Oakland Police Internal Investigation Isn't Good Enough

In response to the Oakland Police Department’s (OPD) transformation last week of downtown Oakland into this battle zone-like scene, the ACLU of Northern California and the National Lawyers’ Guild demanded that OPD conduct a full and independent investigation of the recent enforcement actions on Occupy Oakland.

On October 31, we received a letter from OPD informing us that it had opened up an Internal Affairs investigation. While this is a necessary step, it is by no means adequate.

The public deserves an investigation that is independent, thorough, and transparent. In the past, OPD has recognized that an independent review by an outside Board of Inquiry is necessary when there is a need to understand what happened during significant incidents. That's exactly what the situation calls for here.

An outside review is particularly necessary because multiple law enforcement agencies were involved. An Internal Affairs investigation would focus on the question whether members of the OPD engaged in misconduct. While that question needs to be asked, it’s not an answer to the larger question of how this happened and how it can be prevented down the line. Even if the violations we saw of OPD’s Crowd Control Policy – like firing this exploding projectile into a crowd tending to injured protester Scott Olsen – were committed by members of other law enforcement agencies, OPD is still responsible. OPD was the agency leading the enforcement action and it had a responsibility to train other participating agencies in its Crowd Control Policy.

OPD needs to undertake an independent investigation, and provide the public with a full accounting of the findings from that review. It also needs to make public how it will hold those who were responsible accountable for their actions and how it will prevent the recurrence of an outsized, violent and costly police response at future protests.

At the same time, other law enforcement agencies involved also need to be transparent and undertake similar reviews of their involvement. The ACLU-NC and NLG yesterday demanded that other agencies also immediately produce records regarding their use of force against Occupy Oakland.

Excessive police force is never acceptable. It’s particularly problematic when used in response to political protest because the result is to make people fearful of exercising their rights. If the constitution means anything, it means that we have a right to assemble and speak out, without having a projectile lobbed in our midst. But if that does happen, the constitution deserves more than an Internal Affairs investigation. It deserves full transparency and accountability.

Learn more:

ACLU Letter to Alameda Sheriff Re: Occupy Oakland(Oct. 31, 2011)

ACLU Letter to Palo Alto Police Department Re: Occupy Oakland (Oct. 31, 2011)

ACLU Letter to Santa Clara Sheriff Re: Occupy Oakland (Oct. 31, 2011)

ACLU Letter to San Francisco Police Department Re: Occupy Oakland (Oct. 31, 2011)

ACLU Letter to San Francisco Sheriff Re: Occupy Oakland (Oct. 31, 2011)

Letter from Oakland Police Department (Oct. 26, 2011)

Linda Lye is a staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California.