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[Dalek]

I had dinner with family tonight and learned about this whole story-the entire thing is one twisting saga-unreal.

Shaken by Sex Scandal, Oakland Police to Get New Leader, Again

Mayor Libby Schaaf, right, sits with Sabrina Landreth, the city administrator, left, during a news conference at City Hall in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday.

For the fourth time in less than two weeks, the police department in Oakland, Calif., is answering to a different leader.

The changes have come as the city deals with two investigations involving its officers: a widening sex scandal and a series of racist text messages sent within the department.

“As the mayor of Oakland, I am here to run a police department, not a frat house,” Mayor Libby Schaaf said at a news conference on Friday.

The sex scandal unfurled after the suicide of one of the department’s officers last fall. An 18-year-old woman has since alleged in several media reports that she had sex with that officer and several others from Oakland and other police departments in the area, including some while she was a minor.

“We continue to be disgusted and outraged by the idea that anyone could abuse an underage victim of sexual exploitation,” Ms. Schaaf said in a statement on June 11.

The police department’s former chief, Sean Whent, resigned on June 9. Mr. Whent’s resignation was “a personal choice, which we respect,” said Ms. Schaaf, who then named Ben Fairow the interim chief. Mr. Fairow had previously worked in the department and was serving as deputy chief for the Bay Area Rapid Transit.

He lasted five days in the job.

“I have just received information that has caused me to lose confidence in Ben Fairow’s ability to lead the Oakland Police Department at this particular moment in time,” the mayor said in a statement on Wednesday, announcing Mr. Fairow’s departure. She did not elaborate on specific reasons for her decision.

The department’s assistant chief, Paul Figueroa, was then named acting police chief. That lasted two days: Mr. Figueroa said in a statement on Friday that he was taking leave and would return to the department as a captain.

“I feel that this is an appropriate time to place civilian oversight over this police department and to send a very clear message about how serious we are about not tolerating misconduct, unethical behavior, and to root out what is clearly a toxic macho culture,” Ms. Schaaf said, in announcing that the city administrator, Sabrina Landreth, will oversee the department while a national search is conducted for a new chief.

The handling of the sex scandal is being reviewed by Oakland’s district attorney and an independent investigator.

The Associated Press reported that of the 14 Oakland police officers involved in the sex scandal, two have resigned and three others are on paid leave.

Ms. Schaaf said the investigation into racist text messages is not related to the sex scandal or the resignation of Mr. Figueroa.

“We do think it’s relevant to share that the text messages were sent by African-American officers,” the mayor said. “But they are wholly inappropriate and not acceptable from anyone who wears the badge of the Oakland Police Department.”

More regarding the sex scandal:

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/breakin...ce-scandal-spreads-other-east-bay-departments

OAKLAND -- The Oakland police sex scandal is ricocheting across the East Bay as the woman at the center of it now says she had sex with two dozen current and former officers from five departments -- from Richmond to Livermore. And sources say that Oakland police's botched handling of the investigation is what precipitated Chief Sean Whent's sudden departure this week at the behest of the federal monitor overseeing the department.

In a telephone interview on Saturday, Celeste Guap, a Richmond resident, said she slept with three of the 24 officers -- all from Oakland's police department -- before she turned 18 last August.

She also said that two Oakland officers provided her confidential police information, including tips on scheduled anti-prostitution stings, and a retired OPD captain in his 80s paid $250 to have sex with her in a dingy San Pablo Avenue motel. The captain and several other officers named by Guap did not return calls for comment.

Guap, whose real name this paper won't publish because she met the officers as an exploited minor caught up in sex work, said she didn't lie about her age to them.

"A lot knew I was underage because they nicknamed me 'juve,' which is short for juvenile," she said.

In perhaps the most surprising allegation -- one that might help explain Whent's sudden dismissal as chief -- Guap said she also talked via Facebook last June to his wife, Julia Whent.

Julia Whent, she said, knew "I was dating an officer" but never asked if she was underage. Those conversations occurred months before the department's federal overseer, Robert Warshaw, became aware of the allegations.

Multiple sources said Warshaw pressured Whent to resign on Thursday, furious over his handling of the case. No one answered the door at Whent's home in Brentwood on Saturday afternoon.

The scandal is a crippling blow to a department that has struggled for decades to win the trust of residents and has been under federal oversight for 13 years in part because of failures to adequately hold officers accountable for misdeeds.

"To think that officers were engaged in the sexual exploitation of a child: It's heartbreaking," City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney said. "And if it's true, it's criminal, and they should be prosecuted."

Other departments now appear to be caught up in the scandal as well.

Guap said she slept with five Richmond police officers, including a lieutenant and two sergeants, four Alameda County Sheriff's deputies, one Livermore officer and a law enforcement worker based in Stockton.

Richmond police Chief Allwyn Brown said Saturday his department recently learned that "several" officers communicated electronically with Guap, but so far it appears she was 18 or older at those times.

"We have more questions than we have answers," Brown said, adding that the investigation is just beginning. "We have no tolerance for unethical behavior or misconduct."

Guap, whose mother is an Oakland police dispatcher, said she began selling herself on the streets of Richmond at age 12.

With the investigation still ongoing, Guap said she has been disappointed in the officers' statements to police officials. "They lied about knowing me or how much they were involved with me," she said. "I guess that's what you are going to do to protect your job."

Lots more at the link-the entire thing is just a disaster and seems corrupt at every corner.

 

[xxracerxx]

Holy shit Oakland.

 

[Leynos]

Burn it down, then rebuild it.

As for the comments, I am sure that you can imagine what it is like: commenting about how attractive the mayor is, or lamenting that she is weak on crime and how she should be the one to put her life on the line to deal with Oakland's criminals.

 

[Jarmel]

Guap, whose mother is an Oakland police dispatcher, said she began selling herself on the streets of Richmond at age 12.

what in the fuck

 

[echoshifting]

This is one hell of a sad mess.

 

[davepoobond]

What a fucking mess. The numbers of police involved is shocking

 

[echoshifting]

How are they even going to fix this? You can't get rid of fourteen+ police officers in a city like Oakland without major consequences for the city. Oakland still has really high crime rates, doesn't it? But these guys have all got to go. Some of them raped a kid.

Man. Horrible mess.

 

[Dalek]

How are they even going to fix this? You can't get rid of fourteen+ police officers in a city like Oakland without major consequences for the city. Oakland still has really high crime rates, doesn't it? But these guys have all got to go. Some of them raped a kid.

Man. Horrible mess.

And the mother of the girl is working every day on dispatch with those officers-just insanity.

 

[olympia]

what in the fuck

it sucks that she got named, because this wasn't really about her, and the express specifically avoided naming her in their exposé

It's essentially the same problem in SF under suhr, just a horrible shitty police culture that has been allowed to fester for too long.

also Stanford put out a great report about racial profiling and OPD that came out this week, not a great time to be an Oakland cop right now

 

[Dalek]

it sucks that she got named, because this wasn't really about her, and the express specifically avoided naming her in their exposé

The article said they didn't use her real name.

 

[olympia]

The article said they didn't use her real name.

whoops missed that

 

[Vice]

It has been a bad year for Bay Area cops and scandals. Hopefully this helps clean their departments out.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Also read something about a murder being covered up by the police only for the cop to confess in a suicide note.

Makes the 2nd amendment and militias almost sound reasonable.

 

[Dalek]

NPR is reporting on this now too:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...nd-police-department-loses-3-chiefs-in-9-days

Earlier this year, as the East Bay Times reported, the police department appeared to be on track for the federal oversight to finally be relaxed, with a shift toward "ensuring that the police department doesn't backtrack on reforms."

But a two-year-long Stanford study, released this past week, found that African-American men in Oakland are four times more likely than white men to be searched during a traffic stop, and African-American people are more likely to be handcuffed by police than whites are.

 

[Dalek]

OAKLAND POLICE SERGEANT ACCUSED OF COMPROMISING KEY EVIDENCE

OAKLAND, Calif. -- There could be far-reaching fallout from one of the scandals that's causing turmoil at the Oakland Police Department. This one involves a homicide detective accused of giving his mistress access to confidential files so she could write his police reports. All of those criminal cases are now in jeopardy. The first challenge goes before a judge Wednesday.

The key question here is whether or not that lead Oakland police homicide investigator compromised key evidence in the case or dozens of other cases he handled.

According to our partners at the East Bay Times, Sgt. Mike Gantt is currently on administrative leave. He allegedly gave his girlfriend case files so she could type up his reports.

She posted this information to social media and shared it with Oakland Police Department after she found out Gantt was married.

One of those case files involved evidence connected to the 2013 shooting death of 66-year-old Judy Salamon, a well-known Oakland dog walker.

Stephon Lee and Mario Floyd are charged with killing Salamon after she used her cellphone to take video of the men allegedly committing a crime in her Maxwell Park neighborhood.

Now, Floyd's attorney could ask for the case to be dismissed.

Gil Soffer, legal analyst for ABC7's sister station KGO-TV, says this latest OPD development could impact several cases.

"It'll allow the defense to say in any given case that the chain of custody has been tampered with, that you can't trust the evidence, and that's a pretty serious thing," he said.

KGO-TV was not able to reach Lee's attorney.

Floyd's attorney said she will be carefully examining testimony Gantt gave at a preliminary hearing in the dog walker case. She says Gantt may have testified about police reports that he shared with his mistress or that he had her write.

 

[i3allistic]

How are they even going to fix this? You can't get rid of fourteen+ police officers in a city like Oakland without major consequences for the city. Oakland still has really high crime rates, doesn't it? But these guys have all got to go. Some of them raped a kid.

Man. Horrible mess.

Oakland crime rate been on the decline last 5 years ....and Mayor stated she going outside for the next Chief ....Oakland is on the right track, the OPD scandal is a step backward, but i'm sure the Mayor will have it back on track ....

 

[Gattsu25]

Wow, this seems like a total clusterfuck.

Glad that is coming to light but DAMN.

3 chiefs in a little over a week. An office statutory raping a pre-teen. A mistress writing police reports. A Facebook conversation with one of the chief's wives who was aware of the relationship.

Just..damn.

 

[Dalek]

Wow, this seems like a total clusterfuck.

Glad that is coming to light but DAMN.

3 chiefs in a little over a week. An office statutory raping a pre-teen. A mistress writing police reports. A Facebook conversation with one of the chief's wives who was aware of the relationship.

Just..damn.

Yeah I know-literally every step of the way there's something unbelievable.