Changes at the Oakland Police Commission; new Inspector General
Zurvohn Maloof. Photo: Oakland Police Commission
OAKLAND, Calif. - There are many changes at the Oakland Police Commission.
Zurvohn Maloof will officially become the agency's Inspector General in mid-November, the commission announced.
Maloof has served as a federal Inspector General for 20 years, and has a bachelor's in sociology from San Jose State and a law degree from the New College of California School of Law.
His most recent job was serving as the deputy Inspector General at BART.
He also served as president of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, and currently serves as a life member and executive board member of the chapter. NOBLE, known as the "conscience of law enforcement," addresses critical issues aimed at improving the law enforcement profession and its service to the community.
The Office of the Inspector General is an independent civilian oversight agency that monitors and audits the Oakland Police Department's policies, practices and procedures.
The Inspector General manages and oversees the day-to-day functions of the office and presents findings at the Police Commission meetings and City Council meetings.
Oakland police chief search hasn't started; critics say commission is dysfunctional
It's been four months since Mayor Sheng Thao fired the city's police chief – and there's no timeframe on when Oakland will get a new top cop. Much of the blame is pointed at the dysfunction of the police commission.
OPD Internal Affairs Division and the Community Police Review Agency fall under the jurisdiction of the Office of Inspector General, which includes performance audits of OPD and CPRA operations, strategic planning, reviews of complaint intake process and/or systems for CPRA and IAD; oversight and training of staff; final review of all reports, findings, analysis and recommendations; and public presentations of OIG reports to stakeholders as well as the members of the public.
Also, two longtime members, Regina Jackson and Marsha Carpenter Peterson, both of whom served as chairs of the commission, are retiring.
Three new commissioners will serve on the board. They are: Shane Thomas-Williams, Shawana Booker and Samuel Dawit. They join Chair Ricardo Garcia Acosta, Angela Jackson-Castain, Wilson Riles and alternate commissioner Omar Farmer on the commission. Mykah Montgomery is the commission's chief of staff.
According to the commission's annual 2023 report, commissioners reviewed and approved 18 policies that ranged from updating the militarized equipment policies to the internal investigation procedure manual. The commission also chose a new police chief, Floyd Mitchell, to replace LeRonne Armstrong, whom the mayor fired in February 2023.