Oakland Police Raid on Occupy Oakland Raises Serious Questions

Today's early morning raid by the Oakland Police Department on Occupy Oakland raises a number of questions.

The City of Oakland has been grappling with how to balance the free speech rights of the protesters with health and safety concerns. New York and other cities have managed to reach accommodations with their Occupy Movements. Why can't Oakland do the same?

We also have questions about whether the way the City went about removing the encampment was proportional to the situation. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that police used tear gas and bean bag rounds on protesters. Were such measures really necessary?

The Oakland Police Department's response to previous political protests has been the subject of repeated litigation (including a case now pending over the response to protests over the shooting of Oscar Grant by BART police). The Department would do well to learn from, rather than repeating, past mistakes.

We're also concerned about reports that Oakland Police are continuing to keep in custody at least some protesters arrested this morning for misdemeanors. The law requires police to cite and release people arrested on misdemeanor charges, unless special circumstances apply to the particular arrestee. A blanket decision to detain misdemeanor arrestees would violate state law. Information continues coming in and we're following the situation.

There should be a thorough and transparent investigation of the way the Oakland Police Department handled the raid on Occupy Oakland and whether the department complied with its own policies on crowd control and use of force. Acting Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan has said that he promised to investigate, according to news reports. The ACLU will be closely following this.

Learn more:

Oakland Police Department's Crowd Control Policy

When Will the Oakland Police Learn

Oakland Police Internal Investigation Isn't Good Enough

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