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 58 The area most in need of improved timeliness involves the Department’s most serious use of force investigations. These investigations involve Level 1 uses of force, defined as officer- involved shootings or other force that causes death or is likely to cause death. Consistent with OPD’s current use of force investigative deadlines, Level 1 use of force investigations must be completed (including IAD Commander approval) within 75 calendar days of the incident plus one documented extension approved by the Chief of Police in advance of the due date. Only one of the fifteen Level 1 cases we reviewed was completed within this timeframe. This case involved an accidental discharge by an officer while holstering his weapon at home. During our last audit, none of the Level 1 cases were completed in a timely fashion. In the current audit, the overdue investigations were completed anywhere between 106 days to 348 days. The average time for completing the investigations was 199 days. This is longer than the average time that Internal Affairs takes to complete misconduct investigations. In two of the overdue cases, there was no documentation of extensions being requested or granted. The remaining 12 overdue cases involved multiple extensions and/or extensions that were requested after the due date. Since the Executive Force Review Board (EFRB) relies upon the completed IAD investigation in order to conduct its review of Level 1 cases, these incidents in some cases were not reviewed by top commanders for several months to nearly a year after they occurred. As we have previously discussed, delays of this magnitude are problematic because any underlying training, tactics, and officer safety issues go unaddressed. We have discussed this issue with OPD and it has been included as an area of concern in our status reports. The Department shares our concerns. To ameliorate this problem, when its initial assessment of a critical incident reveals training, tactics, or officer safety issues, OPD has been providing the involved officers with immediate feedback rather than waiting several months for the EFRB to occur. As we have reported, this stop-gap measure is a good one, but does not negate the need for timely completion of Level 1 use of force investigations and EFRB review, particularly since the use of force investigation and review, if functioning properly, provides additional insights into any policy, training, or tactical deficiencies related to the use of force incident. The Department has requested to change its deadline for completing Level 1 use of force cases from 75 days to 180 days. We have informed the parties and the Court that such a change would not be consistent with contemporary law enforcement practices or prudent risk management. In addition to these reasons and the ones discussed above, the investigation of critical incidents such as officer-involved shootings should be completed promptly in order to help bring closure to the involved parties. Level 2 and 3 use of force investigations are considered timely if they are completed (including Division Commander approval) within 15 calendar days of the incident plus one documented extension approved in advance of the due date. We reviewed a total of 28 Level 2 and 3 use of force investigations. Twenty-three of the investigations were completed within the deadline (75% of the Level 2 investigations and 85% of the Level 3 investigations). While not yet meeting the 95% compliance standard, this is marked improvement over our last audit when only 13% of Level 2 investigations and 35% of Level 3 investigations were completed within the