Oakland's Community Police Review Agency - a civilian-run bureau that investigates allegations of police misconduct - has appointed a new executive director. Antonio Lawson, who most recently served as the agency's interim executive director, officially assumed the role on Feb. 17, Police Commission Chair Ricardo Garcia-Acosta announced in a press release Thursday. The Community Police Review Agency, widely known as CPRA (pronounced "sip-ruh"), is the investigative arm of the Police Commission, a civilian and volunteer body tasked with overseeing the Oakland Police Department.
ANTIOCH In an effort to meet requirements in a deal between the city and U.S. Department of Justice, two members of the Antioch Police Oversight Commission were added Tuesday to the oversight body. The Antioch City Council unanimously voted to reappoint Porshe Taylor, the commission's former chairperson, to a three-year term that expires in 2028. Her previous term ended in November 2025. The council also approved the appointment of Josiah Ben-Oni Graham to fill a partial-term vacancy that expires in November.
The inspector general, a relatively new arm's-length position tasked by the province with overseeing policing, was asked to investigate Thursday after eight current and retired Toronto officers were charged in an organized crime and corruption investigation. The case immediately raised questions about whether systemic issues contributed to organized crime's alleged infiltration of the ranks, said Kent Roach, a University of Toronto law professor and contributor to several high-profile police inquiries. Those questions, he said, are best answered by a civilian-led investigation.
In April, District 6 Councilmember Kevin Jenkins, who was serving as interim mayor at the time, fired Leigh Hanson, his chief of staff. Hanson had originally been hired by Sheng Thao and stayed on Thao was recalled and indicted. The impetus for Hanson's pink slip was the public uproar about notes that she took during a meeting that included a pejorative term for Black people. Hanson said the meaning of the notes was being misconstrued,
Zuniga wrote in response to a scathing letter Jackson penned last month, which alleged Cox had been "caught in a lie" in his remarks about a former officer whose explosive testimony made headlines during Read's second trial. Speaking to reporters on July 10, Cox denied pressuring then-Boston Police Officer Kelly Dever into changing her testimony and claimed he didn't even know she was associated with Read's high-profile case - a statement Jackson decried as "patently false" and "a bald-faced lie."
A two-page amendment posted to a county website at the start of 2025 says that coroner's inquest hearings - which for decades have been done for virtually all law enforcement-involved death - will now only occur if certain officials request them. The amendment attributes this change to "advancements in transparency," implying that the digital age now makes such hearings obsolete.
The debate over public safety and policing in Oakland has become more polarized in recent years. On one side, some residents say it's still necessary to focus on reforming the Oakland Police Department, whose scandals have subjected it to the longest federal court oversight program of any U.S. law enforcement agency. And they want to continue building one of the most robust civilian oversight boards in the country, the Oakland Police Commission, which 83% of Oakland voters established through Measure LL in 2016.
OAKLAND - Floyd Mitchell is leaving his job as Oakland's police chief in part because he grew frustrated at needing to answer to so many bosses - or, at least, that is the consensus among several Oakland police and city officials who worked closely with him. The chief, who will have lasted just over a year and a half by his Dec. 5 resignation, is the latest in a long line of top cops to exit sooner than expected.
San Francisco's police commission in 2023 passed a historic policy restricting police officers from using pretext stops. The stops are disproportionately used against people of color and limiting them has shown improvements in racial disparities in policing. The union was, from the inception of the policy, opposed to it, and in October 2024 filed suit. It claimed that the policy prevented officers from obeying the state vehicle code, which it said should take precedence over city policy.
"Our intention is to approach them from a place of neutrality," Dill said, "to look at everything that we can get our hands on in terms of evidence, whether it's interviews, video documents, whatever we have that might be relevant to it and try to start from zero - looking at [the] sheriff's office policies and looking at the facts and do our best to figure out what happened."
The Antioch Police Oversight Commission voted 6-0 to recommend the removal of Commissioner Treva Hadden due to her excessive unexcused absences from meetings. Having missed more than three meetings in a year, the vote places her status in the hands of the Antioch City Council. Hadden was appointed for a three-year term in February 2024 and is currently an ethics investigator in Oakland. If removed, she will be the second commissioner this year to leave before completing her term, following Leslie May's resignation.
Oversight, to be meaningful, must be both independent and trustworthy, Bana said. If these concerns are unfounded, then an independent investigation will validate the commission and restore confidence.
Kennedy's alleged incident resulted in his wife needing stitches, raising serious concerns about domestic assault, while Aiello faces federal charges linked to child pornography.
