Fiscal Year 2013-2015 Special Budget Meeting

be in Oakland the week of April 14* to conduct further research on investigations in Oakland, including crime scene forensics and the Criminalistics Division. Investigative Issues (Homicide and Shootings) The Major Crimes Section 1 (MCSl) may have an adequate number of investigators to investigate the 131 homicides that occurred in the city in 2012. Unfortunately, their 2012 caseload was substantially larger than just the homicides. They were also assigned 847 gun assault cases, 913 other shooting incidents, and 8 officer-involved shootings (OIS), including one fatal OlS. The Bratton Group team also understands that Major Crimes Section 1 is charged with investigating cases of alleged criminal activity by police officers during the Occupy Oakland protest. It appears that the entire homicide unit is in a virtual training mode because many of the investigators assigned to the unit have no previous homicide investigations experience, and some have no previous investigations experience of any kind. This situation is a consequence of the transfer of sergeants, who formed the bulk of the homicide unit previously, to the patrol force to meet span-of-control requirements (1 to 8) set by the Negotiated Settlement Agreement monitor. It should be a top priority in 2013 to significantly lighten the caseload of MCSl so that investigators can concenttate their full attention on homicides and the most serious assaults. The Bratton Group team would recommend that MSCl be assigned only homicides and assaults in which the victim is seriously injured and likely to die. The OIS cases and the Occupy Oakland cases should be transferred to Internal Affairs, which, according to the Department roster, has 15 sergeants on staff. Some responsibility to investigate other assaults might be transferred to the district investigative teams and some to a reconfigured unit in CID. The goal should be to raise significantly the closure rate for homicides, which has hovered at 30 percent or less in the past few years. The Bratton Group, LLC 27