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 76 As required by the Settlement Agreement, General Order B-20 establishes enhanced criteria for instructor selection and training. These criteria include factors such as disciplinary history, citizen complaints, awards and commendations, educational background, sick leave usage, and general professionalism. According to OPD, all instructor files were reviewed for compliance during the 154th Academy and three instructors who did not meet the requirements of the General Order were removed from their teaching assignments. In addition to Task 43’s requirements related to Academy training, Task 43 requires that OPD provide all supervisors and commanders/managers with mandatory 40- hour in-service supervisory and leadership training. The Settlement Agreement stipulates specific areas that must be covered in this training including instruction in supervisory and command accountability, ethics and professionalism, and supervisory and management functions and situations. Pursuant to this task, all supervisors must receive the mandatory leadership training prior to their promotion while all commanders must attend this training within six months of their promotion. During the seventh reporting period, the IMT confirmed OPD’s report that all but one of the then current supervisors had attended the mandatory training prior to promotion and that all the then current commanders had attended the mandatory leadership training, although only one had done so within six months of promotion as required by the Settlement Agreement. OPD was unable to provide the IMT with detailed documentation of what material was taught in its 2004 in-service supervisory training, and the IMT was therefore unable to confirm that the leadership and supervisory course content included the areas required by the Settlement Agreement. Though OPD offers the mandatory 40-hour supervisory and leadership training to supervisors and commanders, OPD should ensure that the officers and commanders attend the training within the required timeframe. Since it was unclear whether the training provided included the content required by the Settlement Agreement, we recommended that the Training Division require and retain detailed lesson plans of all in- service training. According to OPD, it is now maintaining better documentation of course content to enable the necessary verification. The IMT was scheduled to conduct an audit of Task 43 during this reporting period. However, OPD reported that it was not yet complying with the requirements of Task 43. OIG conducted an assessment of the Training Division during this reporting period and found that OPD was not complying with the instructor selection, in-service training, or promotional training requirements. Consistent with the IMT’s review, OIG found poor record-keeping, including documentation and tracking of training. OIG made a series of recommendations to address these deficiencies and the Department has retained a law enforcement training expert to assist it in modernizing and enhancing its training programs. The IMT has met with the Department’s expert and has shared our observations of the Training Division, including the inconsistent and unreliable methods in which training is documented. For example, when OPD provides training to officers that is not required by the Settlement Agreement, it frequently neglects to document or