Oakland Police Dept. facing more upheaval
State: Mayor naming city administrator as overseer was illegal
OAKLAND — Questions surfaced Monday about the legality of Mayor Libby Schaaf’s appointment of City Administrator Sabrina Landreth to oversee the police department and whether the city would be forced to name its third police chief in less than two weeks.
Ralph Brown, a spokesman for Peace Officer Standards and Training, backtracked from his comments late Monday, but they still managed to fuel more controversy in the widening leadership crisis that has rocked the Oakland Police Department this month.
On Friday, Schaaf announced Landreth would oversee the troubled department. The mayor at the time said she would not name a new acting chief until a permanent candidate is hired.
Acting Assistant Chief David Downing is now overseeing the day-to-day operations of OPD and is reporting to Landreth.
Earlier on Monday, Brown said the head of any California police department needs to be appointed by a city administrator, pass a background check and be named as acting chief. Brown said Oakland is in violation of state government code 38630 and an attorney general’s opinion on the matter.
A city administrator cannot serve in both roles, he said. Brown said no one at POST, a state agency that oversees police standards, was notified Friday when Schaaf announced the resignation of acting Chief Paul Figueroa and the appointment of Landreth.
The state agency has since contacted Oakland officials, and Brown said he expected the city to name a new acting chief.
“We recommend they stick to the government code and attorney general’s opinion and appoint someone internally,” Brown said. “It’s incumbent on them to make a decision.”
Reached on Monday evening, Brown said Oakland’s city attorney spoke with POST staff in an afternoon conference call with Schaaf’s office and referred to a U.S. Northern District case-law decision on charter cities.
“It says that charter cities operate a bit differently than general-law cities, so they may in fact be kosher with their decision,” said Brown, who added that POST staff sent this information to its Sacramentobased counsel and expects an opinion back within 24 hours.
In a statement late Monday, Schaaf said her decision “is proper, complies with POST regulations and remains in effect.” She also reiterated that operational and tactical decisions would remain with OPD commanders, while administrative and personnel matters would come before Landreth.
The statement also said that the government code cited by Brown refers only to general law cities and not charter cities such as Oakland. “In a charter city like Oakland, it is the city charter that provides the legal structure of governance and assigns functional oversight of all city departments, including the police department, to the city administrator.”
If a new chief is named, he or she would be the fourth chief of the police department since June 9. Chief Sean Whent left the department June 9; his replacement, BART Deputy Chief Ben Fairow, was fired June 15, apparently after an extramarital affair came to light that Fairow had had years earlier while at OPD; and Fairow’s replacement, acting Chief Paul Figueroa, resigned Friday.
The department has been rocked by scandals. First, officers were accused of having sex with a teenage prostitute, and on Friday police announced they were investigating racist text messages among police commanders. A homicide detective has also been placed on leave for allegedly having his girlfriend ghostwrite a report in a high-profile homicide case, according to sources.
SAN DIEGO — An FBI veteran was named Monday to head the U.S. Border Patrol, a departure from the historical practice of picking someone who has risen through the ranks.
Mark Morgan, who briefly led the internal affairs department at the Border Patrol’s parent agency, will oversee a multibillion-dollar annual budget at the agency in the crosshairs of the national debate about border security and immigration.
His selection didn’t reflect lack of confidence in the Border Patrol’s leadership or performance, said Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske. He said nearly all federal law enforcement agencies, from the Coast Guard to the Drug Enforcement Administration, had outsiders take over at one time.
“In the case of the Border Patrol, the current leadership across the top, from