The Oakland Police Department is getting bad press — again. Since January, the department has been operating under
threat of federal receivership, and the latest report from the their
federal monitor, Robert Warshaw, reveals that photos defaced in a
“racist, insulting, and inappropriate” manner were found hanging
outside a patrol line-up room.
Here's trouble with that. Those not-so-flattering images with of some of OPD's
least favorite folks: Mayor Jean Quan, who went head-to-head with the
police over last fall's Occupy encampment, and Federal Judge Thelton
Henderson, who is responsible for deciding whether or not to place
OPD under federal control.
The pictures were reported to OPD's
Internal Affairs Department and eventually removed, and all eight
lieutenants who used the room claimed never to have seen the images. However,
Warshaw says their excuse isn't good enough: “Either they were
incompetent and did not know what was going on in their commands; or
they knew, failed to act, and then lied.”