POLICE BRASS FLAYED BY REPORT

Experts Say Complaints Get Low Priority

The Oakland Police Department too often fails to take seriously
investigations into allegations of corruption and abuse, allowing
accused officers to go unpunished, according to a report prepared by
experts overseeing the agency under a $10.5 million settlement in the
Riders scandal.

The report, released Tuesday, criticizes department brass for failing
to make internal investigations a top priority and for fostering a lax
culture within a department that sits on such inquiries until they die
quietly.

"Our review of the timeliness of OPD's internal investigations process
revealed systemic delays at nearly every step of the process, with few
internal mechanisms designed to prevent such delays," the report
states. "The most striking overall finding is the failure of OPD's
structure as a whole to support the internal investigations process."

Police Chief Richard Word said he agreed with most of the findings and
said the department already was addressing many of them.

"This is a kick in the pants for us," Word said. "This will make us a
stronger department. For years we took shortcuts in this business
because we've been short-staffed, and violent crimes like homicide
takes priority.

"There has been a longtime tendency to cut corners. We learned from
the Riders case that taking shortcuts gets you in trouble."

Because internal investigations often languish for more than a year,
the 74-page report says, officers accused of wrongdoing often escape
without punishment, because the state-mandated statute of limitations
expires before the case is resolved. "Firm deadlines within the
investigative process are sparse, and the deadlines that are in place
are not met," the report says. "OPD internal investigations are
delayed or halted for reasons that have little if anything to do with
the complexities of the cases."

The four-person independent monitor's office issued the report under
its mandate to oversee the reforms outlined in the settlement brokered
in the Riders case, which involved allegations four officers accused
of planting drugs on innocent people and beating drug suspects in the
summer of 2000. A second criminal trial of three of the officers is
scheduled to begin Sept. 27 because the first ended in a mistrial last
year.

The fourth officer is believed to have fled the country before
trial.

The report was written by two civil rights attorneys, a police chief
from suburban Chicago and a retired deputy chief of the Los Angeles
Sheriff's Department. They were hired at a cost of $3.3 million to
monitor Oakland police for five years.

None was available for comment Tuesday.

State law requires agencies that receive complaints of misconduct by
officers either to confirm the complaint or to exonerate the officer
within one year in most situations. In Oakland, the report noted that
many officers went unpunished even when the complaint was confirmed,
because internal affairs missed the deadline.

Attorney Jim Chanin, who with attorney John Burris represented 119
people in the Riders case, said he was disappointed that problems
within the internal affairs division had not been rectified.

"I can't say I am surprised, but I'm very disappointed," he said. "I
have to wonder just how seriously the department is taking reform. We
knew that internal affairs was a mess in 2000. We pointed that out
then. Now, it's 2004, and we again see the same problems
unresolved."

Chanin said he and Burris might sue the department and the city to
require changes in the department's internal affairs procedures.

Through a spokesman, Mayor Jerry Brown said he had not yet read the
report and would not comment.

Chief Word said the department had assigned a full-time officer to
track each internal affairs investigation as it progresses. The
officer has explicit directions to notify department brass every time
a deadline is missed. "We're already beginning to hold supervisors
more accountable," Word said.