21st-quarterly-report.pdf

Twenty-First Quarterly Report of the Independent Monitor for the Oakland Police Department May 4, 2015 Page 41 Task 25.5 speaks to the review process, which includes chain of command review, making assessments as required by the NSA and policy, and ensuring that any violation of policy results in the incident being referred to Internal Affairs to conduct additional investigations or analysis (compliance standard: 95%). During this reporting period, we found that the supervisors included the required details, and the chain of command conducted critical reviews. In all of the Level 2, 3, and 4 reports – with the exception of the two Level 4 cases involving the unjustified pointing of firearms – the chain of command reviewed and commented on the quality of the investigations, any corrective action that was identified, and the appropriate documentation required for Supervisory Notes Files. We also noted during this reporting period, especially in the unjustified cases of officers pointing their firearms, officers continue citing discussions with senior OPD officers, their “training and experience” and the location (high-crime area) of the event as justification for their initial encounter with citizens. The officers did not, however, document the additional and/or specific circumstances present justifying the particular stop. Of course, all citizens who live in high-crime areas are not all involved in criminal activity – and that should not be assumed from the outset. There has been a decrease of these types of justifications for lethal encounters; however, these justifications still occasionally appear in OPD UOF reports. We will continue to address this issue with OPD command staff and training personnel during our next site visit in an effort to ensure continued compliance with this requirement. OPD’s compliance rate for this subtask is 98%. OPD is in compliance with Task 25.5. Task 25.6 addresses the need to keep officers involved in use of force incidents resulting in serious injury or death, or involved in a shooting, be separated from each other at the scene, and kept apart until they have been interviewed and completed their reports (compliance standard: 95%). We found the applicable Level 2 reports in compliance with this requirement. OPD is in compliance with Task 25.6. OPD is in Phase 2 compliance with Task 25. Compliance Status: Phase 1: In compliance Phase 2: In compliance Next Steps: During our next site visit, we will continue to discuss with OPD the use of force command review process involving the unjustified pointing of firearms.