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 61 2. Vehicle Stops, Field Investigation and Detentions (Task 34; S.A. VI.B.) a. Settlement Agreement Requirements • By August 25, 2003, OPD members must complete a basic report on every vehicle stop, field investigation and detention. The Settlement Agreement sets forth particular information that must be included in this report. • OPD must enter this report data into a database that can be summarized, searched, queried and reported by personnel authorized by OPD. b. Status of Compliance and Assessment The compliance deadline for this task occurred in August, 2003. OPD published a policy, Special Order 8012, Racial Profiling Stop-Data Collection Form, that complied with the Settlement Agreement. On November 15, 2004, OPD replaced this Special Order with General Order M-19, Prohibitions Regarding Racial Profiling and Other Bias-Based Policing. As previously reported, General Order M-19 is in many respects a model policy. It provides a clear definition of prohibited conduct, straightforwardly sets forth the responsibilities of various Departmental subunits, and provides guidance in the form of examples of prohibited conduct. If adhered to in practice, this policy is likely to have a significant positive impact on police-community relations in Oakland. During the fourth and fifth reporting period, OPD also published a technical guide, Promoting Cooperative Strategies to Reduce Racial Profiling. The technical guide was the culmination of months of work by a coalition of community/advocacy groups, corporations, the Oakland Police Officers Association and OPD, and will likely become a significant resource used by communities interested in ending biased-based policing. Together with M-19, the technical guide is an important contribution to nationwide efforts to reduce unjustified racial profiling. We reported in the Combined Fourth and Fifth Quarterly Report that officers were failing to complete the stop data forms required by this task for more than 60% of applicable stops. In response, OPD initiated internal audits and closer oversight of officers’ compliance with this task. OPD reported during the sixth reporting period that it had achieved actual practice compliance with this task, but subsequently reported that it could not verify officers’ compliance with Task 34. During the seventh reporting period, the IMT interviewed officers on all three patrol shifts to assess their understanding of Task 34’s requirements. The IMT found that officers did not possess a sufficient understanding of this task. Contrary to OPD policy and the Settlement Agreement, a number of officers reported that they did not have to