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 83 b. Status of Compliance and Assessment The compliance deadline for this task occurred in July 2003. As we previously reported, OPD drafted a memorandum from the Office of the Chief of Police addressing these Settlement Agreement requirements. The IMT reviewed the memorandum and found that it was too vague to facilitate compliance with the Settlement Agreement. OPD subsequently decided not to publish the memorandum until the OPD policy defining Class I and Class II offenses was published in M-3, Complaints Against Departmental Personnel or Procedures. OPD completed M-3 during the seventh reporting period, and in our last status report, we reported that OPD was in policy compliance with this task based on information provided by OPD regarding the status of the Chief of Police memorandum. While auditing this task during this reporting period, we learned that OPD never finalized or published the Chief of Police memorandum or any other policy incorporating the requirements of this task. According to OPD, it is in the process of drafting a new promotions policy. In addition, according to OPD, its Personnel Department is operating pursuant to a draft policy that incorporates the Settlement Agreement requirements in this area. This draft policy has not yet been provided to the IMT to determine whether it adequately incorporates Settlement Agreement requirements. At this time OPD remains out of policy compliance with this task. During the sixth reporting period, the IMT reviewed all of the promotions made by OPD from January 1, 2004–January 15, 2005. Though the IMT determined that most of the Settlement Agreement’s required factors were considered when making the promotions, none of the promotions included consideration of the task’s first element: commitment to community policing. Thus, OPD was found to be out of compliance with this task in actual practice. During the seventh reporting period, OPD reported that the Department has put into place a number of measures designed to strengthen the promotions process including structured recorded oral interviews that include questions relating to Settlement Agreement topics. We support such measures and believe that they will likely assist the Department to achieve compliance on this task. During the eighth reporting period, OIG conducted a follow-up audit of this task. OIG reviewed the promotions made by OPD from February 1, 2005—January 30, 2006, and reported that the Department’s actual practices now comply with the Settlement Agreement. During this reporting period, the IMT assessed OPD’s actual practice compliance with this task. During the period covered by our audit, we found continuing improvement in how information about internal investigations is gathered and provided to the Chief for review. OPD now provides the Chief "Historical Summaries" that summarize promotional candidates’ internal investigation histories and other pertinent