147 City of Oakland - Empyrean Towers Tenants sickened by coliform bacteria contimination

2 Investigates: Displaced tenants of troubled hotel await water test results

http://www.ktvu.com/news/4593168-story

OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - Tenants in a seven-story residential hotel remained out of their homes Friday while city inspectors await the test results of water samples taken from the building.

On Thursday, Oakland code enforcement red tagged the hotel, deeming it unsafe. East Bay Municipal Water District investigators found contamination from coliform bacteria in one of the pipes.

It's the latest problem at the downtown property since 2 Investigates began looking into tenants' complaints in January.

"The plan is to go have a plumber come through the system and see where the contamination is coming from," said City of Oakland inspector Gene Martinelli on Friday morning.

Later in the day, Martinelli told KTVU stagnant water found in the pipes running through a vacant office on the first floor of the building might be a potential cause of the contamination.

Until water samples from the building get a clean bill of health, management of the Empyrean Towers agreed to pay for displaced residents to stay a Motel 6 in Oakland, about seven miles away. Crews flushed the system of pipes on Friday and more test results were expected as soon as Saturday.

"Traumatic, scary, unbearable," is how tenant Lydia Hamilton described the experience of suddenly being forced out of her home. Hamilton is among several residents who said they became sick from drinking the water at the hotel in the last week.

Steve Whitworth, attorney for the Empyrean Towers owner, Alice Tse, e-mailed a statement to KTVU Friday morning:

"The Empyrean Towers Management remains and has been committed to the welfare of all law abiding, lawfully residing tenants at 344 13th Street Oakland California. Working with Oakland and the City Attorney Office we were / are happy to provide temporary shelter at a local Motel, a temporary Per Diem for each tenant, and transportation to all tenants displaced by this unfortunate event. Empyrean Towers looks forward to the tenants returning to their residences as soon as possible."

Other residents, such as Curtis Davis, who depend on the hotel for basic shelter, aren't satisfied.

"This constant battle of people homeless, people sick? It's frustrating and ridiculous," said Davis.

119 Oakland Fire Dept (OFD) Another fatal fire highlights Oakland inspection dysfunction

March 28, 2017 - East Bay Times
http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/03/28/editorial-another-fatal-fire-highlights-oakland-inspection-dysfunction/

Forty deaths in four months. How many more people will die due to Oakland’s dysfunctional fire- and code-inspection system?


Thirty-six people were killed late last year in the Ghost Ship warehouse inferno in the Fruitvale District. Then on Monday, four perished and four were injured after an early morning blaze destroyed a West Oakland residential building that housed 80-100 people.

Both tragedies were preventable. If only Oakland’s inspection systems had worked the way they should have. If only warning signs had been heeded and aggressively responded to.
Start with Ghost Ship: At first, officials said that before the fire no city workers had been inside the warehouse, which was filled with furniture and turned out to have no sprinklers or fire alarms, only one obvious exit, cords strung to provide electricity and a makeshift stairwell built out of wood pallets.

But city records turned over last month after this newspaper’s threat of litigation revealed that police had visited the building and associated properties 35 times between mid-2014 and the Dec. 2 fire.

The records showed that at least two police officers who had been called to the site noticed problems, with one reporting an “illegal rave with drug and alcohol sales” and the other reporting that “this is a warehouse that is also an illegal shared housing.”

After Ghost Ship, we were told steps were taken to improve communications between departments and ensure such tragedies were avoided.

Then came Monday. As bad as it was, it could have been much worse. In addition to the fatalities, other residents were rescued from inside and from fire escapes of the three-story building on San Pablo Avenue.

This time, no one can claim city inspectors were unaware of the dangers. Planning and Building Department records show 20 code enforcement complaints for the residential building over the last 10 years.

Records show the building was unstable, had electrical issues, lacked hot water and heat, and had mold and rodent infestation and leaking roofs and pipes throughout the building.

Meanwhile, the fire department, which under state law should have inspected the building annually, apparently failed to do so. Records show fire inspectors visited the site in 2010 and 2012. But it took referrals from other city workers for them to visit again in 2015 and finally again last week. (To the extent there’s any good news, it’s that there was communication this time, unlike in the case of Ghost Ship.)

On last week’s visit, fire inspectors found inadequate fire alarms, smoke detectors and sprinkler systems; a lack of fire extinguishers; extension cords in lieu of electrical outlets; and a lack of adequate emergency lighting, exit signs and evacuation maps.

Three days later the building burned.

If only code enforcement officers had warned fire inspectors or, if they did, fire inspectors had heeded the warning. If only they had shown up sooner, as they should have.

If only.


http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/03/28/editorial-another-fatal-fire-highlights-oakland-inspection-dysfunction/

38 City of Oakland Planning and Bldg Dept (DBI) - Tenant Attorneys agree that there is a lack of Code Enforcement in Oakland

December 2016
Tenants Flocked to Oakland Warehouse, Scene of Fire, for Low Rents
Skyrocketing Bay Area rents have forced artists to look for nontraditional forms of housing

“It’s extremely hard for artists,” said Mr. Avalos, who paid $565 a month for space on the warehouse floor that was big enough for an RV, a workspace and a loft with a bed and desk. “Even if you’re not an artist, it’s impossible to find housing.”

Before the fire, the city of Oakland was aware of problems with the space. City officials had recently opened an investigation into the warehouse after complaints were made about blight and unpermitted construction, said Darin Ranelletti, who heads the city’s planning department.

According to city documents, an inspector visited the property on Nov. 17, “and verified the blight complaint, but could not gain access to the building.”

Marc Branco, a Bay Area attorney who represents landlords and tenants, including Mr. Almena’s co-tenant in that case, said that the city of Oakland often “turns a blind eye” to the living conditions in warehouses “because they’re overwhelmed.”

“A lot of times, they’ll go look at a property, and they’ll turn a blind eye because they don’t want to deal with it,” he said.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/tenants-flocked-to-oakland-warehouse-scene-of-fire-for-low-rents-1480979863

31 City of Oakland Planning and Bldg Dept (DBI) - Code Violations are ignored until investors show up (no smoke detectors, raw sewage) - James Kilpatrick

June 2016
Landlord being sued for allegedly pushing out SRO Tenants

Green Group, LP, an investment company, bought the building at 524 8th Street last year. In October 2015, James Kilpatrick, who helped Green Group purchase the building, and who owns a five percent stake in Green Group, told the San Francisco Business Times that he and his co-investors plan to upgrade the 38-unit SRO and rent it out to students and tech workers.

But Robert Salinas of the Sundeen Salinas & Pyle law firm told the Express Kilpatrick and his co-investors are trying to push out the building’s tenants. Salinas said that his law firm, along with Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker and the Asian Law Caucus will ask the court to enjoin Kilpatrick’s company from engaging further in activities that appear designed to pressure the building’s current tenants to leave.

“Almost all the residents are monolingual Cantonese speakers,” said Salinas. “They live and do their business in Chinatown. They’re low income. Some of them are elderly, and it’s a vulnerable population.”

Salinas alleged that Kilpatrick’s company recently tore out a communal kitchen in the building and removed bathrooms, making the building close to uninhabitable for the twenty-five families living there. He characterized the landlord’s actions as a form of constructive eviction.

"When we took over this building, despite having 39 residential units, it had zero smoke detectors, there was raw sewage in the basement

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2016/06/17/landlord-being-sued-for-allegedly-pushing-out-sro-tenants


August 2016
James Kilpatrick is sued by China Town tenants and Oakland City Attorney

Oakland — James Kilpatrick, Jaevon Marshall, NAI Northern California/Highview Property Management, and Green Group LP, the owners of 524 8th St in Oakland, have been sued for damages and equitable relief by around 14 residents of an Oakland China Town residential building. The low-income renters are receiving legal help from the Oakland City Attorney, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, and attorney Robert Salinas of the law firm Sundeen Salinas & Pyle.

James Kilpatrick and the group he is operating with has also been ordered by a judge to repair a number of shared bathrooms and shared kitchen areas that have been demolished in the cockroach infested building at 524 8th St., according to reports. Presently around 34 residents share one kitchen, according to reports, and they are allegedly terrified, angry, and pissed off about the current slum like conditions existing at the building. The tenants pay around $400 a month in the SRO, but some new tenants who allegedly have rented some rooms recently there through Airbnb are paying as much as $70 a night to live in a building that is more like a construction area, with slum like conditions.

According to public records, James Kilpatrick of 475 14th Street, Suite 700, in Oakland, has had problems in the past, and has a brokers license that was suspended in 2009, and in 2012.

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/08/21/18790312.php

30 City of Oakland Planning and Bldg Dept (DBI) - Ignores serious code violations until pointed out by reporters (raw sewage running down walls)

August and September 2015
2 Investigates: Tenants of Oakland hotel threatened with eviction, more problems exposed

OAKLAND - OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - More than a dozen tenants of the troubled Empyrean Towers in downtown Oakland say they've received letters from hotel management, demanding back-rent, now that city inspectors have signed off on repairs of several outstanding code violations.

A tenant on the second floor, who asked not to be identified, allowed KTVU cameras inside his room on Wednesday where a pipe was leaking black fluid into his closet and onto a wall.

Literally, the water is running down the wall," said attorney Amy Sekany, whose non-profit Eviction Defense Center represents several tenants at the Empyrean Towers, including the man with the leaky pipe.

"It's difficult to believe that... could have passed any kind of inspection," said Sekany.

Yet, that tenant was one of those who received a letter from the hotel stating the city had "signed off that all repairs were completed." The letter demanded he pay $1,170 in rent or get out. E-mail records show hotel managers were first made aware of the leak in the man's unit in January.

KTVU's Eric Rasmussen showed video of the leak to City of Oakland Inspector Gene Martinelli and his boss, Director of Planning and Building, Rachel Flynn.

"We're dismayed to hear that we missed this one," said Flynn. "We'll get right back on it, immediately."

In fact, Martinelli returned to the hotel after speaking with 2 Investigates. He insists his view of the leaky pipe was blocked during previous inspections.

"It wasn't intentional. Believe me," said Martinelli.

While the city is reopening its case involving the one unit in question, tenants say other problems in many other rooms remain unresolved.

"The piping, the electricity goes out," said tenant Maria Anast.

A worker at the hotel declined to comment. The attorney representing the hotel's owner, Alice Tse, has not returned repeated requests to speak about conditions at the Empyrean Towers.

Those representing tenants say it's now up to the city to demand more accountability. So far, the city has not provided any evidence that it has ever fined the Empyrean Towers for any of the code violations found by inspectors.

"I have seen landlords cited for far less of a violation than what's happening here," said Sekany. "It's unbelievable that my client can have raw sewage running down his walls and city code enforcement isn't paying any attention to that."

http://www.ktvu.com/news/2-investigates/10491504-story

24 City of Oakland Planning and Bldg Dept (DBI) - 2011 Grand Jury Report - the logical next step must be a criminal investigation

2010-2011 Alameda County Grand Jury Final Report 
http://www.acgov.org/grandjury/final2010-2011.pdf


June 2011
Grand jury appalled at Oakland building inspectors

If the annual report of the Alameda County grand jury is an accurate account of the operations inside the city of Oakland's Building Services Division, the logical next step must be a criminal investigation

The city's appeals process, if you could actually call it that, operated more like a scam than a legitimate administrative function where property owners' claims were heard by objective parties. Property owners reported being denied on first appeal, often with the code enforcement officer who issued the citation acting as the hearing officer.

Even when residents didn't appeal and did agree to sign a compliance plan to correct the problems, the agency added a 14.75 percent fee for records management and technology enhancement. Yet, when the grand jury issued a subpoena for records, the city could not locate all of them, the report said.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/johnson/article/Grand-jury-appalled-at-Oakland-building-inspectors-2366475.php

June 2011
Bldg Services Mgr Receives a 10 year interest only loan made by a debris removal contractor

One of the more troubling findings was confirmation of a 10-year interest-only loan made by a debris removal contractor to a Building Services manager. The same contractor was awarded "a disproportionately large number of contracts" for debris removal and abatement work, the report said.

The loan was reported to the Fair Political Practices Commission, which is required by law, two years later. The city's Building Services manager "at one time listed her address at a property owned by the contractor," the report said.

Inside the city's Building Services offices, the contractor had free rein, and on more than one occasion submitted the low bid for a contract and then issued a change-order to increase its value. "These change orders inflated the price of the contracts, increasing the cost of the lowest-winning bid," the report concluded.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/johnson/article/Grand-jury-appalled-at-Oakland-building-inspectors-2366475.php

Practices identified in a 1999 Grand Jury Report were still in use in 2011
Another egregious practice, identified previously in a 1999 grand jury report, was still in use until recently.

In its review of property records from 2007 to 2010, the grand jury found "prospective liens" city officials used to issue "warnings" to property owners.
Not only did the practice encumber a property and make it more difficult for an owner to secure funds to comply with city orders, the fines appeared arbitrary and punitive. The report found no correlation between fine amounts and cleanup costs.

23 City of Oakland Planning and Bldg Dept (DBI) - the Oakland Fence Saga

March 2016
The Oakland Fence Saga 

When Josh Harkinson built a new fence on his property so that passersby wouldn't fall into a creek, he was shocked at the response from neighbors and City Hall.

Soon after Hayes' visit, city inspector Dennis Foster issued Harkinson and Patel an official Notice of Violation. However, the notice did not mention the neighbor's qualms about safety. Instead, it ordered Harkinson to "correct the violations," which the notice defined as "fencing installed in right-of-way without required permits."

Harkinson doesn't deny that he had no permits to build the new fence, but said he figured he didn't need them because he thought the fence was on his property. He also noted that the city doesn't require permits for wooden fences that are shorter than six feet tall.

Harkinson said that when he approached the city to find out exactly where his and the city's property divided, the Planning and Building Department told him that in order to verify this information, he would need to have the land officially surveyed, which costs $17,000 to $19,000. Harkinson said he couldn't afford the survey, and so he has yet to see any official evidence of where the city boundary line resides.

The city told him that because the fence was technically infringing on city property, he would either have to take it down or acquire an encroachment permit for building on city property, which, according to the permit application, costs $2,035.67. However, he had trouble acquiring the encroachment permit, because it required him to obtain private insurance, and he was turned down by two different insurance agencies, he said.

As a result, Harkinson decided to appeal the violation notice. On November 23, 2014, he filed his appeal with the city and included detailed images of the fence, along with historic documents that put surveyor Hayes' property assessment in question. He also submitted a petition signed by nearly fifty neighbors who agreed that the fence should stay. But after presenting the material to city officials, Harkinson and Patel lost their case. Without the encroachment permit, Harkinson's only option was to take down the fence. But rather than do so immediately, he decided to wait.

Harkinson said that in April of 2015, traffic and watershed officials from the city inspected and approved his new fence, determining that it does not prevent parking nor does it inhibit traffic flow in the area.

In a recent interview, Rachel Flynn, Oakland's planning director, said a follow-up inspection occurred in November 2015 to see if Harkinson and Patel had corrected their Notice of Violation. "[The inspector] spoke with the homeowners, and they said they moved the fence out of the city's right of way," Flynn said.

In truth, Harkinson had not moved the fence. Instead, he decided to complain to the city about a neighbor's private parking signs also being on city land. "My position had been if they're going to allow people to put in private parking signs, why can't this fence stay?" Harkinson said. And so city inspector Gene Martinelli arrived at the scene in January of this year to address the issue. He reiterated that Harkinson must find a way to insure the fence, or it had to come down.

When the Express spoke to officials with the city's Planning and Buildig and Public Works departments, they were initially unaware of Martinelli's visit, and disagreed on what should happen to the fence. Kristine Shaff of Public Works said her department suggested the fence should stay because it keeps people and trash away from the creek and also prevents erosion, while Flynn maintained that the fence had to either come down or get insured.

Harkinson was surprised by the response from Public Works, so he again decided to wait while city officials deliberated over the fence's effects on public safety and creek health. Then on February 11, he received a phone call from Oakland Watershed Program Manager Lesley Estes, who told him that city officials involved with the case had met to determine the fate of the fence. But their resolution wasn't entirely new. "They told me I can keep my fence; I just need to get an encroachment policy," Harkinson said. "[Estes] said she pushed on the fact that I wasn't able to get insurance, but they gave her examples of where this has worked and insurance companies that have given insurance for these things. They said I could and just wasn't talking to the right people."

"We wouldn't recommend this if we didn't think it was feasible," Shaff told me, stressing the city's confidence that the fence will get insured.

While Harkinson plans to contact the insurance agencies that Estes recommended, he remains skeptical about his insurance prospects and the resolution as a whole. "I'm going to reach out to those insurance people and see if it can work," he said. "I doubt any will take just the fence, though. I will probably need an entirely new homeowners' policy.

"It's kind of ridiculous because with the encroachment permit, I have to pay the city for the privilege of keeping this fence which replaced the old one that was falling down," he added. "I don't have a choice."

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/the-oakland-fence-saga/Content?oid=4696997

13 Oakland Police Department (OPD) pays consultants $350k in 2013 and $1m+ 2012

City Council OK’s hiring law enforcement consultants including ex-LAPD chief William Bratton

“I’m getting a little bit concerned that we bring in consultants, we’ve got a compliance director, and a Wasserman contract; we’ve got other jurisdictions in here helping address the issues in our city,” Brooks said. “When all of those people go away, we are back to the same leadership. What will we do after 180 days?”

https://oaklandnorth.net/2013/01/23/city-council-oks-hiring-law-enforcement-consultants-including-ex-lapd-chief-william-bratton/

June 2012
Damning Report of OPD 

And, moreover, the Frazier Report gives a detailed and somewhat devastating list of criticisms focusing on OPD's system for investigating officer misconduct and crime. Not only does the department not learn from past mistakes, the reports states, but Oakland police officers even acknowledge that the lack of consequences for violating policy or engaging in criminal misconduct has fostered a culture of impunity. Thus, the report raises serious questions whether the recommended reforms can so easily be completed.

The Frazier Group's findings identify systematic deficiencies that largely reflect OPD's failure since 2004 to implement the court-ordered reforms demanded by US District Judge Thelton Henderson. The report gives a detailed accounting of organizational dysfunction, inadequate planning and investigations, and a lack of accountability

Despite the city's claims of reform, the Frazier Report details the Oakland police department's culture of impunity and failure to change.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/damning-report-of-opd/Content?oid=3244833

Oakland Crime Reduction Project 
Bratton Group Findings and Recommendations
May 8, 2013

https://www.scribd.com/doc/140618581/Bratton-Group-Report-051813


May 2013 / August 2016

In a critique that should sound eerily familiar to Oakland police leaders, a star-studded consultant team on Thursday said the department needed to beef up investigative units and improve its focus on identifying crime trends in order to reduce sky-high rates of burglaries, robberies and shootings.

The team, headed by former New York City and Los Angeles police Chief William Bratton, found that Oakland police effectively were not investigating burglaries in a city where the crime jumped 43 percent last year.

Harnett and Andrews, another longtime associate of Bratton’s, are no strangers to Oakland. The duo was paid $50,000 six years ago to produce a report that made several of the same recommendations that they are once again making as members of the Bratton team, which the city is paying $250,000.

http://www.mercurynews.com/2013/05/09/new-oakland-crime-plan-has-a-familiar-ring/

Feb 2013
Is 'Supercop' William Bratton the Answer to Oakland's Police Problem?"

Oakland recently hired famed police chief William Bratton as a consultant in an effort to find a solution to its ongoing problems with its Police Department

Also troubling about OPD's current operations is the ongoing lack of accountability and internal monitoring, which is at the core of the consent decree. Many observers believe that the most important reforms that were to be undertaken through the consent decree have largely been ignored.

The internal affairs process has generally been seen as either incompetent or corrupt, or a combination of both.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=9755#pop1

May 2013
Bratton trots out ‘broken windows’ for Oakland

The Bratton Group, which he heads, was paid $250,000 for their six-page report of findings and recommendations for the OPD.

https://sfbay.ca/2013/05/11/bratton-trots-out-broken-windows-for-oakland/

December 2012
Oakland hires former LA police chief as consultant

The city will pay $350,000 for the services of Bratton and Wasserman's group. It has spent about $1 million this year on police consultants, mainly to help reduce a backlog of internal affairs investigations

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-oakland-hires-former-la-police-chief-as-consultant-2012dec27-story.html

May 2013
REPORT CRITICAL OF OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT'S COMMAND STAFF

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The people running the Oakland Police Department claim they welcome a new report that is critical of the command staff. That report comes just one day after Chief Howard Jordan suddenly quit.

This is the long-awaited report following the controversial hiring of police consultant Bill Bratton. Protesters say his methods attack Constitutional rights. On Thursday, Bratton's report took aim at the Oakland Police Department's poor implementation of its crime-fighting plan.

"They broke my door. They were inside the house when I opened the door into the hallway," said Oakland resident Marilyn Rhodes.

http://abc7news.com/archive/9096095/

May 2013
Bratton: Oakland's police lack accountability (Full report)

A report by former Los Angeles police chief Bill Bratton says that high-ranking Oakland police officers are not being held properly accountable for the crimes occurring in the areas they oversee.

The report was issued a week after a court-appointed overseer criticized department leadership, and a day after Police Chief Howard Jordan surprisingly stepped down citing health issues.

http://www.scpr.org/news/2013/05/09/37204/bratton-oakland-s-police-lack-accountability-full/

12 Oakland Police Dept (OPD) - Oakland declared the nation's robbery capitol (2013)

May 2013
Confirmed: Oakland Has More Robberies Than Any Other American City

The newspaper reported that during the first half of 2012, Oakland's robbery rate was 36 percent higher than the second-ranked city, Cleveland. In the Bay Area, Oakland's robbery rate was nearly double that of Richmond, which has its own fair share of crime problems.

No wonder residents -- and journalists -- have been hiring their own private security guards. In the last year, reporters and photojournalists have been repeatedly robbed and some beaten while on the job. Now, many of those television crews are refusing to do the good ol' fashioned man-on-the-street interviews.

http://archives.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2013/05/08/confirmed-oakland-has-more-robberies-than-any-other-american-city


May 2013
Oakland Assigns Just One Cop to Investigate 10,000 Burglaries

Former L.A. police chief Bill Bratton, who was hired by the city of Oakland to straighten out the crime mess, decided that what the city desperately needs (besides more cops) is a burglary unit in each of Oakland's five districts.

"Burglaries have gone up through the roof, and it's got to be stopped," said William Andrews of the Bratton Group, "And the way to do it to assign burglary investigators and hunt down those burglars."

Upon hearing the news, residents interviewed by CBS News described the situation as "frustrating," "upsetting," "amazing," and downright "crazy."

http://archives.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2013/05/10/oakland-assigns-just-one-cop-to-investigate-10000-burglaries

08 Oakland Police Dept (OPD) - $2m settlement after attacking dozens of Antiwar protesters (2003)

April 2013

Oakland Paid $2 Million Settlement After Attacking Dozens Of Antiwar Protesters 


In April 2003, the department violently cracked down on raucous Iraq war demonstrations, attacking protesters with concussion grenades, “sting balls,” and other similar weapons:

An anti-war demonstration at the Port of Oakland turned violent this morning when Oakland Police opened fire with wooden dowels, “sting balls,’” concussion grendades, tear gas and other non-lethal weapons when protesters at the gates of two shipping lines refused an order to disperse. Scores of protesters ran from a line of police or tried to hide behind nearby big rigs. 

At least a dozen demonstrators and nine longshoremen who were standing nearby were injured.

“Our guys were standing in one area waiting to go to work, and then the police started firing on the longshoremen,’” said Henry Graham, the president of ILWU Local 10. “Some were hit in the chest with rubber bullets, and seven of our guys went to the hospital. I don’t want to imply that the police deliberately did this, but it doesn’t make sense.”

https://thinkprogress.org/flashback-oakland-paid-2-million-settlement-after-attacking-dozens-of-antiwar-protesters-in-2003-8c8ac1392f4d#.lv5ut7kfy

04 City of Oakland Paid 100k for an independent report of OPD's response to Occupy Oakland

June 2012

Report: Aggressive Police Response to Occupy Oakland Was "Flawed"

The Oakland Police Department's aggressive response to an Occupy Oakland protest that made international news last October was "flawed," according to a newly released 120-page report (PDF). Commissioned by the city in December and conducted by the Frazier Group consulting firm for $100,000, the report criticized the department for its "outdated, dangerous, and ineffective" crowd-control tactics, which critically injured one protester.

More than 1,000 complaints have been filed over the OPD's handing of various Occupy Oakland protests, according to the East Bay Express. The OPD has repeatedly violated its own crowd-control policy, which was adopted following an aggressive response to a 2003 antiwar protest that resulted in lawsuits that cost the department more than $2 million. OPD Chief Howard Jordan, who was a lieutenant at the time, was involved in policing that protest and was deposed during the ensuing investigation. In both cases, the heavy-handed tactics centered on the use of "less-lethal" projectiles, such as the beanbag round that later injured Scott Olsen. The Frazier report said such weapons should be replaced with "state of the art equipment that will reduce injuries" and "help prevent property damage."


http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/06/occupy-oakland-police-response-report


Indpendent Report: Flawed response by Oakland Police to October 25 "Occupy Oakland" Protest. 

Oakland Police, Mayor, Administrator Say Reforms arleady in progress. Pledge Continued Improvements

Indpendent reports commissioned by the City Administrator confirmed that the Oakland Police Department's respose to the Occupy Oakland protest on October 25 last year was flawed by inadequate staffing, insuffient planning, lack of understanding of modern crowd management techniques, and outdated policies and protocals

https://www.scribd.com/document/97137127/City-of-Oakland-Findings-on-independent-report-investigating-OPD-handling-of-Occupy-protesters