City Government

Oakland Black Officers challenge racist culture at OPD

Published

5 years ago

March 15, 2019

The following is an open letter to Oakland Police Department Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, Mayor Libby Schaaf, and City Administrator Sabrina Landreth.

The Oakland Black Officers Association (OBOA) is very concerned that a culture remains in place at Oakland Police Department (OPD) and in senior leadership that could be perceived as unfair, racist, inequitable and not in line with the Oakland Police Department’s core values.

We believe the citizens of Oakland deserve a police department with strong senior leadership that acts quickly and decisively when faced with tough decisions and challenges around race and equity. We are even more concerned that our current leadership does not effectively meet these challenges.

The Oakland Black Officer’s Association is the Oakland Police Department’s first minority advocacy association and has been in existence for nearly 50 years. OBOA exists to advocate for the fair and equitable treatment of our members and the minority community.

Over the years, the OBOA has been made aware of instances of disparate treatment of our members, at all ranks, as well as from our professional/ civilian staff members. Some of the disparate treatment includes:

-Unfair/biased treatment in personnel decisions

-Unfair and/or biased Internal Affairs Investigations and discipline

-Overlooking qualified Black officers/members for assignments and positions

-Biased/Unfair treatment of Black applicants during, hiring, the Academy, and Field Training Program

The most recent example of a lack of action by OPD leadership occurred in the mishandling of a Recruiting and Backgrounds Commander’s conduct. The Recruiting and Backgrounds Unit works to attract candidates who are qualified, motivated and reflective of the diversity of the City of Oakland.

The unit’s former commander threatened these efforts by engaging in the following conduct:

-Rejecting qualified minority candidates for very minor issues;

-Setting an internal, undocumented standard that favored applicants with a formal education over candidates without one. He also looked less favorably at online universities or trade schools like DeVry, Carrington College or the University of Phoenix— and would refer to these institutions as “fake schools;”

-Candidates who previously used Adderall, Cocaine, Mushrooms, Acid, LSD or drugs typically used by more affluent users were considered for employment while candidates who previously used Cocaine Base/Crack or Heroin were immediately rejected;

-Failing to grant extensions to two Black officers to remain in their positions but granting an extension to a similarly situated White Sergeant.

Despite OBOA’s bringing these serious issues to the attention of Chief Kirkpatrick on Oct. 15, 2018, and Chief Kirkpatrick assurances that these issues would be addressed and the then Recruiting Backgrounds Commander would immediately be removed from his position; nearly 90 days lapsed before any action was taken.

It was only after the OBOA meet with the City Administrator and the Mayor that the former Unit Commander was removed from his position.

The Chief’s inaction and unwillingness to address disparate treatment in the hiring and retention of officers is egregious and hurts our members and the public at large. It undermines the Department’s ability to address one of the Community’s top issues—secure candidates reflective of our community. And, fosters inequity throughout the Department and our subsequent treatment of the community.

We cannot continue with this lack of leadership and ask that our concerns be addressed in a timely and transparent fashion.

This letter was submitted by the Executive Board of the Oakland Black Officers Association.

Sarah Carpenter

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Oakland Post: Week of July 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 24 – 30, 2024

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12 hours ago

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Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌

Lawmakers Incensed by ‘Watering Down’ of Language in Child Sex Solicitation Bill

After an emotional hearing on July 2, the Assembly Public Safety Committee voted to advance Senate Bill (SB) 1414 with an 8-0 vote. The legislation is an anti-sex-trafficking measure designed to increase penalties for those who purchase sex from children, SB 1414, co- authored by Senators Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield), Anna Caballero (D-Merced) and Senator Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), will be reviewed by the Assembly Appropriations Committee after the Legislature break ends on Aug. 5.

Published

1 week ago

July 19, 2024

Oakland Post

Dr. Stephany Powell, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer and current expert on human trafficking survivors, speaks with the media about a bill that would help lock up individuals who buy sex from trafficked children. On Powell's right is Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield), who co-authored SB 1414 with (not pictured) Sens. Anna Caballero (D-Merced) and Susan Rubio. CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.

By Antonio Ray Harvey

California Black Media

After an emotional hearing on July 2, the Assembly Public Safety Committee voted to advance Senate Bill (SB) 1414 with an 8-0 vote. The legislation is an anti-sex-trafficking measure designed to increase penalties for those who purchase sex from children,

SB 1414, co- authored by Senators Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield), Anna Caballero (D-Merced) and Senator Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), will be reviewed by the Assembly Appropriations Committee after the Legislature break ends on Aug. 5.

The legislation has received bipartisan support. However, “critical amendments” were removed, Grove said. She is not satisfied with the language currently in the bill and is pressing members of the Assembly Public Safety Committee to allow key provisions to be restored.

“I am disappointed that they didn’t accept the amendments for all minors to be protected under felony convictions,” Grove said after the committee’s vote.

“I am not going to give up fighting for those 16- and 17-year-olds – and all minors,” Grove stated. “Now, the district attorneys would have to prove two crimes: that they were bought and sold in order to go back to the perpetrator (trafficker) who initiated the whole process.”

SB 1414 made it off the Senate floor with a 36-0 bipartisan vote on May 23. Before the floor vote in the Senate, the Senate Public Safety Committee amended SB 1414, weakening protections for children ages 16 and 17, Grove said.

The committee’s amendments included charging violators who purchase children 15 and under for sex as ‘wobblers’ (crimes that can be punished as a felony or misdemeanor). According to the current language of the bill, solicitation of a 16- and 17-year-old child is only punishable as a misdemeanor. The second amendment to the bill calls for the felony charge to only carry possible jail time — not time in prison.

Grove and her supporters’ other concern is that a third amendment to SB 1414 states that only perpetrators with a previous conviction of buying sex from a child 15 or under, on the second offense and with over a 10-year age gap of the victim, must register as a Tier 1 sex offender.

Dr. Stephany Powell, a retired Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who has over 30 years of sexual exploitation and trafficking experience gained through law enforcement, testified in front of the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

“First of all, there’s no way in the world that (these amendments) are protecting a 16- or 17-year-old,” said Powell, who now assists victims of human trafficking. “Just by the age alone, they are considered to be a victim of human trafficking. That’s your proof right there.”

Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), chair of the Public Safety Committee and a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), told Grove that he supports SB 1414 and commended her efforts to bring “more accountability to the sex trade.”

McCarty said he is willing to make SB 1414 “stronger,” but he is not willing to allow Grove to buck the rules of the Legislature to push her amendments through.

“That’s not on the table. As the rules, you know, we can’t go change that,” McCarty said of Grove’s amendments request.

On June 2, Anne Irwin, the founder and director of Smart Justice California, emailed California Black Media (CBM) a statement responding to SB 1414. Smart Justice sides with the amendments made by the Democrats in the Senate and the Assembly.

“With the recently adopted amendments, SB 1414 now represents a smart policy solution that prioritizes the safety and well-being of all minors,” Irwin stated. “By allowing felony prosecutions for solicitation of 16- and 17-year-olds when there is evidence of human trafficking, lawmakers have further improved the bill – which was originally overly broad and would have had harmful unintended consequences.”