OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on a summons of top Oakland, California, officials by a federal judge to discuss a report on a sexual misconduct investigation (all times local):
5:15 p.m.
A federal judge who oversees the Oakland Police Department says he is optimistic that the department can recover from a sexual misconduct scandal and get back on track.
U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson said Monday it appears the department is close to complying with all the reforms he ordered as part of 2003 settlement of an unrelated police corruption scandal.
He says he wants to increase the court’s monitoring of the police department, which will be required to report to the court more often on its progress.
Henderson summoned officials to discuss a report on the sexual misconduct investigation that found fault with the mayor, city administrator, police chief and other top officials.
The report concluded that high-ranking police officials downplayed allegations that officers sexually exploited an underage prostitute.
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4:45 p.m.
Oakland top officials have apologized and vowed to clean up the city’s troubled police department during a summons by a judge who oversees the department.
U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson summoned officials to his court Monday to discuss a report on a sexual misconduct investigation that found fault with the mayor, city administrator, police chief and other top officials.
Assistant city attorney Otis McGee told Henderson the police department agreed with the report’s conclusions and would adopt its recommendations for reform.
Police chief Anne Kirkpatrick, who was hired in January, apologized for the officers’ misbehavior and vowed to clean up the troubled department. She spoke briefly during the one-hour hearing Monday.
Civil rights attorneys Jim Chanin and John Burris called on the judge to launch a deeper investigation into the scandal involving a teenage prostitute and punish senior officers who didn’t act quickly enough.
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8:00 a.m.
Civil rights lawyers say a federal judge should consider holding Oakland, California, city and police officials in contempt of court for mishandling an internal affairs investigation of several officers alleged to have sexually exploited an underage prostitute.
U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson has summoned lawyers for the city to his court Monday to discuss a report that found fault with the mayor, city administrator, police chief and other top officials in their handling of the prostitute’s claims and two separate police investigations.
The judge oversees the police department as the result of a settlement the civil rights lawyers negotiated after they sued the city over a police corruption scandal.
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