combined-10th-11th-report.pdf

Negotiated Settlement Agreement, Combined Tenth and Eleventh Semi-Annual Report December 2008 Stakeholders include the citizens of Oakland, the City of Oakland, the Plaintiffs’ Attorneys, and the Oakland Police Officers’ Association. An Independent Monitoring Team (the IMT) assesses and evaluates compliance with the provisions of the Agreement. ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND CHALLENGES Office of Inspector General OIG is responsible for oversight and review of reform work within the Department. Through audits, reviews, Compliance Assessor oversight, and regular meetings with executive management, OIG is building the Department’s self-monitoring capacity. OIG facilitated the development and/or revision of a number of policies critical to ensuring successful implementation of Agreement requirements, including policies on criminal misconduct investigations, probable cause arrest authorization, performance appraisals, complaints against Department personnel or procedures, community policing, and daily details. OIG continually assesses the need for technological solutions that will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of Department work practices, including reform efforts. Internal Affairs Division The Internal Affairs Division (IAD) has been challenged by an upsurge in complaints/ allegations and by the high level of investigative work it must devote to each complaint. Despite these serious challenges, IAD made significant progress in ensuring compliance with the Agreement through the development of: = Anevolving IAD database, = Investigative Plans for all investigations being assigned at the division level, = Continuing professional training for sergeants, and = Completion of the IAD Training Module and its installation in the [AD database. This reporting period, IAD investigators received training in the areas of Internal Affairs investigations, interview techniques, sexual harassment / discrimination investigations, retaliation allegations, and officer-involved shootings. Improved Investigations of Use of Force Incidents Officers and sergeants continue to improve the reporting and investigation of force incidents. Force complaints are down. Thorough investigations are conducted by IAD of all allegations of inappropriate force, revealing few in which the force was found out of policy. To ensure that the Department achieves full compliance with the use of force requirements, training is ongoing. The Department’s use of force expert routinely works with sergeants, lieutenants, and captains to reinforce use of force policies. Also, officers involved in use of force incidents and their sergeants are required to appear before the Force Review Board to receive training when deficiencies are identified during an incident where force is used. IMT audits of use of force conducted during this reporting period show significant improvement in the way OPD reports and investigates use of force incidents. Award-Winning Personnel Assessment System During this reporting period, OPD and the City’s Department of Information Technology improved an award-winning relational database (iPAS) that gathers information on the work 2