Oakland Community Groups Reject Proposed End to Federal Oversight of Oakland Police Department

Scandal-ridden OPD still involved in ongoing litigation for tear-gassing children during protests last year

Oakland, CA: Community groups are outraged at the suggestion that Oakland Police Department (OPD) should be released from federal oversight without completing its legally required tasks and without any community process whatsoever. 

“Oakland police continue to terrorize Black and Brown Oaklanders with impunity. They have not completed their court-ordered negotiated settlement tasks. They continue to lie through their teeth, including about violence towards Oakland’s youth. The community should decide when this oversight ends — and right now we’re saying NO,” said Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project and executive director of the Justice Teams Network. 

OPD remains involved in active litigation over the use of tear gas and other munitions in response to a youth-led rally during the uprising in the wake of the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Chief LeRonne Armstrong admitted that OPD violated its teargas policy and was at fault — after misrepresenting the incident for more than a year. 

Further, data from the RIPA [Racial and Identity Profiling Act] board make clear that the Oakland Police Department still discriminates heavily when engaging in traffic stops, pulling over Black men at disproportionately high rates without any reason for citation.

In short — nothing has changed.

“Little of substance has changed since 2016, the last time this ludicrous idea was proposed. A department-wide rape scandal showed how foolish the idea was then — and still is today,” said James Burch, policy director for the Anti Police-Terror Project. “It begs the question: whose 2022 election campaign benefits from this?”

###