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 4 Acknowledging the gains that have been made, we recognize that more work remains. Based on our observations, experiences, and reviews while monitoring the Oakland Police Department for the past seven years, we believe there are three overarching areas in the Oakland Police Department culture that need to be more fully developed if Oakland is to achieve the objectives of the NSA. Transparency Transparency engenders trust and promotes accountability. The more the community knows about what the Police Department is doing and how it is doing it, the more engaged it will be — and the Police Department needs an engaged community if it is to effectively fight crime. OPD is becoming more transparent. The public release of the March 21 Board of Inquiry report was a sea-change event towards transparency. As difficult as it was for OPD to convene this Board, provide it with sensitive information, subject itself to critique and criticism, and then publish the Board’s report, it was ultimately a powerful step towards the healing necessary within the organization and an indication that the Department has come out stronger than before. This process also demonstrates how transparency is important not only outside a police department, but within it. Chief Batts appears to be taking a more open, constructive, and proactive approach than his predecessors with the media, one of the main conduits of information between government agencies and the broader community. If this continues, it should help transform the OPD culture to one that is more transparent. OPD now often, though not consistently, provides the results of its internal investigations of complaints of misconduct to the complainant, another move towards more openness with even its critics in the community. Still, there are a number of basic components of transparency that OPD does not have in place. OPD can and should make publically available its General Orders and other non-sensitive policies and directives. OPD can and should more fully report on trends in uses of force, complaints of misconduct, and the outcome of its investigations and inquiries into both. While state law prohibits the release of some information, it permits the public release of more information than OPD currently provides. OPD should also provide more comprehensive and up-to-date crime statistics to the public. When requested, OPD should provide police reports and other public records promptly and without unnecessary redactions. “Available to the public” should always include “available online,” negating the need for an individual to navigate the Police Administration Building or City Hall to obtain public information, and making the information less expensive both to obtain and to provide. Consistent with the City’s Equal Access Ordinance, the Department should make every effort to provide materials in the languages most commonly spoken by Oakland’s diverse communities. OPD has the potential to fully implement two other valuable tools of transparency: video cameras and audio recorders. OPD should fully implement and maintain its flagging in-car