fourteenth-report.pdf

Independent Monitoring Team Fourteenth Status Report of the Independent Monitor Delphine Allen, et al., v. City of Oakland, et al. July 31, 2009 to January 13, 2010 Page 105 1. Compliance Unit Liaison Policy (Task 50; S.A. XIV.A.) a. Settlement Agreement Requirements • By March 4, 2003, OPD must create a Compliance Unit to serve for the duration of the Settlement Agreement. The Compliance Unit will serve as the liaison between OPD, the Monitor and Plaintiffs’ counsel, and will assist with OPD’s compliance with the Agreement. Among the Compliance Unit’s many duties is the preparation of a semi-annual report describing the steps taken, during that reporting period, to comply with the provisions of the Settlement Agreement. b. Status of Compliance and Assessment The compliance deadline for this task occurred in March 2003. OPD remains in compliance with this Settlement Agreement task. As the IMT has previously reported, OPD has incorporated this function into the Office of Inspector General (OIG), which has implemented a number of policies and procedures to facilitate the effective performance of its duties under the Settlement Agreement. OIG’s staff continued to perform a number of important tasks this reporting period, including: continuing to coordinate overall compliance efforts; conducting audits required by the Settlement Agreement and other Departmental objectives; and continuing to spearhead the compliance portions of the weekly MAP meetings. During the tenth reporting period, OIG staff re-tooled OPD’s compliance assessment efforts by selecting and training new internal compliance assessors to spearhead OPD’s compliance efforts for each task. During the twelfth reporting period, OIG staff met with the compliance assessors on a regular basis to assist them with compliance efforts. OIG staff also have continued to provide invaluable assistance to the IMT in collecting data and evaluating Department policies, procedures, and systems. During the tenth reporting period, the compliance standards for this task were modified to include a more subjective pass/fail assessment. The NSA requires OPD to prepare semi-annual reports describing the steps taken during the reporting period to comply with the NSA. OPD published a semi-annual report, the Combined 8th and 9th Semi-Annual Report, in December 2007. OPD published its combined 10th and 11th Semi-Annual report in December 2008, covering the time period from July 2007 through June 2008. OPD published its 12th & 13th Semi-Annual Report, covering the time period from July1, 2008—July 31, 2009, in August 2009. OPD is in compliance with Task 50. This task will not be actively monitored under the MOU. If the Monitor observes material non-compliance with this task, the Monitor may conduct reviews as necessary to determine whether the City has fallen out of substantial compliance and the extent and nature of the alleged deficiency. (MOU, paragraph 11.)