Oakland Police Department Released from Federal Oversight After 23 Years

After 23 years, the Oakland Police Department has been released from federal oversight. The
federal monitoring, the longest in U.S. history, traces back to the “Riders” scandal: In 2003, a
group of Oakland police officers were accused of planting evidence, falsifying reports and beating suspects. Civil rights attorneys sued the city on behalf of 119 plaintiffs and Oakland settled that lawsuit by agreeing to a list of 51 reforms designed to prevent future police abuses of power. Over two decades, more scandals emerged that prevented the end of the monitoring but now OPD says that this past is well behind them. We’ll talk about the impact of the federal oversight on policing in Oakland and the outlook for police accountability, public safety and the OPD as the department regains its independence

Guests:

• Darwin BondGraham, news editor, Oaklandside, co-author of “The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption and Cover-up in Oakland”
• John Burris, civil rights attorney
• Barbara Lee, mayor of Oakland, served as U.S. congressmember representing parts of the East Bay from 1998-2025
• Christy Lopez, law professor and former deputy chief, Civil Rights Division, Department of Justice, Georgetown University, served as a federal court monitor of the Oakland Police Department
• Rocky Lucia, law partner and attorney, Rains, Lucia, Stern, St. Phalle & Silver, PC