Since 2003, Oakland PD Monitored By Feds As Result Of Consent Decree Following Beating Suspects

[Hissyspit]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/criminal-justice/the-oakland-police-departments-troubled-history

The Oakland Police Department’s Troubled History

October 27, 2011, 4:50 pm ET by Sarah Moughty

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Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan promised an investigation into whether police used excessive force during the clash, but the incident, which has received international attention, is just the latest in a long string of troubles for the Oakland police.

Since 2003, the department has been monitored by a federal judge as a result of a consent decree with the federal government. The decree came following a scandal in which four police officers, who nicknamed themselves “The Riders,” were accused of beating up and robbing suspects and planting evidence while they worked the night shift in a poverty stricken neighborhood in West Oakland.

And earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson threatened to put the department — which is already eight years into what was expected to be a five-year consent decree — into federal receivership. Under the decree, Henderson receives regular progress reports from an independent monitor on the department’s progress on reforms. “We are seriously concerned with the department’s stagnation — and now, reversal — in achieving compliance,” Robert Warshaw, the independent monitor in Oakland, wrote in a report just a few weeks ago.

Among the issues concerning Judge Henderson is how frequently Oakland police officers draw their weapons:

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[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I pointed this out

And city reaction tells me the Feds are really pissed at the use of excessive force. An internal investigation won't suffice.

[EFerrari]

2. Oakland Police Raid on Occupy Oakland Raises Serious Questions

Picture this. In response to a peaceful anti-war protest, the Oakland Police Department uses large wooden bullets, sting ball grenades and shot-filled bean bags, as a result of which at least 58 protesters are injured. That was 2003, and unfortunately sounds eerily similar to reports of OPD's response to an Occupy Oakland demonstration Tuesday evening, in which bean bags or other projectiles appear to have been fired directly into crowds and multiple rounds of tear gas were used.

OPD's conduct in 2003 led to a class action lawsuit brought by the ACLU-NC, the National Lawyers Guild, ILWU, Local 10 and other civil rights attorneys. The lawsuit led to a historic settlement, with OPD adopting a Crowd Control Policy that strictly limits the use of force and prohibits the indiscriminate use of bean bags and other projectiles against crowds or passive resisters, except in unusual circumstances.

The ACLU of Northern California and the National Lawyers' Guild demanded a full investigation of Tuesday's events. The groups also asked OPD to immediately produce records about the use of force in responding to the early morning raid of the Occupy Oakland encampment and the evening demonstration. The public has a right to transparency and accountability, and yesterday's events are no exception. The ACLU-NC is also urging people to email the Oakland Police Department calling for transparency and an end to excessive use of force.

Reports of OPD's conduct raise serious questions about whether it violated its own policy on dealing with demonstrations.

* The Policy requires the Department to use "the minimal police intervention needed to address a crowd management or control issue." This video shows a protester who sustained a head injury. Injuries do not appear to be isolated. Did OPD really use the minimal amount of intervention necessary to control and disperse the crowd?
* The Policy requires the Department to use "the minimum amount of chemical agent necessary to obtain compliance." But the quantity of tear gas that must have been used to generate this cloud-filled scene doesn't appear "minimum" at all.
* The Policy prohibits the Department from firing bean bags or other "Direct Fired Specialty Impact Less-Lethal Munitions," such as rubber bullets, "indiscriminately against a crowd or group of persons even if some members of the crowd or group are violent or disruptive. But this video (at 0:43) shows law enforcement firing a projectile directly into a crowd tending to an injured protester.


http://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/oakland-police-raid-occupy-oakland-raises-serious-questions