ninth-report.pdf

Independent Monitoring Team Ninth Status Report of the Independent Monitor Delphine Allen, et al., v. City of Oakland, et al. May 13, 2006, to November 30, 2006 Page 35 During the upcoming reporting periods, the IMT will determine whether OPD’s actual practices comply fully with this Settlement Agreement provision. 12. Disclosure of Possible Investigator Bias (Task 12; S.A. III.K.) a. Settlement Agreement Requirements • By June 15, 2004, OPD must develop and, by October 1, 2004, implement, a policy requiring that investigators (IAD and field) disclose relationships that might lead to a perception of bias regarding the subject(s) of any investigation, including family relationships, outside business relationships, romantic relationships and close work or personal friendships. The Settlement Agreement sets forth certain criteria regarding when and how investigators and their supervisors must act on these disclosures. b. Status of Compliance and Assessment The implementation deadline for this task occurred in October 2004. During the last two reporting periods, OPD completed the policies incorporating this Settlement Agreement task and trained its personnel on the policies. The policies are General Order M-3, Complaints Against Departmental Personnel or Procedures, and Training Bulletin V-T.1, Internal Investigation Procedure Manual. During this reporting period, the IMT audited OPD’s actual practice compliance with this task. Task 12 requires OPD complaint investigators to disclose relationships that might lead to bias or a perception of bias. OPD is not yet in compliance with this task. OPD's newly developed disclosure forms were filled out and included in 70% of the formal investigations. Because use of these forms was in its initial stages, many disclosure forms were not completed until the investigation was well underway or completed. OPD should be able to attain compliance with this task as the use of these forms becomes more routine. Task 12 requires that investigators be recused when it is clear that their relationship with the subject or involvement in the incident might lead to bias or a perception of bias. OPD is not yet in compliance with this task. We identified seven cases in which investigators had relationships to the incident and/or individuals involved in the incident where the nature of the relationship could compromise or be perceived to compromise the investigative process. In five of the seven cases, the investigators disclosed involvement in the incident or a close working relationship to a subject officer. In the remaining two cases, the investigators did not disclose their involvement as supervisors or witnesses to the incident being investigated. The investigators were not recused in any of these seven cases and none of these cases document any evaluation of whether the investigator should have been replaced, other than a checkmark indicating