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 57 21% of the investigations reviewed were completed within the Department’s deadlines and none of the most serious use of force cases were completed on time. During the thirteenth reporting period, OIG assessed the timeliness of use of force investigations and found that only 26% were completed and reviewed within required timelines. It thus appeared that timeliness of force investigations continued to be a problem. Our review during the eleventh reporting period also found that OPD has had difficulty tracking the timeliness of its use of force investigations. OPD has taken steps to address this issue. In addition to requiring that OPD conduct timely use of force investigations, Task 25 requires OPD to include certain information in each of its use of force investigations. The compliance standard for this requirement is 90%. We observed significant improvement in a number of areas but found some areas still in need of improvement. Overall, we found that 80% of the investigations reviewed included the information required by Task 25. During the twelfth reporting period, OIG audited OPD’s compliance with these requirements and found that 87% of the investigations included the required information. Our review found OPD in compliance with the remainder of the Task 25 requirements, including whether OPD supervisors make specific recommendations regarding each use of force; whether force reports are reviewed by the officer’s chain of command and recommendations are made regarding whether the force complied with OPD policy; and whether reviewers order additional investigation where needed. We also found OPD in compliance with the requirement that it train all patrol and Internal Affairs supervisors on how to conduct use of force investigations. Our review of OPD’s use of force investigations included a number of recommendations to assist OPD in achieving compliance with all of the requirements of Task 25. OPD has implemented some of these investigations. A full discussion of our findings is included in our eleventh status report. During the current review period, we continued to attend Executive Force Review Boards and Force Review Boards and routinely talk with presenters, FRB/EFRB members, and commanders overseeing the use of force reporting and investigation process to learn their perspectives and offer any insights. We also continued to review OPD’s use of force reports and to provide the Department feedback on tactical, training, and investigative issues related to force issues. During the current review period, we conducted an actual practice compliance review of Task 25. Our review found that OPD is now in compliance with all of Task 25 except the requirement that use of force investigations be timely. While the Department continues to struggle to complete timely use of force investigations, it has shown some improvement in timeliness since our April 2008 audit. During our last audit of this task, we found that 21.3% of all force investigations reviewed met required deadlines. Overall, 56% of the investigations we reviewed for the current audit met required deadlines.