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 77 track such training. This makes it virtually impossible to ensure that all relevant staff have received training that may be critical for their positions or to hold them accountable when they do not perform as required by the training. Moreover, this approach may make it difficult for OPD to establish the necessary expertise or competence of staff that may be needed in court or other contexts. As a result of its self-assessment efforts, OPD has reported that it is taking a number of remedial measures to improve its performance in this area. For example, according to OPD, it has identified individuals who have not received required training and provided the training to them or scheduled them to attend training. OPD also reports that it is completing an instructor development course and hiring an experienced individual to begin the important task of evaluating the performance of academy instructors. Additionally, in conjunction with its training consultant, OPD is working on new testing specifications for the Academy. The Training Division also is updating its filing system and requiring improved documentation regarding the content of training provided to its members. During the upcoming reporting periods, the IMT will continue to monitor the content and quality of instruction provided in the Academy and in OPD’s in-service training to determine whether OPD’s actual practices comply with the Settlement Agreement. G. Personnel Practices (Tasks 44–46; S.A. X.) Section X of the Settlement Agreement, Tasks 44–46, requires OPD to reform its personnel practices in three areas: Performance Appraisals; Consistency of Discipline; and Promotional Consideration. These provisions of the Settlement Agreement are particularly important because they are the underpinning of a system that treats OPD officers fairly and equitably while holding them accountable for their actions. The Settlement Agreement’s Performance Appraisal section, Task 44, requires OPD to write performance appraisals for each officer, documenting the officer’s conduct and performance in a variety of areas. Such appraisals have not occurred with regularity in recent years. If done consistently and fairly, performance appraisals will be a valuable management tool for identifying both excellent and substandard police work, and for holding supervisors accountable for the performance of their subordinates. OPD achieved policy compliance with this task ahead of schedule. During the sixth reporting period, 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 this task. As discussed below, OPD is making progress in this area, but its actual practices do not yet comply fully with the Settlement Agreement. The Settlement Agreement’s Consistency of Discipline section, Task 45, requires OPD to revise its disciplinary policy to ensure that discipline is imposed in a fair and consistent manner. The timely and fair imposition of discipline is essential to ensure accountability. The compliance deadline for this task occurred during the combined