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 27 Office (ACSO) to ensure that it is notified when a detainee makes a complaint. As part of our review, we met with ACSO jail officials and learned that current ACSO jail officials had no knowledge of this NSA requirement. Subsequent to this meeting and other conversations between OPD and ACSO, OPD agreed to ensure that the ACSO jails are stocked with complaint brochures and forms and ACSO drafted a memorandum informing ACSO jail intake staff of the NSA requirement and telling staff to refer detainees complaining of OPD misconduct to the arresting or transporting officer. If the arresting officer has left, jail staff is told to provide a complaint form and “if the circumstances of the complaint are serious,” the staff person “can” call the OPD “Special Complaint Line.” OPD has no plans to provide posters or other high- visibility information to inmates, nor visit jail staff to ensure they understand this requirement. We found that this change, if implemented, is an improvement that will help ensure that complaints about serious misconduct are not lost when a complainant is brought to jail. However, given how recent this new system is, and past problems with taking complaints (see, e.g., our Task 4.7 and Task 6 reviews), there is insufficient information at this point upon which to base a finding that there is a system in place that will ensure OPD supervisors respond to contemporaneous complaints by jail inmates about serious misconduct incident to arrest. During the current reporting period, we also completed reviews of Tasks 5.2-5.5, 5.15- 5.19, and 5.21. The report for these tasks is currently being drafted and will be shared with OPD when it is complete. Some of the continuing challenges for IAD and OPD in investigating allegations of misconduct are discussed at the beginning of this status report. OPD is not in compliance with Task 5. This task will be actively monitored under the MOU. The Monitor will conduct the required audits, reviews or studies to assess whether OPD is complying with the substantive task requirements. (MOU, paragraph 10.) 6. Refusal to Accept or Refer Citizen Complaints (Task 6; S.A. III.F.) a. Settlement Agreement Requirements • By June 1, 2005, OPD must develop and implement a policy that refusing to accept a citizen complaint; failing to refer a citizen to IAD where appropriate; discouraging a person from filing a complaint; and/or knowingly providing false, inaccurate, or incomplete information about IAD shall be grounds for discipline. b. Status of Compliance and Assessment The compliance deadline for this task occurred in June 2005. OPD has completed and trained its staff on Manual of Rules insert 398.76, incorporating the requirements of this task. During the tenth reporting period, the IMT agreed to change the required compliance standard from 95% to a more subjective Yes/No assessment.