A new internal report from the OPD casts the police department as victims who showed "a great deal of restraint while surrounded by an angry, assaultive crowd" during last October's melee with Occupy Oakland supporters. The report reveals that a lack of organization on the part of the police led to news of their October 25 raid on the encampment at Frank Ogawa Plaza being leaked to protesters, and that the department was short-staffed in the later part of the day as tensions rose in the streets of downtown Oakland. Also, they neglect to mention the Scott Olsen or Kayvan Sabehgi incidents at all, and paint a picture of policemen being attacked from all sides by angry protesters.
Furthermore, as the East Bay Express reports, though it is the OPD's Internal Affairs unit that is investigating the events of October 25 and November 2, it was the head of that unit, Captain Paul Figueroa, who was in charge of field operations during the later portion of the day and evening on October 25, which is a clear conflict of interest.
Four separate investigations are ongoing about Oakland police's response to Occupy, and several lawsuits have been filed against the department as a result of injuries sustained by protesters. An independent firm, the Frazier Group, headed by a former Baltimore cop, is conducting the investigations, and the OPD recently requested that their $100,000 contract be upped to $350,000 due the large number of complaints they've had to field. There's no word on when reports from those investigations will be complete.
Meanwhile, the OPD is gearing up to deal with what will likely be a large May Day action by Occupy, as part of a day of nationwide protest.
[EBX]