Oakland Police Department

History

The Oakland Police Department was formed in 1853. It succeeded law enforcement duties for Oakland, California, from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. Beginning with World War II thousands of poor rural Southern African Americans migrated into Oakland to work in the shipyards. During this same period the Oakland Police Department began to heavily recruit white police officers from the Deep South. In the years that followed incidents of police brutality increased.

In the mid-1960s, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was formed in Oakland largely to organize armed violent resistance to police brutality. During their "Patrolling the Pigs" operation, Black Panthers wearing a uniform of black clothes, black leather jackets, and black berets would follow Oakland police patrols while openly carrying statute books and firearms. In October 1967, Black Panther founder Huey Newton shot and killed an Oakland police officer during a traffic stop. Prosecutors failed to secure a conviction against Newton after three separate trials.

Oakland encountered major funding challenges in the years following and the police department became understaffed. Additionally, community activists say too many OPD officers live outside the city and commute, thus separating themselves from Oakland's daily life. By 2012, over 90% of Oakland police officers resided outside of Oakland. In an attempt to increase community involvement and address police officer under-staffing the people of Oakland in 2004 passed a major tax increase known as Measure Y. Some have viewed the measure as unsuccessful. Oakland is currently the third-most dangerous city in the United States.

In July 2000, evidence emerged that the respected veteran police officers known as the "Riders" had over the past four years made false arrests, planted evidence, used excessive force, and falsified police reports. Scores of drug cases were dropped because of tainted evidence. The alleged leader of the Riders, Frank Vazquez, fled to Mexico shortly after his criminal indictment and remains a fugitive from justice. The Riders' actions resulted in Oakland settling a federal civil rights case, Allen v. City of Oakland, for nearly $11 million. As part of the Negotiated Settlement Agreement, the Oakland Police Department is required to make major reforms to ensure constitutional policing. The court appointed an independent monitor to oversee implementation of these reforms.

The 2009 shootings of Oakland police officers killed four officers, marking the deadliest day for Californian law enforcement in 40 years and also the deadliest attack on U.S. law enforcement since the September 11 attacks.

Nine years after the Riders case Negotiated Settlement Agreement, the federal court found the Oakland Police Department had failed to fully implement required reforms. To guarantee compliance with the settlement, the U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson appointed former Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Tomas Frazier as Compliance Director in March 2013. The Compliance Director holds unprecedented powers to require corrective action even for conduct not specified in the Negotiated Settlement Agreement.

Uniform and equipment

The uniform of the OPD consists of a dark navy-blue shirt. On the left side of the chest, the badge, a seven-point star is pinned. The type of badge differs upon rank. Lower ranks wear silver badges while higher ranks wear gold. Additionally, higher ranks tend to have nicer more detailed badges compared to lower ranking officers. Officers are also issued an LAPD style round uniform hat. Navy blue pants are worn with a blue stripe running down them. Tactical navy blue BDU style uniforms are also authorized. Plain black leather duty belts with matching holster and accessories are issued. Black nylon duty gear is worn optionally by some officers. Navy blue nylon jackets are issued for cooler weather while black leather bomber style jackets are authorized for optional wear. For crowd control, OPD officers normally have helmets and more protective gear.

Weapons

Oakland officers are issued Glock 17 9mm caliber firearms. Less Lethal weapons issued/authorized to Officers include Batons (Straight Wood, Straight ASP Expandable, Short Wood/Billy), OC Pepper Spray and Tasers. Cruisers may be armed with Remington 870 shotguns. The OPD SWAT Team is equipped with Colt M4 rifles.

Vehicles and air support

Police cruisers normally consist of black and white Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors. The department, like many others, is phasing in the Ford Police Interceptor sport utility vehicle. Currently, there are over 150 in the fleet. The helicopter for the Oakland Police is named ARGUS after a character in Greek mythology.

Salary

The salary of Oakland officers is another controversial issue. Police Officer Entry Level current annual salary is $69,912 to $98,088, higher than most police positions in California. Additional pay increases are granted to higher-ranking officers. Average total compensation for an OPD employee is $162,000. In 2012, 179 Oakland police officers took home over $200,000 in total compensation. Three patrol officers, a sergeant, and a captain each took home over $300,000. In 2011 the Police Department's costs make up 44% of the city's $400 million general budget.

Unfunded police pension liabilities are a separate high cost to the city. In 2010, the Oakland Police and Fire Retirement system granted $70 million in benefits to 1,086 pensioners. In 2012 the city successfully sued the city's pension system to end an estimated $11.5 million in unlawful overpayment to retired police and fire fighters.

Other

All new officers begin at the rank of police officer. There are civil service promotional opportunities all the way up to captain, then all remaining positions are appointed. The department is headed by a chief. With three Chiefs resigning in succession during one week, there is no current Chief of the Oakland Police Department. Typically, each division is headed by a captain. A lieutenant will head a division if a captain is not present or non-existent. Lieutenant's duties consist of normal patrol and leadership of lower ranks and sometimes (as specified above) entire divisions. Sergeants function as direct supervisors for police officers, or serve as investigators in the Criminal Investigation Division.

Organization

Number of police officers

On Friday, August 15, 2007, Oakland swore in 22 new graduates from the department's 161st Basic Police Academy, increasing the ranks of the department to 741 filled positions, the most since 1999. At least five veteran officers were expected to be granted disability retirements by the end of the month and up to 20 more were expected to leave by the end of the year. Forty-one potential Oakland officers were in Oakland Police Academy training academy that graduated in January 2008, and another academy was scheduled to start in October. Even with that graduation, there were still more than 60 vacancies in the department where the authorized strength increased by 63 to 802 officers after the passage of Measure Y in November 2004.

On July 14, 2010, Oakland laid off 80 police officers reducing the total officers from 776 to 695. 24 of those sworn officers worked in a patrol capacity or responded to 911 calls. The rest of the officers performed other duties, including community policing activities.

As of January 11, 2011, the City Council had authorized 637 police positions.

As of February 2011, Oakland Police Department has 663 filled police positions, six less than the current authorized strength.

As of July 2011, the number of sworn officers was 637. The city is currently hiring officers, recently graduating an academy class and having plans to graduate more classes in the future.

Oakland has eight detectives assigned to investigate robberies. There are six Special Victims Unit investigators. Oakland has fourteen police dog teams. There are 62 members on Oakland's SWAT team.

Controversies

In 1991, the Oakland Police Department paid a $42,000 settlement to rapper Tupac Shakur after allegedly brutally beating him for jaywalking.

In 2003, the city paid $10.9 million to 119 plaintiffs who reportedly had been victimized by members of Oakland Police. However, after the officers were fired from the OPD, a jury that had no black members on it ended up clearing the four Rough Riders on eight of the counts against them, and were unable to reach a decision on 27 others. As a result of the Negotiated Settlement Agreement stemming from Allen v. City of Oakland (AKA the Riders Case), an Independent Monitoring Team was appointed by the Federal District court. In January 2012, the Court found that OPD had still not complied with the terms of the settlement, and ordered OPD stripped of some of its independence, requiring on-going consultation with the Independent Monitor to exercise an array of powers. Plaintiffs in the case have requested OPD be placed under the control of a federal receivership.

In 2003, two undercover members of the Oakland Police Department were assigned to participate in the anti-Iraq War movement. They stood for and were elected to leadership roles before their true affiliations were uncovered.

In 2008, Oakland agreed to pay $2 million to 16 women, all Asian, who alleged being groped, harassed, or victimized by a member of the Oakland Police Department. After a criminal trial, former Officer Richard Valerga was sentenced to six months in jail.

In 2010, Oakland agreed to pay $6.5 million to individuals alleging that the Oakland police for years illegally obtained search warrants based on false or misleading information.

In 2011, Oakland Police came under further criticism for its handling of Occupy Oakland. Occupier and United States Marine Corps and Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen was shot in the head with a beanbag round by an Oakland police SWAT team member. Federal district judge Thelton Henderson threatened sanctioning the Oakland PD if it does not submit a plan to address the immense number, over a thousand, of complaints over the department's violent handling of Occupy Oakland.

Oakland has paid a total of $57 million during the 2001–2011 timeframe to alleged victims of police abuse—the largest sum of any city in California.

In 2012, the City of Oakland authorized an $800,000 settlement stemming from a case in which two citizens were unlawfully strip-searched on a public street by Oakland Police.

Resignation of three police chiefs in June 2016

In June 2016, at least 14 Oakland Police officers were alleged to be involved in a sex scandal, involving officers having sex with a teenage girl, including some while she was a minor. The scandal was revealed by an investigation triggered by a suicide note written by Oakland Police Officer Brendan O'Brien, who was one of the implicated officers alleged to have repeatedly had sex with the girl while she was a minor. He committed suicide as the investigation into the underage sex scandal proceeded, and about a year after his wife's death, which was called suspicious in a coroner's report but was not investigated fully.

The scandal led to the resignation of three Chiefs of Police of the Oakland Police Department in nine days, and the department was under civilian control from June 17, 2016 through February 27, 2017, when Chief Anne Kirkpatrick was sworn in. At a press conference, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf delivered an aggressive repudiation of the Oakland Police Department and its staff, while announcing another new scandal, this one involving racist text messages sent among Oakland Police Department officers. Both the underage teen sex scandal and the racist text message scandals are under investigation.

Officers killed in the line of duty

As of 2009, the department has lost 51 officers in the line of duty, 32 of which died as a result of gunfire. The 2009 shootings of Oakland police officers took place on Saturday, March 21, 2009, when four Oakland, California, police officers were killed by a felon wanted on a no-bail warrant for a parole violation. The felon, Lovelle Mixon, shot and killed four Oakland police officers, two during a routine traffic stop and two when SWAT team officers attempted to apprehend him two hours later. Mixon staged an ambush of the police from his hiding place and was killed in a barrage of gunfire as officers returned fire in self-defense.

The 2009 killings made it one of the worst days for law enforcement in California's history. It was the single deadliest attack on California's police officers since the Newhall massacre in 1970, when four California Highway Patrol officers were shot and killed by two men in the Santa Clarita Valley. It was also the deadliest attack on U.S. law enforcement since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.