Weeks before critical federal hearing, Oakland Police Department again out of compliance, report says

The Oakland Police Department once again fell out of compliance on a key benchmark for investigating complaints against its officers, injecting fresh uncertainty into whether the agency can finally escape decades of federal court oversight at a critical hearing later this month.

During the first three months of 2026, the department completed 83% of its most serious internal affairs investigations within the required six-month timeframe, according to a report filed Tuesday by the department’s federal monitor, Robert Warshaw. The mark was a couple percentage points shy of the 85% rate mandated by the landmark Riders consent decree that has controlled the agency since 2003.

The finding comes just weeks before a critical hearing on Sept. 29 in front of U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick, who had previously expressed optimism that the city could finally end 20-plus years of oversight. The judge personally lauded Mayor Barbara Lee, saying that no prior city leaders had “demonstrated an awareness and holistic understanding of what we need to do.”

Now, the city’s emergence from that decades-long mandate is in jeopardy..

The lapse is “extremely disappointing,” said Jim Chanin, one of two attorneys who first litigated the Riders case in the early 2000s. He expressed frustration with the fact that Oakland was allowed to fail 15% percent of the time on that metric and remain in compliance, “yet it’s still not enough.”

At the same time, Chanin said he was still unsure whether he would oppose the end of court oversight.

“This is already the longest consent decree in the United States’ history, and the question is: When is it time to turn this back to the people of Oakland?”

John Burris, who litigated the Riders case beside Chanin, also said he was “disappointed.” Still, he did not consider the latest problem to be “necessarily fatal to the completion of the project.”

“I hope the court would not continue the NSA because of this,” said Burris, using an acronym for the Negotiated Settlement Agreement that governs the department’s reform efforts. “I’m hopeful that it’s not significant in the court’s mind, but the court may have a different view.”

A statement from OPD’s communications team said the agency “acknowledges the Independent Monitor’s latest Sustainability Report and respects the court process,” adding only that it would “provide any appropriate response following the court hearing later this month.”

A representatives for Mayor Lee did not immediately reply to a request by this news outlet for comment on Tuesday.

Oakland has been working for decades to emerge from under federal court oversight, which began with the notorious Riders scandal, when four officers were accused of going rogue, beating West Oakland residents and planting drugs on them, all while filing falsified police reports. A 2003 class-action lawsuit resulted in a $10.9 million payout to scores of people who claimed abuse at the hands of those Oakland cops.

Since then, a federal judge has overseen the department through an appointed monitor, Robert Warshaw, who has long drawn the ire of a rotating cast of mayors and police chiefs who questioned his financial motivations for staying on the case. All of them fought unsuccessfully to end the oversight arrangement — coming close in 2016 and 2022, only to watch the department once again become embroiled in scandal.

At a hearing in May, Orrick offered some of his greatest praise yet for the city and its work in completing dozens of required reforms, adding that “No one can say ‘Mission accomplished.’ But I do congratulate the city and OPD on getting this far.”

City leaders likewise struck a celebratory tone, with Lee framing the hearing as a “milestone,” and City Council President Kevin Jenkins calling it “a monumental occasion for the city of Oakland.”

Yet the police department has again come under growing scrutiny in recent months.

Police reform advocates raised alarms over the summer about the July 13 shooting of a homeless man in the city’s Fruitvale district, when video showed him being killed roughly 90 seconds after most responding officers arrived. The man, tentatively identified by authorities as Jose Angel Castillo, was armed with knives fastened to long poles and was positioned about two parking spaces away from a cadre of officers when he was hit by a volley of at least 8 rounds.

Multiple officers also have faced arrest in recent weeks.

In late August, Alameda County prosecutors charged Kevin Arias with a single felony count of grand theft of personal property after they say he logged an extra $38,000 in hours that he never worked for the department. Arias — who started working for the department in 2005 — is currently a sergeant, though he has on occasion been an acting lieutenant.

Last week, officers Brandon Mart and David Mac were indicted on federal conspiracy and fraud charges after authorities say they partnered with a then-Federal Aviation Administration safety inspector to obtain pilot certifications they didn’t earn, allegedly circumventing required test flights. The case has forced the department to scale back flights of its ARGUS helicopter unit from seven days a week to four — a problem that is expected to continue for at least six months.

Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at [email protected].