#civilian-oversight

#civilian-oversight

Oakland leaders have declined for the second time to reappoint two incumbents to the Police Commission, the civilian body overseeing the Oakland Police Department. At the City Council meeting Tuesday night, all but two council members - Carroll Fife and Noel Gallo - voted to reject the nominees submitted by the Police Commission Selection Panel in December: Ricardo Garcia-Acosta, chair of the commission, and Omar Farmer, an alternate commissioner. The commissioners' terms expired in October, but both have continued to serve in a holdover capacity.

It was nearly a decade ago that Oakland voters overwhelmingly agreed in the ballot boxes that the city needed citizen oversight of the police department. Many hoped at the time that the newly established watchdog body would eventually take the reins from federal officials who have maintained control of the Oakland Police Department for now over two decades. But the commission comprised of seven volunteer members still seems to be struggling to gain footing within Oakland's complex bureaucratic tangles.

On July 4, 2016, Isaacs was driving home from his shift when he allegedly cut off Small, 37, on Atlantic Avenue in East New York. Both vehicles stopped at a red light at Bradford Street. Police say Small exited his car - where his girlfriend, her 14-year-old daughter and the couple's infant sat - walked across traffic lanes and approached Isaacs' driver-side window. Video shows Isaacs shot Small three times within two seconds of Small reaching his window.

Chief Floyd Mitchell has sought to loosen the restrictions over the past year, with encouragement from Gov. Gavin Newsom, who agrees that the policy limits the Oakland Police Department's ability to track down suspects soon after crimes have occurred. The rules, which currently apply to vehicle pursuits at speeds over 50 miles per hour, were tightened by ex-Chief LeRonne Armstrong in 2022, eight years after a prior chief had first disallowed pursuits except for suspects in serious or violent offenses.

Richard Quinones was walking his dogs one morning this summer when he spotted a woman in a ditch. She lay on dirt near some trolley tracks in Lemon Grove, her legs partially submerged in muddy water, Quinones, 69, said in a recent interview. He called a non-emergency line. A sheriff's SUV arrived a little later. But the vehicle then backed up and drove off without anyone stepping outside.

Last week, Kennedy received an email from Matthias H. Wagener, co-partner of Wagener Law, stating that the county had launched an investigation.