Judge says no immediate end to federal oversight of Oakland police

OAKLAND, Calif. - A judge told the Oakland Police Department that it shows signs of improving but he saw no immediate end to federal oversight of the department, which has stretched on for nearly two decades. 

U.S. District Judge William Orrick said during a hearing Wednesday that the police department still has a ways to go to meet court-ordered reform goals, reported the East Bay Times.

"Despite what I know have been the good-faith efforts and hard work of the chief and of the command staff, there still remain important areas of noncompliance, and some of them seem to have straightforward fixes and they need to be fixed in order to reach substantial compliance," Orrick said. "I’m frankly disappointed they haven’t been as of yet."

Orrick said he believes the police department needs to complete Internal Affairs and use-of-force investigations more quickly and make sure that officers consistently activate their body cameras.

The hearing also included top police and city officials including Mayor Libby Schaaf, and the attorneys who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Oakland in 2000 after a group of Oakland police officers known as "The Riders" were accused of beating Black residents, planting drugs on them and falsifying records.

In August, those attorneys, John Burris and Jim Chanin, had previously said they believed the police department had improved vastly under Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong and said it was likely time to move aside, sooner rather than later, though they did not put a deadline on the recommendation. 

But soon after, Oakland police were involved in an Instagram scandal where employees posted racist and misogynist messages and an independent investigator found the administration's response to be delayed and highly lacking. Nine people were disciplined as a result of the investigation. The punishment ranged from a 3-day unpaid suspension to a 25-day unpaid suspension.