A 59-page report by the court-appointed overseer of Oakland’s police department suggests sweeping changes in training and equipment to bring Oakland PD into compliance with a decade-old court order to reform. Central to the plan presented by Thomas Frazier (shown above when he was Baltimore’s police commissioner) is turning around what he says is a culture that tolerates abuse, with a department leadership that fails to supervise its officers or discipline them when they break rules. His prescription includes at least $1.8 million in training and equipment, and the hiring of outside experts to bolster internal affairs investigations and identify and train new leadership from within the department. The Chronicle writes about it.
Related: The Mercury News’ Oakland Tribune edition writes that Mayor Jean Quan is on board with training upgrades. On Thursday, the newspaper published a piece about OPD’s history of questionable police shootings showing that the department is substantially more trigger-happy than those elsewhere, including San Francisco and San Jose.
Image: Baltimore Sun
