The Oakland Public Ethics Commission has declined to drop an investigation of how OPD misspent $12,000, citing concerns with the department’s failure to turn over evidence.
During a meeting last week, the commission directed its chief investigator, Tovah Ackerman, to gather more information about how OPD drew money from the Measure Z fund to pay for a May 2024 trip to Washington D.C., to honor a fallen colleague.
Measure Z, a parking and parcel tax that raises millions in revenue each year, was approved by voters in 2014. In the text of the ballot measure, the city promised voters the taxes would be used “solely for the purpose of raising revenue necessary to maintain police and fire services and violence prevention and intervention strategies, to address violent crime and to improve public safety in the City of Oakland.”…