Santa Rita Jail is run by the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and holds roughly 2,000 detainees on any given day, making it one of the largest jails in the country. The jail’s treatment of people with mental disabilities was at the core of the class action lawsuit—Babu v. Ahern—and the practice of locking people in isolation…
General news
L.A. County sheriff’s unit accused of targeting political enemies, vocal critics
The unit, named the Civil Rights and Public Integrity Detail, has pursued a long-running investigation into one of Villanueva’s most vocal critics, L.A. County Inspector General Max Huntsman, and others despite sheriff’s officials being told by the FBI and state law enforcement officials that it appeared no crimes had been committed, a senior sheriff’s official said.
Lack of data is the biggest hurdle to Sheriff’s Office reforms, says oversight group
According to a 26-page report compiled by the Office of Independent Review (OIR) Group, an outside law enforcement auditing group, major obstacles to meaningful reform include a lack of extensive data collection and inaccessibility to information.
Suburban police killings are more common yet face less scrutiny in Bay Area
Historically, the political and social response to police violence has been muted in Bay Area suburbs, where use-of-force is subject to less oversight than in cities. The reasons are complicated, but the reality is unsettling: more deaths in areas with fewer mechanisms to bring justice to families, transparency to the public or robust investigations of…
Payouts for killings and injuries plummet for Bay Area police departments undergoing reforms
Now, a KTVU investigation has found that Bay Area law enforcement agencies engaged in long-term reform efforts — including having independent oversight — are paying much less in civil penalties in recent years for injuring or killing people than many departments left to police themselves.
Policing Reform, Civilian Oversight And More: After Months Of Protest, Voters Decide
Some saw success, like in Colorado, New York and Virginia, which all passed sweeping new laws addressing use of force, funding and community oversight, among other things.
6 Bay Area Ballot Measures That Could Strengthen Civilian Oversight of Police
In the Bay Area alone, at least six measures on local ballots seek to expand the authority of police commissions and strengthen independent investigations. The measures go before voters just two months after the California Legislature failed to pass several major statewide police accountability bills — including one to remove police officers who commit serious misconduct —…
The long battle for civilian oversight of the police
As people protesting police brutality nationwide push for broad reforms, strong civilian oversight is one of the demands. But it’s hard to get. The story for more than 70 years has been a struggle between community advocates working to enact it and police trying to block or defang it, with elected officials choosing sides.