New Acting Oakland Police Chief Faces Reform Challenges And Calls For Increased Oversight
OAKLAND (KPIX) -- On his first full day on the job, Oakland's acting interim chief Paul Figueroa kept a low profile.
The chief says he's focusing on "positive change" as his department grapples with a sex scandal involving several officers. Figueroa's appointment came after Mayor Libby Schaaf booted acting chief Ben Fairow (who had replaced former chief Sean Whent a mere 5 days earlier) for an extramarital affair ten years ago.
"All the decisions that were made in the matter were the chief's and ours; the monitor has concurred with those decisions," Mayor Schaaf said, referring to Chief Whent's resignation. The "monitor" she mentioned is Robert Warshaw, who is overseeing the reforms at OPD, following a police scandal 13 years ago.
Civil rights attorney John Burris is asking a federal judge to expand Warshaw's power to oversee the recruiting and hiring of police officers.
Burris views the sexual misconduct investigations as an example of OPD top brass failing to police their own officers. He pointed out that many of the officers involved in the sexual misconduct case graduated from the police academy in the last three years.
"The (court-appointed) monitor, in my view, should be more involved in that (hiring) process now, so maybe we can make sure we don't have officers who slip through the cracks, who have immoral philosphies," Burris said.
Federal oversight has cost the city of Oakland millions and not everyone is ready to support the idea of giving court monitor Robert Warshaw more power over the department.
"I don't know if additional oversight is the sole answer to any of the reforms. If oversight alone was sufficient, we wouldn't still be in oversight mode," Oakland city councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney told KPIX.
In 2016, Warshaw and his consulting firm will receive $800,000 from the city. Oakland city councilman Noel Gallo thinks that money is necessary.
"I'm not happy about that, but I'm willing to support a complete oversight," Gallo said.