The Oakland Public Ethics Commission has refused to close the book on how the Oakland Police Department spent $12,000 in Measure Z funds on a May 2024 trip to Washington, D.C., saying the department still hasn't turned over the itemized receipts investigators need to determine whether the spending was proper.
The commission directed its chief investigator, Tovah Ackerman, to gather more information about the trip, according to The Oaklandside. OPD used the Measure Z money to cover travel for a delegation attending the 43rd Annual National Peace Officers' Memorial Services, an 11-officer group that accompanied the mother and wife of Officer Tuan Le, who was killed in the line of duty in December 2023.
The complaint that triggered the investigation was filed by Omar Farmer, a former member of the Oakland Police Commission and the Public Safety and Services Violence Prevention Oversight Commission, which was established to ensure Measure Z money is spent properly. Measure Z, a parking and parcel tax approved by Oakland voters in 2014, raises millions of dollars annually, and the city promised the revenue would go solely toward police and fire services, violence prevention and intervention, violent crime reduction, and public safety. Travel is not among the allowable uses.
No Itemized Receipts, and Maybe None Exist
OPD has provided records showing that the Measure Z funds were eventually returned, and the department did return the $12,000 after the fact. But investigators say they still lack an itemized accounting of how the money was actually spent on the trip. Ackerman told the commission the receipts have not been provided and, according to the report, they may not exist at all.
Ackerman said ethics investigators did not find evidence that OPD violated the Oakland Government Ethics Act, which covers misuse of city resources, conflicts of interest, and gift restrictions. She added that OPD officials apparently misunderstood what qualified as an appropriate use of Measure Z funds. Even so, the commission cited OPD's failure to turn over evidence as reason to keep the case open rather than close it out.
Commissioner Ryan Micik called OPD's inability or refusal to produce the trip receipts rather alarming. Commissioner Karun Tilak said expenditure records would help establish whether all of the department's purchases were appropriate, underscoring why the missing paperwork matters to the panel's review.
A Travel Freeze and Questions of Process
Commission Chair Francis Upton raised a separate concern: Oakland had a citywide freeze on travel spending during a budget crisis at the time of the trip, and Upton said OPD appeared to circumvent that freeze even though the city administration approved the Measure Z expenditure. Upton said OPD or the city administration should have asked an attorney whether Measure Z funds could be used for the trip at all, calling the process problematic and saying he was angry about how the department handled the travel spending.
Upton also said OPD is legally required to keep spending records through credit card receipts or expense reports, and he described the missing records as an issue in their own right. He wanted to tighten the Government Ethics Act because he thought the conduct should violate it.
Ackerman ultimately recommended that the commission send OPD an advisory letter about Government Ethics Act requirements rather than pursue penalties. The letter, described as the commission's lowest level of enforcement action, would advise OPD to avoid even the appearance of impropriety going forward but would not include any penalties.
Paula Hawthorn applauded the commission's decision to keep the case open, saying Oakland funds earmarked for one purpose are often redirected to others and that Measure Z funds are not fungible for just any purpose the department sees fit. A spokesperson for OPD told The Oaklandside that no one was available to discuss the case.
A Watchdog Stretched Thin
The scrutiny comes as Oakland's ethics watchdog has been managing a growing caseload with limited staff. The commission's pending cases or complaints climbed from 70 in May 2023 to 141 by January 2025, and Micik has said the commission's staffing has remained largely unchanged since 2014 even as its responsibilities expanded, according to a separate Oaklandside report. A proposed city budget would add a second Ethics Investigator and direct additional operating funds toward enforcement in the coming fiscal years, per city budget documents.
