A federal judge ended more than 23 years of court oversight of the Oakland Police Department Tuesday.
During a hearing in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, Judge William Orrick dismissed the notorious “Riders” case, which arose after years of police officers routinely falsifying police reports, planting evidence, beating suspects and abusing Oaklanders’ civil rights.
That scandal and the resulting civil lawsuit resulted in a “Negotiated Settlement Agreement” that required the department to initiate 51 reforms focused on use of force policies, racial profiling, internal affairs investigations, officer discipline and transparency, among other things.
Prior to his ruling, Orrick addressed Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, who was in attendance, and said his decision brings oversight of the department “back where it belongs.”
“It does not belong in a federal court, it belongs with the people that you serve and it belongs to the institution that you run, the city, and I very much appreciate that you appreciated what I’m about to say will make your life not easier and make your commitment to this all the more important.”
John Burris, one of the original plaintiff’s attorneys in the case, said he supports Orrick’s decision.
During the hearing Tuesday, Burris likened the enormous, sometimes painful task of getting OPD to comply with court-ordered reforms to the mythical figure of Sisyphus, who was condemned by the Greek gods to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity, only for it to roll back down every day when he reached the summit.
“We have been involved in pushing that rock up the hill for 23 years and each time it got close it would fall back down,” Burris said. “We’ve pushed the rock as far as we can, but now it’s up to the city to take hold of this rock and see if they can not only push it to the top of the hill but to maintain it.”
Orrick praised the city’s leadership, including Lee, OPD Chief James Beere and countless people over the years who have helped develop internal procedures and community oversight structures that led to the department’s use of constitutional policing practices.
‘Not the end’
He also said because of the reforms, the department has improved its interactions with potential suspects to such a degree the number of excessive force and racial bias lawsuits, among other claims, has dropped by two-thirds since 2003.
He said he would issue a final order in the next few months.
Burris said only time will tell if the department’s commitment to the reforms will last.
“This is not the end, it is a stop along the way,” he said.
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