Oakland police chief again demands his job be restored
Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, who was placed on paid administrative leave last month after an independent report revealed deficiencies within the department, released a statement Tuesday once again denying wrongdoing and demanding that Mayor Sheng Thao reinstate him.
Thao placed Armstrong on leave Jan. 19 after the report detailed his department’s mishandling of two officer misconduct cases.
“Today my legal counsel and I have sent a detailed letter requesting my reinstatement,” Armstrong said in the statement. “The letter is confidential at this time, in part because it discusses the contents of a confidential report that has not been publicly released.”
He said the letter offered a “comprehensive analysis” of the flaws in the report’s conclusions about him. The report was produced by a law firm working for the federal monitor. “The facts demonstrate that I acted properly, following all policies and procedures. I did nothing wrong,” Armstrong said.
Robert Warshaw, a retired police chief, is the independent monitor who oversees Oakland’s progress with court-ordered reforms.
The department was placed under federal oversight in 2003 after a class-action lawsuit in 2000 in which plaintiffs argued they were falsely arrested on drug charges and accused four West Oakland officers, known as the Riders, of assaulting and conspiring to frame them. The officers were found not guilty in a criminal trial, but the civil case resulted in a settlement that required the department to complete dozens of tasks to improve the way they track, train and discipline officers.
The San Francisco law firm Armstrong referred to, Clarence Dyer and Cohen LLP, investigated two misconduct cases within Oakland police — one from 2021 in which an Oakland sergeant and officer were involved in a hit-andrun in San Francisco, and another from 2022 in which the same sergeant fired his gun in an elevator at department headquarters. The report raised concerns that the department may be unable to exit federal court oversight that has been in place for nearly 20 years.
The investigation determined that the agency’s Internal Affairs Division failed to properly discipline the sergeant and “created an environment that allowed that officer to go on to commit far more egregious and dangerous misconduct.”
The investigation also found that Armstrong violated department rules after failing to review evidence from the two incidents before closing the investigations. He had previously said he was prioritizing court-mandated reforms.
“I deserve to be reinstated to protect the public and to protect my well-earned reputation. Thank you for your support,” Armstrong concluded.