Oakland is recruiting a permanent Constitutional Policing Administrator, a newly created executive post inside the police department meant to keep decades of court-ordered reforms intact once federal oversight finally ends. The job pays between $175,000 and $263,000 a year, and applications are due September 9, with candidates sending a resume and cover letter to the executive search firm Ralph Andersen & Associates. The timing is not incidental: a federal judge is poised to end more than 20 years of federal oversight of the Oakland Police Department on September 29.
That oversight traces back to the so-called “Riders” lawsuit, filed against the city in 2000, which alleged that rogue officers beat Black and brown men and planted drugs on them, according to KTVU. The resulting Negotiated Settlement Agreement, reached with the city in 2003, mandated 51 police reforms covering everything from use-of-force policy to internal affairs procedures. Oakland has since paid out heavily in police misconduct cases, including $57 million between 2001 and 2011 and another $35 million between January 2011 and December 2021, though KTVU's analysis found those payouts have plummeted over the last five years.
The Constitutional Policing Administrator will serve as a high-level adviser to the Oakland police chief, reviewing draft internal affairs reports, making recommendations on them, and observing police interactions, per the same KTVU report. The role reports to the city administrator rather than the police chief directly, and it will coordinate with the Oakland Department of Transportation, the Department of Public Works, the Police Commission, the Bureau of Risk Management, and the Office of Internal Accountability. Eligible candidates could come from backgrounds as private investigators, probation officers, police officers, independent police auditors, or attorneys.
Filling a Role Barbara Lee Created
Mayor Barbara Lee, who became Oakland's mayor in May 2025 after Sheng Thao was recalled from office, created the constitutional policing system at the start of her tenure. According to the KTVU report, Lee became the first Oakland mayor to hire a city hall employee specifically to bridge the gap between the city and the police department. She tapped Assistant City Administrator Michelle Phillips to fill the role on an interim basis, a move that The Oaklandside reported came alongside her appointment of James Beere as interim police chief in November 2025.
Phillips, who previously served as inspector general for the Oakland Police Commission, has called the role vital and said she specifically wants to decrease complaints alleging excessive police force, as well as complaints about officers more broadly. She has also suggested the city create a data strategy manager role to provide timely OPD data analysis and transparency. In June, Phillips recommended street closures to make a First Friday event in Oakland safer, an example the KTVU report cites of the administrator's hands-on approach to public safety planning.
A Federal Judge's Endorsement, and a 23-Year Wait
Federal Monitor Robert Warshaw reported in May that OPD had achieved full compliance with all 51 reform tasks for the first time in 23 years, according to Courthouse News. Warshaw's determination followed the department's clearing of its final three sticking points: completing internal affairs investigations within 180 days, promptly documenting citizen complaints, and ensuring fair officer discipline. U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick then set September 29, as the target date to terminate federal oversight, capping a consent decree that has kept OPD under federal monitoring longer than nearly any other municipal police department in the country, per KQED.
At a January court hearing, Orrick and the federal monitor noted Lee's Constitutional Policing Administrator role directly, per KTVU, with the judge describing the position elsewhere as pivotal to institutionalizing reform within OPD command rather than continuing to rely on outside monitors. James Beere, now Oakland's permanent police chief after taking over the department through its final compliance reviews, credited Warshaw with making OPD a better department and has said the reforms made him a better police officer himself, per KTVU.
Modeled on Other Cities, but Questions Remain
Oakland modeled its constitutional policing efforts on similar systems in Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Chicago, according to the KTVU report. City officials maintain the new administrator will not replace the Oakland Police Commission and does not change the role of civilian oversight, even though the position sits embedded within OPD's command structure. That distinction matters locally: a March audit by the Oakland Office of the City Auditor found that Oakland's three civilian police oversight bodies — the Police Commission, the Community Police Review Agency, and the Office of Inspector General — met only 26 of 43 select charter and municipal code requirements, citing vacancies and operational friction.
Civil rights attorney Jim Chanin, who sued Oakland over the Riders case, told KTVU the role could work but has unresolved problems, adding it has potential if fully funded. Chanin raised questions about what happens to the administrator's authority after Lee leaves office, and how the position will relate to the Police Commission going forward. Ricardo Garcia Acosta, chair of the Police Commission, did not respond to KTVU's request for comment on the new job posting.
Oakland voters have already moved once to strengthen civilian oversight independent of city hall: in November 2020, they approved Measure S1 with 81.27% approval, amending the City Charter to expand the Police Commission's independence and establish the Office of Inspector General, according to Ballotpedia. Whether the new administrator role complements or complicates that voter-built system is likely to remain an open question even after federal oversight formally ends next month. Oakland's police staffing push has been a recurring theme this year, as Hoodline reported when the department swore in 17 new officers in May.
