Police commission measure on hold
Members want to see upcoming city auditor's recommendations on committee
By Jon Kawamoto
jkawamoto@bayareanewsgroup.com
OAKLAND » After discussing a proposed ballot measure that would give a citizens police commission more autonomy, the Oakland City Council has decided to hold off pending an upcoming audit of the commission.
“I hope we would not take any action tonight until the city auditor’s report is ready,” Vice Mayor Larry Reid said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Reid and Council member Noel Gallo, chairman of the council’s Public Service Committee, called for the delay until City Auditor Courtney Ruby submits her recommendations on the police commission. The audit is expected in the next two weeks.
Council President Rebecca Kaplan and Council President Pro Tem Dan Kalb are seeking charter amendments that would make the Oakland Police Commission more independent, with its own civilian inspector general and counsel hired and supervised not by the city administrator but by the commission itself. Among other things, the inspector general would have the authority to review, analyze and make recommendations on policies and procedures relating to police misconduct and use of force, Kalb said.
The proposal would allow the commission, if recommended by its inspector general, to request new policies regarding discipline or constitutional policing. The City Council could only grant those requests by a supermajority vote, according to Kalb.
“It’s certainly not a massive expansion of powers,” Kalb said at the meeting. “We should all be aware that nothing in the proposed charter gives the police commission the authority to override day-to-day operational actions by the OPD (Oakland Police Department) command staff or would unilaterally override any policy or general order from the chief of police.”
The council still would be able
to reject any police commission policy proposal, Kalb added.
Mayor Libby Schaaf criticized the proposed charter amendments in an email sent to Oakland residents Monday.
“Their proposal could allow Oakland’s Police Commission — a group of citizen volunteers — to override critical police operational decisions, divert precious public safety resources and potentially subject the city to more costs and liability,” she wrote.
Schaaf said the proposal would give commission a say in all matters involving discipline. And, she said, the proposal “is certain to add costs” to commission operations at a time when Oakland must cut $122 million from its budget.
The Oakland Police Officers Association also challenged the proposal. “The plan by Council members Kaplan and Kalb will give full control of the Oakland Police Department — and its ability to protect the public — to a group of unelected and unaccountable police commissioners without any public oversight,” Oakland Police Officers Association President Barry Donelan said in a statement.
“Neither this proposal nor any council member would give full control of OPD to any commission,” Kalb responded. “I’m disappointed that there are such significant misunderstandings regarding this charter proposal.”
The civilian police commission was created in 2016 through voter-approved Measure LL in the aftermath of a sex scandal involving some Oakland police officers and a teenage girl. Meanwhile, since 2003, Oakland police have been under federal court supervision stemming, in part, from the so-called Riders case, in which some officers were accused of planting drugs, framing innocent people and racial profiling, mostly against African Americans. One officer was acquitted of all charges and received a $1.5 million settlement from the city for malicious prosecution. The other two were acquitted of many charges and the jury hung on the other charges.
The police commission came under criticism in February, when it ousted Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick in a closed session, a move Schaaf agreed to.
Last week, the former Oakland police chief filed a whistleblower claim against the city, the first step toward suing over her termination in February. Kirkpatrick said in the claim that she “raised a series of alarms” but was “alone and unsupported” during her three years as chief, beginning in February 2017.
The former chief alleged she filed at least seven reports of “inappropriate and unlawful conduct” by members of the citizens police commission to the Oakland City Attorney’s Office, the city administrator and Schaaf.
During the Tuesday night meeting, Gallo and Reid pointed out the recent uptick in violence and said they were concerned the proposed amendments could hamper police from enforcing the law.
“I’m telling you right now, it is crazy out here in Deep East Oakland with all the shootings — the shootings are crazy,” Reid said. “No one here in my district is keeping the shelter in place in mind. I don’t want anything to impede our Police Department from doing what we need them to do.”
Reid said he wants police to be held accountable but emphasized that “I want them to be able to do the job that we all expect them to do.”
Council member Lynette Gibson McElhaney urged the council to be more inclusive in reaching out to the community for input and expressed concern about the lack of a united front on the charter amendments.
“Any attempt to go before the people with anything that is confusion is likely to lose and be an expensive proposition that will unfairly and unduly undermine the good work of this commission and spoil the reputation they are building,” McElhaney said. Contact Jon Kawamoto at 510-748-1658.
