Oakland’s Rules & Legislation Committee has cleared Mayor Barbara Lee’s two police commission picks for prime time, advancing retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo and retired Contra Costa fire engineer Doug Wong to the full City Council. If confirmed, they would join the seven-member civilian board that oversees the Oakland Police Department as the city continues to navigate long-running oversight and leadership churn.
The committee voted unanimously to send the nominations to the City Council’s Jan. 20 meeting, according to the City of Oakland. The move puts a resolution in front of the full council that would formally confirm the mayor’s choices for the Police Commission.
Who the mayor picked
Grillo, a retired Alameda County Superior Court judge, now works in mediation and alternative dispute resolution, according to his professional profile on JudgeGrillo.com. Mayor Lee selected Wong, a retired Contra Costa fire engineer, to serve as an alternate commissioner, and Wong told reporters that his top priority is getting the Oakland Police Department out from under decades-long federal court oversight, as reported by The Oaklandside. City Hall materials describe both as public-service veterans who would bolster the commission’s bench.
Terms and the mayor’s resolution
The city’s legislation sets both terms to begin Oct. 12, 2025 and to expire Oct. 16, 2028, and identifies the specific seats the nominees would fill, per the City of Oakland. The mayor’s resolution frames the appointments as a way to keep the commission steady while the city works through earlier selection disputes.
Selection politics and a contested reappointment
That backstory is not just fine print. The Police Commission Selection Panel re-submitted Ricardo Garcia-Acosta and Omar Farmer for reappointment late last year, but the council rejected that slate in October after questions about background checks, according to a coalition letter now on file with the city. The coalition argued the panel’s submission was flawed, and city documents show the dispute has made it harder to keep all commission seats filled.
Why the commission matters
The Police Commission carries outsized weight because OPD remains under a federal Negotiated Settlement Agreement tied to the Riders scandal in the early 2000s, a history that still shapes today’s oversight fights, per reporting by The Oaklandside. For residents and reform advocates who clash over how strong the commission’s powers should be, the mayor’s picks function as an early test of how the city plans to steer the end of federal supervision and the next round of accountability work.
What’s next
The Rules & Legislation Committee has placed the nominations on the Jan. 20 council docket. If the full council signs off on Grillo and Wong, their terms would run through October 2028. Community groups and oversight advocates say they will be watching both the confirmation vote and the commission’s early agenda, which is expected to spark fresh debate over how Oakland balances accountability and public-safety demands, per Oakland Report.
