OAKLAND — A federal monitor overseeing reforms in the Oakland police department criticized the city’s reported dramatic drop in use of force, finding cases in which officers never reported drawing their guns on citizens, as required by department policy.

Robert Warshaw, the court-appointed monitor and compliance director, wrote in a report released Thursday that the officers should have reported the incidents as a use of force and supervisors should have caught the omissions. The report

His report questioning the use of force data the city has proudly promoted this year is the latest stumbling block in the city’s efforts to finally fully comply with the federal settlement reached 15 years ago in the wake of the Riders police misconduct scandal. The group of rogue officers, known as the “Riders,” were accused of beating up and planting drugs on West Oakland residents.

“While to date, we have found no instance where the force used was unwarranted or inconsistent with policy, the actions described above are troubling and appear to depict reportable force that was, in fact, not reported,” Warshaw wrote. “This would indicate a significant supervisory failure.”

Between 2012 and 2017, use of force by Oakland police dropped by 75 percent and the decline continues. So far this year, such incidents fell 34 percent compared to the same period in 2017, according to records.

Warshaw reviewed 29 cases and associated police body camera footage from a three-month period this year. Footage showed three cases in which officers pointed their guns directly at a subject, and four instances where officers used physical force to take someone into custody, according to the report. In the 10 body camera videos reviewed, six of the cases showed seven incidents which “raised some possible concerns,” he wrote.

“It is important to note that supervisors approved these reports — even though there were no accompanying force reports,” Warshaw said.

Officer Marco Marquez, a police spokesman, said the department is talking with the monitor about his concerns. He declined further comment, calling the matter a personnel issue.

Because of the findings, Warshaw said his monitoring team is reviewing cases from the second quarter of 2018. The police department’s Office of Inspector General, according to Warshaw, is conducting its own internal review.

Justin Berton, a spokesman for Mayor Libby Schaaf, said the internal review is “intensive and ongoing.”

“Public trust in the accuracy of data — particularly around use of force — is vital to the community-police relationship,” Berton said.

Since federal oversight began in 2003, the police department was required to achieve 52 specific reforms. Initially, the oversight was intended to last five years, but the department has not yet reached full compliance in three areas: complaint procedures for internal affairs; racial disparities in traffic stops; and implementing a new risk-assessment computer system. The department’s review of use of force is not one of the outstanding tasks — compliance was reached in 2014 — but Warshaw said the city’s positive data needed “further validation.”

Rashidah Grinage, an activist with the Coalition for Police Accountability, said Warshaw’s report demonstrates why the city’s new independent citizen police commission is needed. Voters approved the establishment of the commission in 2016, making it one of the most powerful of its kind in the nation.

“I think this goes to the heart of why we are still under federal oversight,” Grinage said. “It goes to the ongoing level of disobedience of their own rules. You know what the rules are, you know you need to file a use of force report, but you don’t. The question becomes, who is watching the store?”

The Warshaw report also disagreed with the department’s use of force review board in one case, a police stop of a man jaywalking in the early morning hours. After the individual tried to walk away from police, officers used an “armbar hammerlock, a bent wrist hold, and a leg sweep” to arrest him. The man’s arm was broken. Three OPD commanders on the force review board concluded the use of force was consistent with policy.