OAKLAND — When one of the country’s most powerful civilian-led police oversight groups met Wednesday night to discuss Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, it found itself not having much to do.
Less than two hours before the meeting, Mayor Sheng Thao abruptly announced she was firing Armstrong, finally making the decision that had loomed over the chief’s head since a misconduct and cover-up scandal first led the mayor to place him on paid leave last month.
The mayor’s timely announcement led the commission to cancel a planned discussion on what the meeting’s agenda called the “discipline/dismissal/release” of Armstrong.
Commission Chair Tyfahra Milele read a prepared statement that largely praised Armstrong’s accomplishments, suggesting that Thao had been “wary of commissioners’ relationship” with the chief.
“We want to acknowledge that the last few months revealed significant problems, including … miscommunications between the City and the Commission,” declared a commission-approved statement after the meeting.
In an interview Thursday, Milele rejected the notion that the commission had any bias, saying she and other commissioners simply didn’t think there was enough cause to fire the chief.
The awkward sequence of events suggested possible disharmony between Thao and the Oakland Police Commission — the two authorities that have the ability to fire a city police chief, though only the mayor can do so without cause.
The commission, overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2016, was formed with the unprecedented power to oversee OPD’s affairs and “investigate complaints of police misconduct and recommend discipline.”
In 2020, voters strengthened the commission’s power and created an inspector general position to further hold OPD accountable outside its chain of command.
On Wednesday, Thao did not comment on the timing of her decision in relation to the commission’s meeting — and she didn’t mention the commission at all in her pre-written comments.
Similar to the commission, Thao stated her “respect and appreciation” for Armstrong. But the mayor said she was troubled by how Armstrong had publicly downplayed the misconduct central to an outside investigation into the department.
“It’s precisely because I admire Chief Armstrong that this has been personally difficult,” Thao said. “But this process has reinforced my commitment to making decisions based on the best interests of the department and the city, and not based on personal feelings or relationships.”
She announced the firing nearly a month after a bombshell independent report set off the Oakland Police Department’s latest scandal.
The report outlined how a sergeant’s hit-and-run was covered up by higher-ranking officers, and pilloried Armstrong for not reviewing the incident more closely. It also found the chief “not credible” when he claimed to have known very little about further misconduct by the same sergeant.
Armstrong maintains he did nothing wrong and said Thursday he was “continuing to evaluate my legal options to preserve my rights and my hard-earned reputation.”
That reputation appeared to extend to the commission, which in its statement bid a “heartfelt farewell” to the chief, recognizing his efforts to get OPD out from federal oversight that began after the infamous Riders brutality cases two decades ago.
“We are sorry to lose a respected and reform-minded chief,” Milele said at the meeting.
Judge William Orrick, who oversees OPD’s affairs via a federal monitor, indicated last month that the newest scandal would keep the oversight in place much longer than the anticipated end date in June.
It’s yet unclear how Thao’s decision to fire the chief – a show of accountability – might affect Orrick’s stance that the misconduct scandal “exposes rot” within the department.
Anne Kirkpatrick, the last full-time police chief before Armstrong, was jointly fired without cause in 2020 by the commission and former Mayor Libby Schaaf — a decision that indicated more unity between the two powers.
Last year, Kirkpatrick won a $1.5 million settlement in a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city.
Source: www.mercurynews.com