Oakland’s civilian Police Commission was established in 2017 and tasked with overseeing the city’s police department. One of the commission’s most critical jobs is investigating allegations of police misconduct, which can include all kinds of rules violations, from dishonesty to reckless driving to the wrongful use of force.
Zoom into the Police Commission’s meeting
Public forum: search for a new Community Police Review Agency executive director.
The Police Commission oversees the Community Police Review Agency, a team of civilian investigators who examine allegations of police misconduct and make recommendations about discipline when an officer has violated policies. Alongside the Oakland Police Department’s Internal Affairs Division, CPRA investigates hundreds of cases each year. And CPRA may someday become the sole organization responsible for investigating police misconduct; Mayor Sheng Thao’s budget plan for the next two years proposes eliminating OPD’s internal affairs division and staffing up CPRA so that it’s the last word on police accountability.
The Police Commission is currently searching for a permanent CPRA director and wants to hear from the public about three finalists who have applied for the job. The commission’s meeting tomorrow, May 4, 2023, will be entirely focused on interviewing the candidates and getting public input. The meeting can be attended online via Zoom. Here are brief biographies of the three finalists. You can read more about them on the Police Commission’s website.
Charlotte Jones
Charlotte Jones is CPRA’s interim executive director. She’s been doing the job on an interim basis since last December and earlier was the Police Commission’s chief of staff. Previously, Jones worked in Detroit’s Office of the Chief Investigator, the city’s civilian police oversight agency. She holds a bachelor’s in sociology from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and a law degree from Wayne State University. She was raised in Detroit where she also held a job in civilian oversight.
Mac Muir
Mac Muir has worked as a supervising investigator for New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, the largest police oversight agency in the United States. He has investigated allegations of officer misconduct in every one of the NYPD’s 77 precincts. In his seven years at New York’s CCRB, Muir investigated officer-involved shootings, chokeholds, sexual misconduct, excessive force, and false official statements. Muir received mediation training from Columbia Law School and the New York Peace Institute. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College in politics and Africana studies. He was raised in Oakland.
Dwight White
Dwight White is the inaugural Inspector General for the City of Sacramento, where he created the city’s investigatory process for civilian oversight of law enforcement. White oversees misconduct investigations including excessive force, conduct unbecoming, domestic violence, and improper search and seizure. Prior to his work in Sacramento, he was a lead homicide investigator for Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability. He holds a bachelor of science degree in information assurance and security engineering from DePaul University and a juris doctor from the University of Illinois, Chicago School of Law. White grew up in Chicago.
