City Government
Opinion: Mayor Must End Obstruction of Independent Police Commission
Oakland’s Community Police Review Agency (CPRA) released a shocking report on May 3 exonerating four Oakland police officers who shot and killed an unconscious man, Joshua Pawlik, on March 11, 2018.
According to the report, Oakland police spent nearly an hour observing Mr. Pawlik while he lay on the ground, yet it took mere seconds for officers to kill him as he allegedly began to regain consciousness.
In January 2019, internal investigations by the Oakland Police Department (OPD) concluded that the officers’ use of lethal force was “objectively reasonable,” and that only minor discipline should be imposed on two supervisors, Sergeant Negrete, and Lieutenant Yu, for leadership failures.
Chief Anne Kirkpatrick then reduced the recommended discipline for supervisory failures, in effect, allowing her officers to escape nearly all responsibility after killing a sleeping man.
Kirkpatrick’s findings caught the attention of Robert Warshaw, a former police chief who serves as the Federal Monitor and Compliance Director for Oakland’s long-running Negotiated Settlement Agreement, a 2003 federal court settlement that was only supposed to last for five years.
In his report, Warshaw found that Kirkpatrick’s assessment was “disappointing and myopic,” and that OPD’s internal investigations were “deficient, non-invasive, and replete with leading questions that served as attempts to support the justification of the officers’ actions.”
Warshaw reversed Kirkpatrick’s findings, stating that the officers’ use of force was unlawful, and that Kirkpatrick had not, “adequately considered the event as a whole.”
In the months following, Oakland’s Police Commission has been waiting for CPRA to present their independent findings to the Commission for review and discussion.
Under the City Charter, when there is a conflict between OPD’s findings and CPRA’s findings, the Police Commission forms a Discipline Committee to make a final decision on officer discipline.
The report released by CPRA last Friday–after a year of supposed investigation—is a deeply disappointing rubber-stamp of OPD’s shoddy internal review. CPRA’s report shows that the agency failed to conduct an independent investigation, in part due to delays by OPD.
In its first year of oversight, the Police Commission has confronted obstruction at every turn, and CPRA’s report demonstrates that the consequences of this ongoing power struggle include a police department that is failing to adjust to civilian oversight, and a civilian review agency that was unable to produce an independent report for the Commission to review.
CPRA was not called to the scene. Four months after her officers killed Mr. Pawlik, Kirkpatrick had only provided CPRA with body camera footage and photos of the scene. CPRA’s investigator did not receive further materials from OPD for another six months.
It does not appear that CPRA conducted much of an investigation while waiting for OPD to turn over evidence. The Police Commission’s Enabling Ordinance requires that CPRA investigators videotape interviews of officers who are accused of serious misconduct. According to CPRA’s report, the investigator conducted only one interview.
Joan Saupé, the assigned investigator, wrote that, “Further interviews were not conducted due to concerns as to the reliability of the information given the time that has passed.”
CPRA’s report represents an unacceptable systemic failure. The Police Commission should reject the OPD-based book report written by CPRA, and demand that an actual independent investigation take place. It’s time for Mayor Libby Schaaf to get off the sidelines and fulfill her 2016 campaign promise to reform OPD.
The City Administration that she leads has produced several roadblocks that have resulted in violent police officers nearly escaping accountability for their actions. Libby claims that she’s “Oakland Tough.” It’s time for the Mayor to prove it by ending her administration’s obstruction of the independent Police Commission.
Henry Gage III is an attorney and member of the Oakland Coalition for Police Accountability.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024
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Alameda County
DA Pamela Price Stands by Mom Who Lost Son to Gun Violence in Oakland
Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018.
Publisher’s note: Last week, The Post published a photo showing Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price with Carol Jones, whose son, Patrick DeMarco Scott, was gunned down by an unknown assailant in 2018. The photo was too small for readers to see where the women were and what they were doing. Here we show Price and Jones as they complete a walk in memory of Scott. For more information and to contribute, please contact Carol Jones at 510-978-5517 at morefoundation.help@gmail.com. Courtesy photo.
City Government
Vallejo Welcomes Interim City Manager Beverli Marshall
At Tuesday night’s Council meeting, the Vallejo City Council appointed Beverli Marshall as the interim city manager. Her tenure in the City Manager’s Office began today, Wednesday, April 10. Mayor Robert McConnell praised Marshall’s extensive background, noting her “wide breadth of experience in many areas that will assist the City and its citizens in understanding the complexity of the many issues that must be solved” in Vallejo.
Special to The Post
At Tuesday night’s Council meeting, the Vallejo City Council appointed Beverli Marshall as the interim city manager. Her tenure in the City Manager’s Office began today, Wednesday, April 10.
Mayor Robert McConnell praised Marshall’s extensive background, noting her “wide breadth of experience in many areas that will assist the City and its citizens in understanding the complexity of the many issues that must be solved” in Vallejo.
Current City Manager Michael Malone, whose official departure is slated for April 18, expressed his well wishes. “I wish the City of Vallejo and Interim City Manager Marshall all the best in moving forward on the progress we’ve made to improve service to residents.” Malone expressed his hope that the staff and Council will work closely with ICM Marshall to “ensure success and prosperity for the City.”
According to the Vallejo Sun, Malone stepped into the role of interim city manager in 2021 and became permanent in 2022. Previously, Malone served as the city’s water director and decided to retire from city service e at the end of his contract which is April 18.
“I hope the excellent work of City staff will continue for years to come in Vallejo,” he said. “However, recent developments have led me to this decision to announce my retirement.”
When Malone was appointed, Vallejo was awash in scandals involving the housing division and the police department. A third of the city’s jobs went unfilled during most of his tenure, making for a rocky road for getting things done, the Vallejo Sun reported.
At last night’s council meeting, McConnell explained the selection process, highlighting the council’s confidence in achieving positive outcomes through a collaborative effort, and said this afternoon, “The Council is confident that by working closely together, positive results will be obtained.”
While the search for a permanent city manager is ongoing, an announcement is expected in the coming months.
On behalf of the City Council, Mayor McConnell extended gratitude to the staff, citizen groups, and recruitment firm.
“The Council wishes to thank the staff, the citizens’ group, and the recruitment firm for their diligent work and careful consideration for the selection of what is possibly the most important decision a Council can make on behalf of the betterment of our City,” McConnell said.
The Vallejo Sun contributed to this report.
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