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 49 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.) 5. OPD/DA Liaison Commander (Task 22; S.A. IV.E.) a. Settlement Agreement Requirements • By April 15, 2003, OPD must, based on contemporary police standards and best practices, develop and implement a Management-Level Liaison (MLL) to the courts, the District Attorney’s Office and the Public Defender’s Office. This unit or person is to ensure that cases that are lost or dropped due to performance problems or misconduct, or indicia thereof, are tracked. • The MLL is required to meet and cooperate with the Monitor. The District Attorney and Public Defender offices may attend these meetings. b. Status of Compliance and Assessment As previously reported, OPD developed and published a compliant policy incorporating this provision, General Order A-18, Management Level Liaison. During the seventh reporting period, OPD provided the IMT with sufficiently reliable training data to enable us to confirm that OPD had trained 95% or more of relevant personnel on this task. Accordingly, OPD attained training compliance with this task. During the tenth reporting period, the IMT conducted an audit of OPD’s actual practice compliance with this task. We found that OPD is, once again, in actual practice compliance with the requirements of Task 22. OPD continues to maintain a functioning Management-Level Liaison (the Criminal Investigations Division Commander) who interacts regularly with the courts, the District Attorney’s Office, and the Public Defender’s Office to identify cases that may indicate performance problems or potential misconduct, including cases that are lost or dropped due to bad reports, defective search warrants, granted motions to suppress, or contradictory evidence or testimony. A complete discussion of our findings is included in our tenth status report. During the tenth reporting period, all of the compliance standards for this task were modified to include a more subjective pass/fail assessment. During the current reporting period, we continued to review the monthly reports produced by the MLL, to discuss MLL-related issues with the stakeholders, and to provide OPD with recommendations for improving the reports. The MLL has continued to contact the District Attorney’s Office and the Public Defender’s Office on a monthly basis.