Police chief plans to formally request reinstatement
Move comes over 2 weeks after mayor placed him on leave following report
Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong continued his push to win back his job Sunday — voicing plans to formally request being reinstated this week after spending more than two weeks on administrative leave.
Armstrong said Sunday that he plans to submit a letter today to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao demanding he be allowed to resume his nearly two-year tenure leading the Oakland Police Department. His letter comes several days after his legal team received the supporting evidence of a bombshell independent report made public last month, which alleged numerous problems within the department he led.
The January independent report, which was compiled by an outside law firm and released by a federal judge, found “systemic deficiencies” in how the Oakland Police Department investigates its own officers when they are accused of misconduct. Among them were deep concerns about Armstrong's handling of a police sergeant's misconduct case.
Thao placed Armstrong on paid administrative leave on Jan. 19, shortly after the report was made public.
Appearing at a press conference Sunday beside leaders of the NAACP's Oakland branch, Armstrong continued to assert he was the right person to lead the Oakland Police Department. He claimed — without offering supporting evidence — that his review of 60 pages of supporting documents in the matter shows that “the federal monitor's conclusion about me is not supported by evidence.”
He declined to offer further details, stressing that the supporting documents remain confidential.
Armstrong faces accusations that he allowed officers to escape responsibility for “serious misconduct” — specifically, by hastily approving an internal affairs investigation that had been repeatedly tampered with by other officers. The report alleged the chief “did not permit extensive discussion of the case and did not request that the video be shown” of the misconduct. Also, it claimed that Armstrong signed off on the investigation without reading the investigative files.
Armstrong and his supporters have since complained that a federal monitor assigned to oversee the Oakland Police Department for the last 20 years is merely seeking to keep his job.
Yet last week, a federal judge said that he was “profoundly disappointed” by the independent report's findings. In the process, federal court Judge William Orrick hinted at a hearing Tuesday that a two-decadelong federal oversight of the department may not end as planned in June.
“This is the third time since I've been overseeing the implementation of the (settlement) that the city has seemed to come close to full compliance,” Orrick said, “only to have a serious episode arise that exposes rot within the department.”