Former Oakland Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick continued a weeklong media tour in which she has unloaded criticism on political adversaries who got her fired by announcing Thursday she intends to file a lawsuit against the city.

Joined by Howard Jordan, who preceded her as chief of Oakland’s force, as well as City Councilman Noel Gallo, Kirkpatrick took direct aim at the department’s longtime federal monitor, Robert Warshaw.

Warshaw, appointed to monitor the department’s progress on court-ordered reforms after a police abuse scandal and 2003 lawsuit settlement, has come under mounting scrutiny in recent months. On Thursday, Kirkpatrick alleged the federal monitor is more concerned about continuing to get paychecks from Oakland than helping the department achieve federal compliance.

“What disturbs me the most is when you realize that the reform process has been adulterated, rank and file no longer believes,” Kirkpatrick said. “And you will never get culture change unless you believe in these changes.”

Kirkpatrick said she has retained attorneys John Keker and Jamie Slaughter of the San Francisco firm Keker Van Nest & Peters, but she declined to say specifically who would be named as defendants in her lawsuit.

The ex-chief hinted that the suit would center on the Oakland Police Commission, the civilian oversight body which, along with Mayor Libby Schaaf, fired Kirkpatrick without cause two weeks ago.

Kirkpatrick suggested she was the subject of “illegal actions” that included retaliation and comments about her gender, age and race.

“I believe in citizen oversight; I have not backed away from that position one iota,” she said, adding that “this particular Police Commission” does not serve Oakland’s best interest.

In the days after her firing, commissioners cited a variety of reasons for Kirkpatrick’s dismissal, some of which were connected to the department backslide on reforms. Last year, Warshaw found that Oakland police regressed on five of its previously completed “tasks,” leaving the department with eight areas to improve.

Jordan, an Oakland police veteran who helmed the department for 19 months before stepping down for medical reasons in May 2013, echoed Kirkpatrick’s statements about Warshaw. Both chiefs said Warshaw’s advice has been overly vague, and they accused him of moving the goalposts in ways that would consistently keep compliance out of reach.

“We asked him, ‘What do we need to do to get us into compliance?’ His response was, ‘Keep persevering,’” Jordan said. “We try to get specific direction from him — we made a spreadsheet, a matrix, (and) we’re still out of compliance with that particular task.”

Others have pushed back on the narrative, though, saying a series of incidents — including the 2018 shooting of a homeless man and a sex scandal involving multiple officers — as well as a lack of leadership within the department have been to blame for the protracted oversight.

Warshaw and his team earn about $1 million annually through Warshaw’s dual roles as monitor and compliance director, roles he has held since 2010 and 2014, respectively. Monitor-related fees make up the bulk of taxpayer funds paid in the 17 years of oversight, amounting to more than $17 million of the $28 million in total costs.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick, who presides over the case, orders the city to pay these fees in lump sums, and the city does not have access to itemized expenses. The Chronicle’s multiple requests to obtain these records from Orrick were denied.

Councilman Gallo said he was headed Thursday to Washington, D.C., where he will meet with Department of Justice officials and members of Congress to call for Warshaw’s termination.

Mayor Schaaf said in a statement that she shares frustrations with the length and costs of the federal oversight that came out of a settlement agreement 17 years ago.

“I will always welcome any assessment and analysis that brings clarity and speed to resolve this issue,” she said.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy