Feb. 17, 2023 A day after Mayor Sheng Thao fired Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, some Oakland residents expressed outrage at the mayor’s decision and the embattled chief weighed legal options against the city.
By Sarah Ravani Source San Francisco Chronicle (TNS) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
OAKLAND, California –A day after Mayor Sheng Thao fired Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, some Oakland residents expressed outrage at the mayor’s decision and the embattled chief weighed legal options against the city.
Armstrong, an Oakland native who became chief two years ago, was meeting with his attorneys to discuss possible legal actions, according to Sam Singer, a crisis consultant hired by Armstrong after Thao put him on paid leave a month ago.
Residents who support Armstrong criticized the mayor, saying that she had fired a beloved chief who was from the community. Nearly 30 people gathered outside of City Hall midday Thursday, demanding that Thao reinstate Armstrong.
But others supported the termination. A coalition of groups that includes the Anti Police-Terror Project, Oakland teachers union and others released a statement saying that accountability is key in moving the city’s police department forward.
Thao notified Armstrong of his termination 15 minutes before holding a news conference to announce it. Her decision came about a month after an investigation found that Armstrong mishandled two officer misconduct cases. It was the latest setback for a department struggling to emerge from federal oversight, which has spanned nearly two decades and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.
In a statement released Thursday, Armstrong said he believes his termination “was the result of a fundamentally flawed process that resulted in unfair, inaccurate conclusions about me.”
Armstrong also thanked his supporters.
“As a native of Oakland, I know how special this city is,” he said in a statement. “It means the world to me that I have earned the trust and respect of so many leaders and members of this community. I appreciate your efforts to champion my cause and I thank you for trying to help the Mayor understand that the best path forward for the City was with me remaining as Chief.”
Armstrong’s predecessor, Anne Kirkpatrick, sued the city after she was fired without cause and won her case.
Thao said she lost confidence in the chief after he made troubling statements publicly about the seriousness of the cases. But her decision raises questions about the department’s future and how the city will continue to address violent crime amid staffing woes. Some political experts said the mayor had no choice but to fire Armstrong after he participated in rallies demanding his job back and held media conferences.
“He made this a political issue about whether or not the mayor would be able to hold city employees accountable (and) really at the end of the day, she had no choice but to fire him because of that,” said Jim Ross, an Oakland-based political consultant.
Ross said instead of holding press conferences, Armstrong should have taken “ownership of the issue, laid out a plan for improvement and how to move forward.”
The city’s police commission, which also has the power to fire the chief, appeared unhappy with the mayor’s decision.
Commission Chair Tyfahra Milele released a statement Wednesday night saying the commission respected Thao’s decision but was “sorry to lose an effective reform-minded” chief who achieved compliance with most of the federal monitor’s tasks.
Milele also said the past few months have “revealed significant problems including miscommunications between the city and the police commission” and raised questions about the credibility of the outside investigation that led to Armstrong’s firing, without specifying what was wrong.
Former police commissioner Jose Dorado disagreed with the commission’s stance. Dorado was on the hiring committee for Armstrong and said he pushed for Armstrong to get the job two years ago.
“We cannot have a police chief continuing to perpetuate the same sorts of cover-ups that we’ve seen for 20 years,” Dorado said, adding that he is “hugely, massively disappointed” in Armstrong.
John Burris, a plaintiffs’ attorney in the federal oversight cases, said he was unsurprised by Thao’s decision but disagreed with it.
“I didn’t think there was substantial evidence to justify termination,” Burris said. “It removes a person from law enforcement in Oakland who had a good feel for the issues in Oakland and good relationships with the community groups. … I thought he was moving the department in a positive direction to get us out of the negotiated settlement agreement.”
But Jim Chanin, a plaintiffs’ attorney in the negotiated settlement, disagreed. He supported Thao’s decision, due in part to public comments made by Armstrong in which the police chief accused the federal monitor, Robert Warshaw, of acting “in the interest of his own pocketbook by manufacturing a false crisis to justify extending his lucrative monitoring contract.”
Chanin said Thao made a decisive action in a “timely manner” that will move the city forward.
“The police department has twice now gotten down to the goal line and … blown up the stadium and they have only themselves to blame,” Chanin said. “To blame Robert Warshaw when he is the one who put them in compliance with every task, gave them a chance to come into compliance with the last task during the sustainability period, is simply not a recognition of your own failings.”
Despite the shake-up, officers continued responding to calls, Barry Donelan, president of the police union, said.
“We’ve been here before,” Donelan said. “The tenure of the police chief in Oakland is similar to the life span of a butterfly, it’s so short.”
Still, some Oaklanders said they weren’t ready to move on from Armstrong.
Rosalind Patton, an Oakland resident, stood with nearly 30 people outside City Hall on Thursday and held a sign that read Thao was “dead wrong” and that the community still supports Armstrong. Patton said Armstrong deserved another chance. At times, the crowd chanted that Thao should be recalled for her decision.
“We are going to demand that LeRonne Armstrong be rehired,” said Pastor Marty Peters of Victory Baptist Church in Oakland. “Armstrong has a heart to make our city better.”
Pastor Billy Dixon, who works with Ceasefire, the police department’s violence prevention program, said he hopes all of the officers involved in the misconduct cases will be held accountable. On Wednesday, Thao declined to comment on plans for the sergeant involved in the misconduct cases and the other officers named in the investigation.
Dixon said while he believes Thao will do a good job leading the city, he and Armstrong grew up together on the same block in West Oakland.
“I still believe in him,” Dixon said of Armstrong. “This is really hurtful for me.”