Oakland restricts searches of parolees

First of its kind in state, policy OKd by council

When the Oakland City Council approved a new policy this week to limit warrantless searches by police on parolees and probationers, Katie Dixon thought of her two brothers, both recently released from prison.

“They’re just beginning their journey with parole,” said Dixon, who is a policy fellow at Prisoners with Children, an organization in Oakland focused on restoring rights for incarcerated individuals. “This is definitely a step in the right direction.”

That step is the first of its kind in the state. California law says if a person agrees to parole or probation, then that agreement allows any officer to search them without a warrant. Other states don’t have such a law, and parole and probation agreements can vary widely, according to Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

The new policy, which awaits approval from

the federal monitor overseeing the Oakland Police Department, would bar officers from asking people if they’re on probation or parole at the beginning of an interaction. If an officer wants to search an individual on parole or probation for a nonviolent offense, the officer would be required to have a warrant, according to the policy. Currently, officers do not need warrants to search a person on parole or probation for a nonviolent offense.

If an officer must conduct a warrantless search, it can’t be arbitrary, capricious or harassing — the officer must feel like the individual poses a threat, according to the policy.

The policy would bring change that Dixon and others say is long needed.

“These blanket stopandsearch policies ... it just really creates a situation that’s embarrassing,” Dixon said. “It’s belittling, it’s unnecessary and it opens the door for police brutality.”

Those feelings aren’t abstract for Dixon, given she was once incarcerated and released on parole in 2014.

As a newly freed woman on a first date, Dixon said, she was driving through Walnut Creek — her date in the passenger seat, her “raggedy” car making more noise than the stereo. In her rearview mirror she saw red and blue lights flash.

A broken taillight — that was the first thing the officer told Dixon. She knew what the second would be.

“Are you on parole or probation?” Dixon said the officer asked her. “Yes,” she said. She hadn’t told her date she had been in prison because they were just starting to get to know each other. Dixon and her date stepped out of her car, which the officer searched. He didn’t need a warrant.

That embarrassment made her throat tighten, Dixon said.

“Instead of it just being like a little 5 or 10 minute ticket for a taillight, now we’re outside on the freeway,” Dixon said. “It’s freezing cold, I’m with a lady friend, people are driving by looking.”

What happened to Dixon — a person on probation for a nonviolent crime searched without a warrant — would not be allowed in Oakland under the new policy. The policy still needs approval from federal monitor Robert Warshaw, who was appointed by a federal judge to oversee the Police Department.

The policy was one of two proposals considered Tuesday by the City Council. The one that was rejected was written by the Police Department, and the policy that was approved was submitted by the Police Commission.

The commission — comprised of elected Oakland residents — oversees Oakland Police Department policies, practices and customs. Their oversight of the police causes some residents to feel more comfortable trusting their proposal, Dixon said.

Regina Jackson, chair of the Police Commission, said it’s “exceptional” to see progress being made.

“What we’re looking for is a cultural shift,” Jackson said. “We don’t want officers to presume that people are on probation just because they are black.”

She said it was a yearlong process to create the policy, and that its been a long, fulfilling road.

“We’re really trying to work, to shift, the way policing is done in Oakland,” Jackson said. “You have to work with the community to build trust.”

The commission’s proposal noted that “inquiring about an individual’s supervised release status at the beginning of an interaction without proper justification,” just as it happened to Dixon, “is unjust.”

While Dixon is glad the council passed the policy, she said such incidents happened all the time. Stanford researchers, led by psychologist and MacArthur fellow Jennifer Eberhardt, say it does happen all the time — especially to black and Latino people.

Their report, released in 2016, found Oakland police officers are far more likely to stop and search African Americans and Latinos than white people.

The Oakland Police Department contracted Stanford to conduct that study to help meet a federal order to gather and analyze its stop and search data. The order stems from more than a dozen years of federal oversight, which was enacted after a negotiated agreement in the “Riders” misconduct lawsuit from 2003. The “Riders” were police officers who were found to have violated individuals’ civil rights.

Oakland police officer Joseph Turner, who was heavily involved in writing the police department’s policy proposal, said the commission and the department are striving for the same goal, adding that the department is in no way disappointed that its version didn’t pass. He said he’s just glad progress is being made.

“This fits into how policing is moving in this country,” Turner said.

Turner believes Warshaw will approve the policy.