OAKLAND — In a public-turned-private ceremony Friday, two high-ranking police officials facing controversy for the handling of a sexual-misconduct investigation were promoted to key positions in the Oakland Police Department.

Anne Kirkpatrick, hired as chief in January, announced her command staff May 2, but the changes were not official until the promotions and award ceremony at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Members of the media and a small group of protesters were not allowed inside, in a departure from past practice of opening such events to the public.

On June 21, court-appointed attorneys Edward Swanson and Audrey Barron released a damning report of OPD’s initial fall 2015 investigation into the sexual exploitation of the teenage daughter of a police dispatcher who had sex with multiple officers, some allegedly while she was underage. The report tore apart the department’s handling of the investigation, which was closed quickly without any action against officers allegedly involved. It also faulted three of the people who were lauded at Friday’s ceremony with either promotions or an award.

Earlier this week, Kirkpatrick stood by her decision and, though she gave no comments Friday, reaffirmed her position by continuing with the day’s program.

“We have to look back at where we have been and where we are today,” police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson said after the ceremony. “The promotions are going to stand at this time.”

Swanson and Barron’s report concluded that members of the department conducted an inept investigation of the claims first brought to them in a September 2015 suicide note by Officer Brendan O’Brien. Other than with then-police Chief Sean Whent, the report used only titles to describe individuals involved in the initial investigation. But they were identified by using staff rosters and court records from that time as:

• Roland Holmgren, the former lieutenant over the homicide unit, was promoted to captain. Holmgren and commanders from internal affairs and special victims unit watched as homicide investigators Jason Andersen and Brad Baker interviewed the young woman, who formerly called herself Celeste Guap.

According to Swanson and Barron, the homicide investigators blamed the teenager for O’Brien’s suicide and stood by as she deleted evidence from her cellphone. Holmgren eventually closed the homicide unit’s investigation believing there wasn’t enough evidence against any one police officer. Holmgren was not available to respond after Friday’s ceremony.

• John Lois, promoted to deputy chief over the Bureau of Investigations about a month before the sex scandal investigation, was promoted Friday to assistant chief, the department’s second highest-ranking position. As deputy chief, Lois supervised two units that quickly closed their investigation into the matter. Lois was out of state at a training seminar on Friday.

• Andersen, the former homicide sergeant, received a Silver Star Medal on Friday.

In addition, an officer identified by two police sources as facing an internal affairs investigation for allegedly having sex in the basement of police headquarters was among a unit of officers that received an award.

Sources within City Hall and the police department, who weren’t authorized to speak publicly, have said the promotions were approved by federal court monitor Robert Warshaw. Although the promotions were announced before the Swanson and Barron report was released, Warshaw and Kirkpatrick had the authority to demote anyone at the rank of deputy chief and above, but did not, an indication Warshaw can live with the new command structure.

It was Warshaw who put Lois in charge of a second internal investigation that was launched in March 2016 after the federal judge overseeing reforms at the police department first heard about O’Brien’s suicide and the allegations in his suicide note. The second probe resulted in the discipline of 12 OPD officers, including four terminations. The District Attorney’s Office criminally charged four current or former Oakland officers.

Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson gave city leaders a deadline of two months to file a report assessing how the initial investigation was handled and how the police department is reacting to specific recommendations in the Swanson/Barron report, including fixing its internal affairs unit. Civil rights attorneys had asked for a harsher order requiring possible sanctions against the department.

Kirkpatrick has vowed to comply with Henderson’s order.

“Mayor (Libby) Schaaf shares Judge Henderson’s full confidence in Chief Kirkpatrick’s strong track record and proven moral compass,” her spokesman, Michael Hunt, said. “She has demonstrated that she is fully committed to correcting the errors of the past, to gaining full compliance and, most importantly, to establishing a sustainable future.”

But protesters who showed up Friday morning do not think the investigation has gone far enough. A group of about two dozen people holding signs were kept out of the church’s parking lot.

Media were barred from attending the ceremony, a break from the department’s usual practice of allowing press to observe and document academy graduations and other ceremonial programs. Reporters and photographers were kept about 50 yards from the church’s entrance. Watson said the media blackout was to avoid disruptions during an event for officers and their families. Schaaf, City Administrator Sabrina Landreth and Councilwoman Desley Brooks attended.

Outside, along Lincoln Avenue, Nanci Armstrong-Temple of the Anti Police Terror Project said Kirkpatrick’s promotions of Lois and Holmgren left her “mortified.”

“I think they should be put on leave and investigated just like what would happen in any job,” Armstrong-Temple said. “If you are wearing a badge, the standards for your conduct should be higher, not lower.”

The group, which conducts citizen investigations of officer-involved shootings, also wants the city to defund the police department.

“This is what she calls getting rid of the good old boys? Promoting two of them?” Armstrong-Temple said of the chief.