Chief,
union oppose councilman's plan
Will
Kane
A
panel of Oakland residents should be appointed to oversee the city's troubled
Police Department - a common practice in other cities - a member of the City
Council said Thursday.
Councilman
Noel Gallo introduced a plan pushed by police accountability groups that calls
for 12 civilians to investigate complaints of officer misconduct, recommend the
hiring and firing of a police chief, and monitor quality overall.
Oakland's
proposed commission would be similar to those in San Francisco, New York and
Los Angeles.
Increased
oversight of the Police Department would help stem the kind of police
misbehavior that has led to more than a decade of federal oversight of the
police force, Gallo said.
As
federal monitoring winds down, Gallo said, Oakland should create a new way to
monitor the Police Department.
"What
we currently have has not worked and is not working, and that's why we have had
a federal judge for 11 years who is about to leave, and that is why we need
this initiative," Gallo said.
The
commission would have the ability to subpoena police officers, conduct investigative
hearings, direct a chief to impose discipline on an officer and ensure that the
Police Department follows applicable laws, according to Gallo's proposal, which
was drafted by PUEBLO, a police watchdog group.
The
12 members would be appointed by the mayor and the City Council's Public Safety
Committee, which Gallo chairs. The costs of such a proposal were not
immediately clear.
"We
have spent so many millions of dollars trying to get our Police Department to
behave, to reach and do what they are supposed to do responsibly," said
Gwen Hardy, an Oakland resident and c0-founder of PUEBLO. "I do not
understand why we would not want to have police accountability."
But
the plan has powerful critics, notably police officials and the police union.
It
would also face a number of hurdles to take effect.
Review,
OK needed
The
plan would have to be approved first by a majority of the City Council by early
August, then by a majority of voters in November.
The
plan must also be reviewed by the city attorney and city staff, who only
learned of the proposal late this week.
"I
think it is best to slow it down if you want to get to where you want to get
to," said Councilman Larry Reid, who sits on the Rules Committee that
reviewed Gallo's proposal Thursday. "I think this is just being thrust on
the council."
Police
Chief Sean Whent said he thought creating a commission to oversee the Police
Department is unnecessary because the Police Department has "demonstrated
an ability to police ourselves."
"I
think that we have a fair amount of oversight already here in Oakland given
that we've been under federal oversight for the last 10 years," Whent
said.
Barry
Donelan, head of the Oakland Police Officers' Association, accused Gallo of
abdicating his responsibility to oversee the Police Department.
"It
is clear that Noel Gallo doesn't want to take responsibility for public safety
in his district, so he wants to create a commission instead," Donelan
said. "A classic political move - create a commission."
Gallo,
who called the current operations of the Police Department "below
basic," said increased oversight is necessary.
But
he agreed it may be difficult to push the full proposal through the council in
the next two months.
Instead,
he said, the city might use the debate about the citizens commission to find
other ways to keep the Police Department accountable
