By Dan Levine
OAKLAND, Calif., June 14 (Reuters) – Longstanding problems
in the Oakland Police Department led to a botched response to
Occupy Wall Street protests last year, according to the findings
of an independent review of the events conducted at the city’s
request and released on Thursday.
The review also raised concerns about the quality and
breadth of a criminal investigation into police officers who
fired tear gas and stun grenades at Occupy protesters, which
critically injured an Iraq war veteran.
Oakland became a focal point of protests against economic
inequality that swept the United States last October.
Police removed dozens of campers from a plaza in front of
Oakland City Hall on Oct. 25. Later that day, they fired tear
gas and flash bang grenades at hundreds of protesters who had
gathered at the plaza.
The military veteran, Scott Olsen, was struck in the head
and became a national symbol of the protest movement.
One police officer fired tear gas into a crowd that was
trying to help Olsen, yet a criminal investigation into these
events was closed, the consultant’s report said.
“It is our belief that OPD should consider a re-examination
of the quality of this investigation,” the report said.
It said poor staffing, outdated crowd control policies and
lack of coordination contributed to the overall handling of
Occupy.
“Aircraft accident investigations frequently reveal that
airplane crashes are caused by a series of cascading events, not
a singular problem,” the report said, adding that “this analogy
appropriately describes our observations within the Oakland
Police Department.”
City officials on Thursday said the department had already
implemented several reforms.
“This is not an easy report to release, but we are committed
to confronting the truth,” Mayor Jean Quan said in a statement.
A representative for the Occupy protesters could not
immediately be reached.
While the report noted many problems with the department, it
complimented newly installed Police Chief Howard Jordan for
making improvement his highest priority.
Oakland police officials announced in April that the
department was making significant changes to how it trains
officers to control large crowds following criticism of its
handling of the Occupy protests. It received more than 1,000
misconduct complaints during those protests.
(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Mary Slosson and David
Brunnstrom)
