seventeenth-quarterly-report.pdf

Seventeenth Quarterly Report of the Independent Monitor for the Oakland Police Department April 28, 2014 Page 2 Section One Introduction This is the seventeenth quarterly report of the Monitor of the Negotiated Settlement Agreement (NSA) in the case of Delphine Allen, et al., vs. City of Oakland, et al., in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. In January 2010, under the direction of Judge Thelton E. Henderson, the Parties agreed to my appointment as Monitor of the Oakland Police Department (OPD). In this capacity, I oversee the monitoring process that began in 2003 under the previous monitor. The current Monitoring Team conducted our seventeenth quarterly site visit from February 10, through February 14, 2014, to evaluate the Department’s progress with the NSA during the three-month period of October 1, through December 31, 2013. In the body of this report, we again report the compliance status with the remaining active Tasks of the Agreement. By the end of the seven-year tenure of the previous monitor, the Department was in full compliance with 32 of the 51 required Tasks, and in partial compliance with 16 additional Tasks. As a result, the Parties agreed to reduce the number of Tasks under “active” monitoring to the current list of 22. During this reporting period, we continue to find the Department in Phase 1, or policy compliance, with all 22 of the remaining active Tasks. With regard to Phase 2, or full compliance, we find that OPD is in compliance with 16 of the 22 remaining Tasks, and in partial compliance with six Tasks. This is the highest number of Tasks in compliance that we have found since the beginning of our tenure. These overall numbers reflect a change from partial compliance to in compliance with Task 33, Reporting Misconduct; and Task 37, Internal Investigations - Retaliation Against Witnesses. During the last (sixteenth) reporting period, we found the Department in Phase 2 compliance with 14 Tasks, and in partial compliance with eight Tasks. In our last quarterly report, we noted our disappointment over the decline in compliance levels by one Task following three straight quarters of improvement. We are pleased to see that OPD is back on track and, in this report, has achieved its highest level of compliance since the beginning of our tenure. The movement forward has also come in a broad area about which we have expressed concern in the past. It is critically important that officers can objectively review the conduct of peers – and that the Department can engage in an effective process of self-correction. The ability to recognize and correct problematic behavior is fundamental under the terms of the NSA. Movement forward in this area is suggested by the improvements in officers reporting misconduct by their peers and prohibiting retaliation of any kind against officers or other employees for addressing poor conduct by other employees. Having noted this progress, we must also note that it is not at all complete. The Department has not yet achieved compliance with several other Tasks that address the oversight of officer behavior. The review of uses of force through the Force Review Board and the Executive Force Case3:00-cv-04599-TEH Document979 Filed04/28/14 Page3 of 88