OAKLAND, Calif. -- A federal judge on Tuesday ended federal monitoring of the Oakland Police Department after 23 years, capping the longest-running oversight of a police department in U.S. history.
“I'm particularly grateful to the men and women of the Oakland Police Department ... for achieving substantial compliance,” San Francisco judge William Orrick said. “May it ever be thus.”
The police department made national news in 2000 after a rookie officer came forward to report abuse of power by a group of officers known as the Oakland “Riders.” The four officers were charged with making false arrests, planting evidence, using excessive force, falsifying police reports and assaulting people in west Oakland, a predominantly Black area. Three of the officers were acquitted after two separate juries deadlocked on most of the charges. The fourth officer is a fugitive and is believed to have fled the country.
The case resulted in the department coming under federal oversight in 2003 and being required to enact dozens of reform measures and report its progress to an outside monitor and a federal judge. That same year, the city of about 400,000 people settled a class-action police abuse lawsuit involving 119 people for $11 million.
The Oakland Police Department has had constant leadership turnover over the years. In 2023, police chief LeRonne Armstrong was fired after a probe found that he covered up officer misconduct. The current chief, James Beere, took office in July, making him the 16th head of the department over two decades of federal oversight.
The department’s federal monitor in May issued a report saying that the Oakland Police Department had complied with all 51 court-mandated reforms stemming from the 2000 police brutality and corruption case.
“This is the first time in 23 years that OPD has achieved each of the 51 tasks in the (settlement agreement.) No one can say, ‘mission accomplished.’ But I do congratulate the city and OPD for getting this far,” Orrick said during a hearing in May.
Some civil rights organizations had asked Orrick to delay releasing the department from federal oversight for at least a year after court-appointed monitor Robert S. Warshaw said in a progress report this month that he had found that the Oakland Police Department had again fallen below the threshold for timely investigations into severe misconduct violations.
But Orrick noted Tuesday it was important for the court to “get out of the way.”
While plaintiff attorneys at the hearing noted the department fell short of completing 85% of its serious misconduct investigations within 180 days, they did not oppose the ending of federal oversight.
Oakland Police Chief Beere acknowledged those cases to the judge, explaining that many were complex officer-involved shootings.
“We did slip a little bit,” said Beere, KTVU reported. “But we own our mistakes.”
The Oakland police union said the decision was an “important new beginning” for the department and reflects years of hard work by officers.
“The next chapter for the City and OPD must be about recruiting officers, rebuilding staffing levels and giving the men and women of OPD the resources they need to keep Oakland safe,” said Cesar Leyva, interim president of the Oakland Police Officers Association.
Civil rights attorney John Burris reflected at the hearing on the progress made over the past two decades and the importance of continuing that progress under the leadership of the city of Oakland.
“For me, it’s not today that’s important, it’s tomorrow … whether or not what’s been put in place here stands the test of time,” Burris said.
Some local groups urged the importance of strengthening civilian oversight of the police department through the Oakland Police Commission, established by voters in 2016.
“We need more independent oversight, more transparency, and more accountability, not less,” said Cat Brooks, executive director of the Anti Police-Terror Project.
