Federal monitoring of the Oakland Police Department began in 2003, following a civil rights lawsuit, dubbed the “Oakland Riders” scandal.
In it 119 plaintiffs alleged that four police officers had planted evidence, falsified reports, made false arrests, and used excessive force, primarily against young Black men.
The city settled for nearly $11 million and agreed to 51 reforms under the supervision of an independent monitor and a federal judge. Those reforms included improving citizen access to the complaint process, and improving reporting and investigations of use of force and officer misconduct.
The oversight was only supposed to last 5 years, but it continued for more than two decades because OPD couldn't keep up with the requirements.
During Tuesdays ruling the judge acknowledged that OPD still hasn’t achieved compliance in all required areas. Specifically, it has failed to investigate allegations of serious misconduct in a timely manner. But Oakland leaders celebrated the judges decision to end the monitoring.
“ We're gonna continue doing what we're doing,” said Chief James Beere at a press conference on Tuesday. “And in fact, you know, we had some, uh, struggles we had to discuss today. We were transparent about it from the beginning. But it's about opening up this police department, breaking down what was a silo in the past, and allowing the community to be part of that.”
But for organizers like Cat Brooks with the Anti-Police Terror Project, the judges ruling seems like an admission that OPD can’t be improved.
“I think to a certain extent people are just like, "All right, we're done." Like, this is just at this point nonsensical because they can't get it together, right? They would say it differently than me, but they're definitely like, ‘All right, y'all. They're never gonna get it together,’" said Brooks.
The Anti-Police Terror Project, among other local police accountability advocates, has emphasized the need for civilian oversight of OPD through the Police Commission.
“ From an abolitionist perspective, you can't fix policing because policing is not broken. And I know that that's a cliché, but it is true. Policing is doing what it was born to do. It is protecting capital, really at the expense of the masses, right?” said Brooks. “If they couldn't get it together with the government breathing down their necks, what does that say about the culture of the institution in general?”
But during yesterday’s press conference, Oakland’s leaders insisted that this was just the beginning of a new era of accountability for OPD.
Mayor Barbara Lee put it this way: "This is the floor, not the ceiling, so we have a lot of work to do."
