Oakland Police Commission Faces Obstacles

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/oakland-police-commission-faces-obstacles/Content?oid=3278152

Police officer misconduct has plagued OPD for many years, and with a potential federal takeover of the department looming, police oversight is at the forefront of city politics. Several politically connected activists have proposed a November ballot measure that would establish a seven-member independent police commission to "oversee, audit, and monitor" the Oakland Police Department. The activists also have been pushing the idea to councilmembers for weeks in hopes of securing support for the proposed civilian-run organization.

Police commissions have been in place for decades in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where civilian commissioners appointed by the mayor and members of the board of supervisors and city council, respectively, share responsibility for hiring and firing police chiefs, researching and implementing policy changes, and meting out discipline for individual officers accused of misconduct. By contrast, in Oakland, the police chief and city administrator, both mayoral appointees, make disciplinary decisions for police personnel, with an arbitrator having the final say.

According to Rashidah Grinage, a longtime police accountability activist, a police commission in Oakland would "shine light in dark spaces" by conducting audits and investigations into police policies, operations, and finances. The ballot initiative also would give the commission independence from the City Administrator's Office, which Grinage maintains has an inherent conflict of interest in reining in the police department. "How can the city administrator provide accountability to OPD when that person is involved in minimizing the legal exposure of departments under her control?" Grinage asked, noting that five city administrators have not succeeded in bringing the Oakland Police Department in line with the reforms of the federal consent decree.

However, there are major obstacles to the proposed commission. It has not garnered much support from either the public or the city council. As of July 2, an online petition in support of the proposal had received only 114 signatures since its creation on June 18. And at the June 26 session of council's Public Safety Committee, Councilwoman Nancy Nadel unsuccessfully attempted to propose the police commission as a ballot measure, eliciting an angry letter from the police accountability group PUEBLO to Councilwomen Pat Kernighan and Rebecca Kaplan for their lack of support. "We can't get any councilmembers to step up," Grinage said.