Shadow Of Riders Corruption Case Still Looms Over Oakland Police
OAKLAND (KCBS) – The Oakland Police Department is facing new scrutiny, as a San Francisco federal judge has questions about police misconduct, nearly a decade after the Riders Case.
It's been nearly nine years since the notorious Riders police corruption case was settled, and Judge Thelton Thomas offered Oakland city officials a stern lecture, as the city had still not achieved compliance with reform measures proposed by its own experts.
"I have been very disturbed by some of the recent findings," said Riders prosecuting attorney John Burris. "Certainly the pulling of the firearms study, and the way that some of these investigations have taken place."
KCBS' Margie Shafer Reports:
Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts told the judge that there is room for improvement, and that his department has a reverence for life, adding that the officers' jobs aren't easy.
"Some of our standards in that consent decree are 95 percent standards. Do you guys get everything right 95 percent of the time in your stories?" Batts asked the media members in attendance. "Does a pitcher throw strikes 95 percent of the time? This organization has done that consistently, and that's brain surgery level."
Another hearing on the progress the department is making on reform measures will be held after the first of the year.
(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
