Holy Crap !!! - 'Oakland Police Face Federal Takeover Due To Excessive Force' - AP/NewsOne [View all]

[WillyT]

Oakland Police Face Federal Takeover Due To Excessive Force
Written by Associated Press/NewsOne
January 27, 2012 10:39 am

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SAN FRANCISCO — Mayor Jean Quan vowed Wednesday to quickly reform the scandal-plagued Oakland Police Department after a frustrated judge threatened a federal takeover if it fails to quickly make good on changes agreed to nine years ago. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson said he “remains in disbelief” that the department has failed to adopt the reforms. Henderson’s frustration with the pace of improvements was evident throughout a scathing five-page ruling issued Tuesday. “This department finds itself woefully behind its peers around the state and nation,” he wrote.

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Henderson said he will consider proceedings to appoint a federal receiver to run the department if the monitor submits a report this summer showing little improvement. The judge appointed a monitor in 2003 to ensure the city complied with terms of a $10.5 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by victims of a notorious group of police officers known as “The Riders.” The group was accused of beating and framing suspects in the West Oakland area for years. One officer was acquitted at trial and criminal charges against two former officers were dismissed after two trials ended in hung juries. A fourth former officer remains a fugitive who disappeared after charged were filed in 2000.

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“Defendants have achieved full compliance with just over half of those tasks and, worse yet, have fallen in and out of compliance on some tasks, thus indicating a lack of sustainability,” Henderson wrote. “The outstanding tasks are not minor formalities; instead, they are significant areas that go to the heart of any police department, including how internal affairs investigations are completed, how officers are supervised, and the use and reporting of force.” The judge was responding to a monitor’s report submitted earlier this month that included “serious concerns” about the department’s handling of the so-called Occupy Oakland protests. The monitor told the judge that officers’ actions during the Occupy protests put even the small improvements made by the department in jeopardy.

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The monitor said the department’s response to the Occupy protests will help determine whether police are making progress. The mayor and police chief announced in December they were hiring an independent investigator to evaluate claims police used excessive force and improper tactics responding to the protests, which included several uses of tear gas, rubber bullets and “flash-bang” grenades on protesters. One protester was hospitalized after being hit in the head with a flash grenade. At least one officer was demoted from lieutenant to sergeant for failing to report a subordinate blacking out his name tag.

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More: http://newsone.com/nation/associatedpress3/oakland-police-face-federal-takeover-due-to-excessive-force/