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 76 During the current reporting period, the IMT completed an actual practice compliance review of Task 35 and found that OPD is now in compliance with all of Task 35. We found that OPD has improved significantly in identifying known witnesses in use of force reports. A large part of this improvement is due to substantially better documentation in use of force investigations when there are no known witnesses to an incident. The Department has repeatedly stressed to personnel the importance of including complete and accurate information about witnesses in use of force reports, including documenting when there were no known witnesses. In addition, it has assigned an administrative sergeant in the Bureau of Field Operations to review use of force reports for completeness and to send them back for corrections when necessary. These efforts have resulted in significantly improved reports. We found substantial improvement as well in the requirement that OPD obtain contact information for witnesses. OPD is now in compliance with Task 35. 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.) 4. Procedures for Transporting Detainees and Citizens (Task 36; S.A. VI.D.) a. Settlement Agreement Requirements • By August 25, 2003, OPD members/employees must log in and log out on the radio when transporting a detainee or any other civilian (except with regard to the use of “wagons” engaged exclusively in the transport of prisoners). The Settlement Agreement specifies particular information that must be included in this radio report. b. Status of Compliance and Assessment The compliance deadline for this task occurred in August 2003. OPD achieved policy compliance by publishing Special Order 8055, Transportation of Persons in Police Vehicles, on November 25, 2003. As discussed below, this special order has been replaced by Special Order 8262. 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 Special Order 8055. During the tenth reporting period, the IMT confirmed that the Department has trained at least 95% of relevant personnel on Special Order 8262. During the seventh reporting period, the IMT interviewed officers on all three patrol shifts regarding their understanding of Task 36’s requirements. Based on our interviews, OPD officers appeared to have a solid grasp of the most important elements of this task. As a result, the IMT changed its conditional training compliance determination for this task to an unconditional in-compliance finding. During the seventh reporting period, the IMT determined that OPD was not complying with this task in actual practice, and made several recommendations for improvement including: