

Orrick said that while missing the investigation timeline matters, he believes Beere and Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee\u2019s leadership will hold the department accountable.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is not a ceiling, it\u2019s a floor,\u201d Warshaw said in court. \u201cThe city should see this not as the end of something, but as a new beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oakland\u2019s police department came under a consent decree in 2003, after a massive police brutality scandal rocked the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-480688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480688","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=480688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}