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More changes atop Oakland’s embattled police commission

Thomas Hawk
/
Flickr / Creative Commons

Oaklandside reports that civil rights attorney Jim Chanin resigned Friday from the Police Commission Selection Panel – which selects half of the seven-member commission.He had served on the Oakland Police Commission for the past six years.

Chanin isn’t alone. The terms of police commission chairperson Tyfahra Milele and David Jordan expired last week. They will be replaced by former alternate commissioner Karely Ordaz and former city councilman Wilson Riles, Jr.

Critics of Chanin allege that he resigned under pressure. Former commissioner Brenda Harbin-Forte, Milele, Jordan and another former commissioner, Ginale Harris, have filed a lawsuit against Chanin, accusing that he had blocked the reappointments of Jordan and Milele to the commission because they “threatened his financial interests.”

Chanin was a co-counsel in the lawsuit that led to the federal consent decree against the Oakland Police Department 20 years ago. He still receives attorney’s fees as the OPD attempts to emerge from federal oversight.

Sunni M. Khalid is a veteran of more than 40 years in journalism, having worked in print, radio, television, and web journalism.