OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Oakland’s police chief was placed on administrative leave Thursday after an investigation concluded he didn’t properly handle serious misconduct by an officer.
Chief LeRonne Armstrong was placed on paid leave indefinitely and Assistant Chief Darren Allison was named acting chief.
“The choice was not taken frivolously, but we imagine that it’s critical for the security of our community that we construct trust and confidence between the Department and the general public,” said a joint statement by Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and City Administrator Ed Reiskin. “We will need to have transparency and accountability to maneuver forward as a safer and stronger Oakland.”
Armstrong didn’t immediately comment on the news.
The move got here after a law firm hired for an independent investigation concluded that the chief and the department didn’t properly investigate and discipline a sergeant who ripped the bumper off a neighbor’s automobile in a hit-and-run crash in 2021 and last yr fired his gun in a freight elevator at police headquarters.
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The report was filed Wednesday in federal court.
It said the department’s Internal Affairs Division downplayed the primary incident in order that the sergeant could avoid serious discipline and the police chief violated department rules by “failing to carry his subordinate officers to account” and allowing the officer “to flee responsibility for serious misconduct.”
The law firm probe said the department had “systemic deficiencies” in its ability to handle officer misconduct, including some that “stem from a failure of leadership” and “a scarcity of commitment to the pursuit of truth by the Internal Affairs process.”
“The multiple failures, at every level, to carry this sergeant responsible, belie OPD’s stated position that it might police itself and hold its members accountable for misconduct,” the report said.
Armstrong, who was appointed in February 2021, has touted reforms within the department, which was placed under federal oversight some twenty years ago due to a corruption scandal and ordered to make dozens of changes.
The spur for the oversight were allegations that an anti-gang unit had planted drugs, beat suspects and falsified reports.
Last yr, a federal judge ruled that the Police Department could take a step toward ending the federal oversight. U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick said Oakland had taken the required reform measures and allowed it to enter a one-year probationary period that might end oversight in June.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the brand new findings would affect that timeline.
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