Oakland mayor wants to bar police commission from selecting chief

OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao plans to pursue a change to the city's charter that would bar the police commission from participating in the next search for a police chief.

Thao said the job should be left to the mayor and the city administrator.

Under Oakland's charter, the mayor selects the chief from a list provided by the police commission.

But Thao has criticized the process as not being the most effective.

Thao named Floyd Mitchell as Oakland's new police chief last week after more than a year without a chief and after a lot of infighting with the commission.