The Brief
- OPD chief Floyd Mitchell said a 2023 ransomware attack is to blame for the lag in IA cases being completed in a timely manner.
- Civil rights attorney Jim Chanin said that excuse doesn’t make much sense.
- Oakland police continue to be under federal oversight, and newly elected Mayor Barbara Lee said she wants it to end under her watch.
OAKLAND, Calif. – The Oakland Police Department will continue to stay under federal oversight – now in its 22nd year – as it still has three out of 50 mandated reforms that the court considers out of compliance.
One of the key reforms that has yet to be met is “Task 2” – conducting and completing Internal Affairs investigations into police misconduct in a timely manner.
Ransomware in 2023
At a court hearing on Thursday before U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick in San Francisco, Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell explained, from his perspective, why the process has been taking so long.
Mitchell told the judge that the 2023 ransomware cybersecurity attack that crippled some of Oakland’s information technology systems set IA investigations into police misconduct complaints back about six weeks – something the department has yet to come back from. …