Oakland’s Police Department has changed chiefs and rolled out a new plan for dealing with protesters. However, that may not be enough to satisfy the federal courts.
It’s been months since the violent clashes between the Oakland Police Department and Occupy Protesters made national news. However, the investigations against police officers accused of excessive force have yet to begin. In fact, while the police department has decided to outsource the investigation to private firms, they haven’t yet put the work out to bid.
That has some worried that it may take more than the statutory maximum 12 months to render a judgement of guilty or innocent against the officers. And that has one federal judge up in arms.
Judge Thelton Henderson had imposed a 180 day deadline for conducting the investigations. That deadline is all but impossible at this point.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
A federal judge criticized the Oakland Police Department over the sluggish pace of investigations into officer conduct during Occupy protests last year, and gave the city until Monday to submit a plan for completing the probes.
U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson said the investigations – which Oakland has decided to farm out to a private contractor – won’t be finished within the 180-day deadline he imposed for such disciplinary cases.
Read the full article here.