City Government

Former Councilmember Riles’ Federal Discrimination Lawsuit Against City Moves Through Federal Court

According to the lawsuit, the Planning Commission finally ruled in favor of the couple’s right to use the sweat lodge and hold religious ceremonies. However, the city’s zoning department came up with new obstacles.

Published

5 years ago

July 5, 2021

Isabelle Price

Gavel photo courtesy Bill Oxford via Unsplash

A federal lawsuit against the City of Oakland for discrimination and police brutality, filed by community elder Wilson Riles Jr., is winding its way through court hearings and is scheduled for trial late next year.

Civil rights attorney Walter Riley, who represents Riles, told the Oakland Post that the case has been going through the legal process since the suit was filed last year. Most recently, the court held a case management conference to schedule future hearings.

The case is scheduled for trial on Oct. 31, 2022.

“The heart of the issue is the mistreatment of Wilson Riles Jr. and his wife, Patricia St. Onge, who is a Native American elder who engages in Native American religious practices,” including establishing a sweat lodge at their home in Oakland, said Riley.

Though the Planning Commission and the City of Council ultimately supported Riles’ application, some staff in the zoning department for years have been blocking the couple’s right to have the sweat lodge on their property, using zoning and planning procedures to deny the lodge and continuously throw new obstacles in their way, he said.

“They have a constitutional right to engage in their religious practices,” said Riley.

The other part of the lawsuit is directed against the violent treatment and arrest that Riles experienced when he went to the zoning department to complain about the latest obstacles the city was using to block the sweat lodge..

Riles, 73, who served on the Oakland City Council from 1979 to 1992, had gone to the city zoning office a little after 8:00 a.m. on Oct. 17, 2019. He was ending a conversation with a supervisor and was preparing to leave. Police approached him, his legs were swept out from under him, he was knocked to the ground and injured, and he was handcuffed. He was arrested and taken to Santa Rita County Jail for battery on a police officer at about 9:00 a.m.

He was released at about 11:30 p.m. after posting a $20,000 bond, according to KPIX Channel 5.

Riles told the Post that he had received a call a few days after the arrest from then-OPD Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, who told him that she had talked to the District Attorney and that all charges against him were being dropped. The chief has ordered an internal affairs investigation into the incident, according to the City.

In a statement released by the City at the time of Riles’ arrest, spokesperson Karen Boyd said the City has to balance protecting Black residents and the need to protect employees against workplace violence.

“We recognize the arrest of former Councilmember Wilson Riles … raises deep community concerns.” Calling it an “unfortunate incident,” she said the city had to deal with “two disturbing national realities … the use of force by police against Black men as well as a heightened fear of workplace violence.”

Isabelle Price

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Oakland Post: Week of December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

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1 week ago

January 2, 2026

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Oakland Post: Week of December 24 – 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 24 – 30, 2025

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2 weeks ago

December 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Oakland Council Expands Citywide Security Cameras Despite Major Opposition

In a 7-1 vote in favor of the contract, with only District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife voting no, the Council agreed to maintain its existing network of 291 cameras and add 40 new “pan-tilt-zoom cameras.”

Published

3 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

At the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, Flock Safety introduces new public safety technology – Amplified Intelligence, a suite of AI-powered tools designed to improve law enforcement investigations. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

The Oakland City Council this week approved a $2.25 million contract with Flock Safety for a mass surveillance network of hundreds of security cameras to track vehicles in the city.

In recent weeks hundreds of local residents have spoken against the camera system, raising concerns that data will be shared with immigration authorities and other federal agencies at a time when mass surveillance is growing across the country with little regard for individual rights.

The Flock network, supported by the Oakland Police Department, has the backing of residents and councilmembers who see it as an important tool to protect public safety.

“This system makes the Department more efficient as it allows for information related to disruptive/violent criminal activities to be captured … and allows for precise and focused enforcement,” OPD wrote in its proposal to City Council.

According to OPD, police made 232 arrests using data from Flock cameras between July 2024 and November of this year.

Based on the data, police say they recovered 68 guns, and utilizing the countywide system, they have found 1,100 stolen vehicles.

However, Flock’s cameras cast a wide net. The company’s cameras in Oakland last month captured license plate numbers and other information from about 1.4 million vehicles.

Speaking at Tuesday’s Council meeting, Fife was critical of her colleagues for signing a contract with a company that has been in the national spotlight for sharing data with federal agencies.

Flock’s cameras – which are automated license plate readers – have been used in tracking people who have had abortions, monitoring protesters, and aiding in deportation roundups.

“I don’t know how we get up and have several press conferences talking about how we are supportive of a sanctuary city status but then use a vendor that has been shown to have a direct relationship with (the U.S.) Border Control,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Several councilmembers who voted in favor of the contract said they supported the deal as long as some safeguards were written into the Council’s resolution.

“We’re not aiming for perfection,” said District 1 Councilmember Zac Unger. “This is not Orwellian facial recognition technology — that’s prohibited in Oakland. The road forward here is to add as many amendments as we can.”

Amendments passed by the Council prohibit OPD from sharing camera data with any other agencies for the purpose of “criminalizing reproductive or gender affirming healthcare” or for federal immigration enforcement. California state law also prohibits the sharing of license plate reader data with the federal government, and because Oakland’s sanctuary city status, OPD is not allowed to cooperate with immigration authorities.

A former member of Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission has sued OPD, alleging that it has violated its own rules around data sharing.

So far, OPD has shared Flock data with 50 other law enforcement agencies.