Judge: Oakland Is Failing To Live Up To Riders Case Police Settlement

A federal judge Monday said he was angry that Oakland police reform measures contained in a civil lawsuit settlement aren't being carried out as promised. But U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson agreed to give the city of Oakland more time after Oakland's new interim police chief, the city manager and other top officials told him they were committed to making the changes. Henderson said, "I am heartened" by the statements by Interim Police Chief Wayne Tucker, City Administrator Deborah Edgerly and others. He set a new hearing on the case on April 25. But the judge opened the court session by saying, "I haven't seen anything like this in 25 years. I'm so angry at the ignoring of the decree. We're no place today. It's all talk and no walk."  The settlement was reached in 2003 in a series of federal civil rights lawsuits filed by 119 people who said they were abused by an alleged clique of rogue officers known as "The Riders."  Separately, three officers who were allegedly part of the group are currently undergoing a criminal trial in Alameda County Superior Court on charges of beating and kidnapping citizens, filing false police reports and conspiring to obstruct justice. A fourth officer who was allegedly the leader of the group is a fugitive.  In the civil settlement, the city agreed to police reforms including increased field supervision, improved training, and recording of data including a suspect's race when police stop a vehicle or pedestrian.  The city also agreed to pay the 119 plaintiffs and their lawyers $10.9 million. The settlement was the largest in the city's history.  [more]