U. S. District Judge Thelton Henderson has picked the federal “compliance director” who will in effect take control of the Oakland Police Department and that person is . . . former Baltimore police commissioner Thomas Frazier. If that doesn’t ring a bell how about this: Frazier is the same former San Jose deputy chief who issued a scathing report on OPD last year and then refused to knuckle under to City Hall to soften it.So while Oakland managed to avoid the dreaded federal “receiver” as the result of its years-long failure to comply with court-ordered police reforms growing out of the cops’ 1999 Riders scandal, it now has a “compliance director” who’s essentially the city’s top cop.
He’ll earn $270,000 a year (more than Police Chief Howard Jordan), has authority to spend city money and overrule top commanders, and is empowered to seek Jordan’s ouster if OPD continues to diddle on reforms. Oakland Tribune
