SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The Oakland Police Department has officially entered a one-year probationary period that could lead to an end to federal oversight.
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The oversight, put in place in 2003 after the scandalous revelations of corruption and police brutality came out in the infamous Riders case of 2000 went to trial. That case centered on a team of Oakland Police Department officers who were committing civil rights violations by using force, planting evidence, and framing suspects in West Oakland, as previously reported by KCBS Radio.
In response, the department was placed under federal oversight requiring a slew of reforms and changes – more than 50 – to improve the policies on training and disciplining officers.
The oversight was only supposed to last five years but has lasted for nearly 20.
Now, the department has reportedly met all but one of the benchmark requirements. The final one is ensuring fair discipline amongst all officers, according to OPD Chief LeRonne Armstrong.
"We have created new policies that we believe are some of the most progressive policies in the country," he told KCBS Radio on Wednesday. "I think we are holding ourselves accountable, and so I hope the community finally feels like it’s a department that they can begin to trust."
"I know that there's more work for us to do, but I think this is the start," said Armstrong.
Well-known civil rights attorney John Burris, who represented the multiple plaintiffs in the Riders case, gives Armstrong a lot of credit for getting rid of problem officers.
"He came in, and I think that he put forth the policy that they're going to implement these tasks, and if they don’t they're going to be held accountable," said Burris. "And as a consequence of that some officers left – and I thought that was a good thing."
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