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 87 During the seventh reporting period, the IMT audited OPD’s compliance in actual practice with Task 47 and found that OPD had made impressive progress on this task with respect to its attendance at community meetings. The IMT's audit found OPD in compliance with this element of Task 47, but not with many other requirements. A fuller discussion of our audit is included in our seventh status report. While OPD had made great strides in its effort to comply with Task 47, we encouraged OPD to continue its efforts to incorporate assessments of its community policing and problem solving efforts into Crime-Stop meetings. These assessments should be an integral part of the meetings in order to ensure that community-policing efforts and concerns are fully integrated into OPD operations, and regularly discussed by high-level command staff as the Settlement Agreement requires. During this reporting period, OPD began to more regularly include information regarding some of its problem solving efforts into its Crime-Stop meetings. OPD recently initiated discussions with the Plaintiffs’ Attorney’s regarding interpretation of the Settlement Agreement’s distinct references to OPD’s problem solving and community policing activities. Future audits of this task will incorporate any agreement reached between the parties and approved by the Court if the agreement requires a modification of the Settlement Agreement. During this reporting period, OIG audited Task 47. According to OIG, OPD has fallen out of compliance with the community meeting requirement and is not yet in compliance with other requirements of this task. As we previously reported, according to the Settlement Agreement, the purpose of the specific requirements in Task 47 is to “develop and implement a plan to strengthen [OPD’s] commitment to relationships with local communities.” The Department’s continuing efforts to inject greater levels of transparency into the Department and its outreach and regular meetings with youth organizations and community groups, including vocal critics of the Police Department, are encouraging signs of progress in this regard. The IMT continues to commend OPD for these efforts and encourages the Department to continue to foster these ties and to build additional relationships throughout Oakland’s diverse communities. During the upcoming reporting periods, the IMT will monitor and report on OPD’s community policing efforts. I. Departmental Management and Annual Management Report (Task 48; S.A. XII.) Section XII of the Settlement Agreement, Task 48, requires OPD to develop and implement a policy requiring each functional unit of OPD to prepare a management report every twelve months. The compliance deadline for the Departmental Management and Annual Management Report section of the Settlement Agreement occurred during the first reporting period.