Historic federal monitoring of Oakland Police Department nearing its end

The Oakland Police Department may soon regain its self-determination thanks to the report issued last week by federal monitor Robert Warshaw. The status report said the department is finally in compliance on all 51 reforms forced upon it by a lawsuit settlement brought by civil rights attorney John Burris.  

In 2003, Burris thought it would take about five years. Instead, it's been 23 years, the longest-running federal monitorship of a police department in U.S. history.

"But at the end of the day, I chalk it up to, this is how change occurs," said Burris. "It's a slow process. We're talking about changing a culture of the department.  And everything I've read suggests that takes some time."

The lawsuit sprang from a case of some rogue cops who called themselves "The Riders." They were alleged to terrorize the Black community and were charged with planting evidence on suspected drug dealers. They were ultimately acquitted at trial, but a civil settlement put the federal monitor in charge of bringing change to the department.  

"The police have to know that there's a watchdog over them," Burris said. "That they're not totally, they're accountable for their conduct. Without that, then they'll ultimately run amok."

But that raises the question, who will now be that watchdog? Oakland created a citizens' Police Commission to keep an eye on the department's progress, but its funding is being slashed by nearly a million dollars in the latest budget proposal. 

Cat Brooks, who leads a non-profit called the Anti Police-Terror Project, said she thinks the federal oversight has been largely ineffectual, but she says someone needs to be overseeing the police.

"Do I think the federal oversight is the right mechanism? No, not really. Do I think that we need some mechanism? Absolutely," Brooks said. "And so, anyone that is celebrating there being no mechanism to hold OPD accountable either has not lived here very long, is not in touch with the people that feel the violence of the Oakland Police Department every single day, or they have amnesia."

Freedom Marley has lived in West Oakland for 18 years, and she doesn't see a better relationship with law enforcement in her neighborhood. She said if the police have stopped being aggressive, it's because they're now apathetic.

"I believe the police and community have become numb to one another," she said. "And it could be because of the budget cuts, but when it wasn't the budget cuts, they seemed to be acting out even more. And I believe, because of the budget cuts, they just don't care. They're not even around anymore. Like, if anything happened to you, I don't know who you call. You can't call the police."

Freedom said her son was shot back in the early 2000's, and she never even got a follow up call from the police. It's left her feeling that the reforms being celebrated today will be superficial at best.

"What was back in 2000 will continue on until somebody says, 'hey, let's change this whole thing. Let's tear this whole thing down and rebuild it from the top," she said. "Until we do that, they may not be named The Riders, but they're there."

Burris said he thinks the efforts to change the department have been sincere, and he said the numbers show that violence and racial profiling has diminished. But he agreed that there needs to be someone monitoring the operation to make sure that history doesn't repeat itself.