true

2008-11-11T20:24:26Z

1000.0

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The final product of this reporting expedition will be a 1,500 word profile of the Oakland Police Department as it seeks new leadership and faces the highest violent crime rate of any big city west of the Mississippi River.

2008-11-11T00:00:00Z

On November 4, Oakland voters rejected a ballot measure to fund more police officers and non-sworn OPD employees. In the coming months there will be much discussion about how to combat Oakland's stubborn crime problem, and how to make OPD more effective. These conversations will be far more productive if Oaklanders have a deeper understanding of what issues vex their police department. You can help by spreading the word. Click "Share" at the bottom right of this widget to embed it in your Facebook, blog, etc.

1199

false

Stuck in Park: Why Can't OPD Run?

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opd.jpg

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2008-11-11T12:24:26Z

Oakland Police Blues 35 oakland, police, crime

1000.0

What's really wrong with OPD? The reported failings of the Oakland Police Department are serious and well-known. <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/04/BA0D13TCP8.DTL">Cops lie to obtain search warrants</a>. Brass assign detectives with known ties to the suspects they are investigating. On any given day, the department has an absentee rate of 30 percent. Morale is in the cellar. The current chief has taken a leave of absence, and from the outside, it's not clear who's running things at 445 7th Street. By interviewing current and former Oakland police officers I hope to arrive at a deeper understanding of what ails OPD, what internal culture gives rise to the failings described above. This is not the sort of reporting that is likely to turn up evidence of concealed wrongdoing, but rather it seeks to shine a light on problems that are hiding in plain sight.

Over the course of the past eight years I have reported for the Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Red Herring, the California Journal, and many other national and international publications. In 2005, I won a CNPA award for enterprise reporting. In November 2007, I co-founded OakBook magazine. funded

2009-02-27T19:06:00Z

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