(MintPress) – The city of Oakland, CA and Oakland Police Department have recently been given an ultimatum by Federal District Judge Thelton Henderson after various complaints of police brutality by the department have filled the media. Henderson told the department it has to find a way to deal with the flood of complaints filed against the department for police brutality, or face sanctions over its “overwhelming military-type response.”
The police/civilian relationship in Oakland reached a tipping point last fall when various complaints of police brutality against Occupy demonstrations were circulated. Protesters say Oakland police used excessive force such as flash grenades, rubber bullets and teargas to disperse peaceful protests.
The department has been instructed to submit a written agenda on how it plans to deal with the brutality claims to federal authorities. It was not clear what sanctions Judge Henderson would impose if Oakland police did not comply. But the judge acknowledged that the department has to act to help save face after high-profile incidents the last few years.
“It would be problematic enough if, as seems inevitable, (Oakland police’s) compliance levels were to backslide as a result of their failure to address the Occupy Oakland complaints in a timely fashion,” Henderson said. “Such failures would be further indication that, despite the changed leadership at the City of Oakland and its police department, (Oakland police) might still lack the will, capacity, or both to complete the reforms to which they so long ago agreed.”
Police brutality has been a growing trend in America since 9/11. As of the most recent figures compiled by USA Today, police brutality in the United States increased by 25 percent between fiscal years 2001 and 2007. Excessive force by law enforcement rose from 224 instances to 281. Years after the study, instances and claims of police brutality are consistent. The rise in claims has proven to be costly to cities in the US.
Brutality in the Bay Area
Focus on Oakland police has been a byproduct of an event that saw the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Police Department shoot and kill an unarmed man in the city’s subway system in 2009. After a myriad of protests, BART shot and killed an alleged transient after an altercation. The man was said to be drunk and causing a scene on the platform of San Francisco’s Civic Center Station. After being approached by police, the man allegedly threw a bottle of vodka at police and brandished a knife, at which point police opened fire.
Since then, hostilities between police in the Bay Area and citizens have been high. After the shootings, protests sprung up in area subway systems. While most were peaceful, police alleged that the demonstrations caused train delays. In an effort to quash the organizing of protests, BART cut cell phone service to the subway system, acknowledging the role cell phones played in protest organization.
BART justified its move against protesters as a way to secure and keep subways in the Bay Area safe. The move was the start of a tense relationship between police and protesters, as the Occupy movement would hit the area a couple months later.
In solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York, it is estimated that thousands of protesters took to the streets of Oakland, where their continued battle with police started to make headlines. Stemming from alleged curfew violations, protesters were detained while camping out at the city’s Frank Ogawa Plaza. Subsequent protests continued, resulting in violent clashes between police and protesters.
Oakland police spokeswoman Cynthia Perkins told CBS in 2011 that police used less-than-lethal force to subdue and disperse protesters after officers were hit with hazardous materials and rocks, saying the protesters were then participating in an unlawful assembly. It was unclear which faction started the violence but the incident on October 25 grabbed headlines. While standing away from police and protester violence, Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen suffered a fractured skull after being hit by a police projectile.
Another veteran was injured last November when Kayvan Sabehgi was assaulted by multiple officers for failing to flee a scene quickly enough near an Occupy demonstration. Sabehgi suffered a ruptured spleen in the incident.
At the height of “May Day” protests on Tuesday, Oakland police are being accused of striking non-violent protesters with batons and shooting teargas canisters into crowds where children were present. Photos and video taken in Oakland show protesters being shoved and dragged in the streets by police.
Oakland police are responsible for the second-highest one-day arrest total of Occupy protesters since the demonstrations started. On January 28, 409 people were arrested in Oakland, the highest total for one day since October 1 of last year when 700 people were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. Of the 409 arrested in Oakland that day, only 12 were charged. There have been 7,107 confirmed arrests of Occupy protesters since September 17, 2011. Also since that date, 674 protesters have been arrested in Oakland.
In response, protesters in Oakland have made it a focused effort to direct their marches against the police brutality they claim against the Oakland Police Department.
Cities pay up
Aside from the media draw that high-profile police brutality claims have on cities, Chicago is seeing the claims translate into lost finances. From 2009-2011, Chicago has paid out more than $45 million in settlements involving police brutality and misconduct. Perhaps a symptom of high police abuse rates in some cities around the country, Chicago saw a high percentage of officers who were repeat offenders of brutality claims. Of the 441 lawsuits filed against the police, 145 involved an officer cited in a previous lawsuit.
An incident in Chicago captured by a security camera and shown during a Chicago city council meeting last December showed an officer striking a detained man in the North Chicago Police Department’s booking room. Earlier in the year, police brutality was deemed the cause of death of a Chicago man after authorities used a Taser to shock the man and then assaulted him. A lawsuit against the department claims the 45-year-old man was assaulted for 20 minutes by six officers, even though he did not resist arrest.
Another incident at a bar involves an off-duty officer assaulting a female bartender after she refused to serve him any more alcohol.
While many of the lawsuits against the department pay out to the plaintiff, they do not always lead to discipline of the officer. Chicago, like many cities, has a complex formal complaint process that civilians fill out to file a complaint. Complainants must first be filed through a third party, the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA), which investigates claims against Chicago police officers. During the process, alleged victims have to sign a formal affidavit to take action against the officer; however, 91 percent of the lawsuits controlled by the IPRA are closed because the plaintiffs do not sign a sworn statement.
The IPRA’s limitations in Chicago leave them with the capacity to only offer recommendations to the police force for discipline. Since 2007, the IPRA has told the Chicago Police Department that 60 officers should be fired from the force for brutality and misconduct. Nineteen of those officers have been fired, but the process is slow, as 38 cases are still pending.