Federal Takeover Sought for Oakland Police
It may not be America's suckiest police department, but it's in contention
Lawyers overseeing the terms of a settlement stemming from a decade-old Oakland police corruption scandal filed a motion Thursday requesting that the federal government take over the embattled department.
Attorneys John Burris and Jim Chanin filed the motion in U.S. District Court in San Francisco asking Judge Thelton Henderson for a federal receiver to oversee the department. They argued Oakland city officials and the police have chronically failed to meet reforms they agreed to after a 2003 lawsuit claimed brutality and other allegations.