POLICE SLOW TO IMPLEMENT RIDERS REFORMS

Riders Reforms Are Behind Schedule

OAKLAND - The police department is still behind schedule in complying
with some reforms in the Riders settlement, and the department's
Internal Affairs Division is especially problematic, according to a
report from an independent monitoring team released Tuesday.

Files have been lost, investigations have taken so long that deadlines
for handing out discipline have passed, and there is no system for
tracking Internal Affairs complaints, according to the four-member
monitoring team.

The team's second quarterly report praised police for significant
progress in some areas.

But the department has only come into full compliance with three of 51
tasks the settlement requires over a five-year period. The settlement
was reached in February 2003. Deadlines for 15 tasks have passed, and
one has been extended, according to the monitors.

Monitoring team member Christy Lopez said the department has been
working hard to comply, but writing policies, training officers and
implementing the new procedures takes time.

"One of my colleagues says police departments don't get broken
overnight, and we can't expect them to be fixed overnight," Lopez
said. "Perhaps they were overly optimistic with the deadlines. I think
slow progress is not ideal, but it is typical."

Lopez and fellow monitor Kelli Evans, both of the Washington, D.C.,
law firm Relman & Associates, said they highlighted Internal Affairs
as an area of special concern in the report because they wanted to
give the department a heads up -- even though deadlines for some of
the required reforms have not yet passed

"It would be irresponsible to wait and then say 'gotcha,'" Evans said.
"There were so many problems, we wanted to give them time."

The monitoring team was hired as a condition of settling the case
brought by more than 100 plaintiffs who alleged that systemic failures
by the police department allowed four Oakland officers to abuse them.
The reforms will cost $10 million over five years.

In the Internal Affairs Division, the monitoring team noted there are
"systemic delays at nearly every step of the process" that need to be
addressed.

In some cases, officers have not been disciplined despite verified
misconduct because the investigations took longer than a year, and the
statute of limitations expired. Reports have not been tracked, and in
some cases, files have disappeared when managers retire.

Police Chief Richard Word agreed the Internal Affairs process has been
flawed.

"We've taken shortcuts and it's gotten us in trouble," Word
said.

The department has always relied on the "honor system," Word said,
forwarding original files to the supervisors or managers.

Word said he is already working on addressing problems. A new Internal
Affairs commander has been assigned, additional Internal Affairs
investigators have been added, case files are no longer allowed to
leave the Internal Affairs office, and new computer equipment and a
Web-based tracking system have been added.

Word said the reform process has been lengthy and "very demanding,"
especially in light of budget constraints and staffing cutbacks.

Word said each new policy "must pass muster with the (police union),
the plaintiffs' attorney and the monitors, among others." In the end,
though, he believes the reforms will improve the department.

Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris, who represented the Riders
plaintiffs, said details of the Internal Affairs problems "are a bit
shocking."

"We have spent a great deal of time on this area, and there are more
issues surrounding internal affairs than other areas," he said. "The
concerns are that complaints are not heard, and the legitimacy of the
whole operation is called into question."

But Burris agreed with the monitors' assessment that the leadership is
making a good-faith effort to comply.

"I recognize that this is a work in progress. It's early, it's new,
and taking a critical look at yourself is not easy," he said. "We just
don't want to fall behind. Five years is not that long, and the real
challenge is still ahead -- convincing the line officers to comply."

The monitors said the department had made significant progress in
other areas, including taking first steps toward implementing a
computerized Personnel Information Management System, which will allow
officers' behavior to be tracked and any potential problems to be
red-flagged.

The system will not be in place until at least next year, but the
department has started the bid process to find a firm to create the
database.

Progress has also been made on a new training system and the drafting
of several new policies. The inspector general's office, charged with
monitoring the reforms internally, was also praised.

The areas where the department has complied are selecting the monitor
team, developing the inspector general's office, and exploring the use
of in-car video cameras. It has also partially complied with another
reform by moving the internal affairs unit to an off-site location to
make citizens more comfortable using it.