Mayor Jean Quan says no to 'stop-frisk' OAKLAND

With a critical vote on Oakland's proposal to hire controversial police consultant William Bratton days away, Mayor Jean Quan said Friday she does not favor the "stop-and-frisk" policy - "not the way people have been describing it" - that the former Los Angeles police chief and New York police commissioner has supported.

"You don't have to do random stopping of people. I don't support that," Quan said in a phone interview from Washington, where she is attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors and meeting with federal law enforcement officials. "I don't believe in just random stopping of people walking down the streets."

Quan has proposed hiring Bratton as part of a $250,000 consulting contract that would help the city develop a short-term crime-fighting strategy. Bratton is known for his innovative - and aggressive - crime-fighting strategies, including stop-and-frisk, in which officers stop, question and possibly frisk suspicious persons.

Critics of the Oakland proposal have focused on stop-and-frisk, which they say is simply a form of racial profiling. At a raucous, five-hour Public Safety Committee meeting last Tuesday, hundreds of protesters rallied outside City Hall then packed the council chambers, lining up to criticize Bratton and stop-and-frisk. The committee, nonetheless, approved the consulting contract, which will be considered by the council Tuesday.

Urges council to sign

Quan sought to temper the controversy Friday, and turn the focus away from stop-and-frisk with an "open letter" to council members. In it, she urges the council to sign the contract with Bratton, whom she hails as "among the best minds in modern policing."

"His record is clear: As a chief in New York City and Los Angeles, he oversaw record drops in crime that were consistent and sustained," she wrote.

Quan said much of Bratton's focus in Oakland would be to improve the Police Department's CompStat system, which tracks crime data and predicts trends. The mayor did not mention stop-and-frisk in her letter but acknowledged the criticism of Bratton.

"We've been hearing worries that Bratton's past policies could be used in Oakland in a way that contributes to racial profiling," she wrote. "I want to address those concerns in the clearest words I can find: Racial profiling will not be tolerated in the Oakland Police Department. Period."

Bratton's work in Los Angeles, wrote Quan, helped improve troubled relationships with the community, including civil rights groups and community leaders.

"The goals of fighting crime and improving police relationships in our communities are not at odds with each other," her letter stated. "Instead, they are crucial to one another, and once cannot be done without the other."

An advisory role

In her letter, and in the interview, Quan stressed that Bratton's role would be advisory, and that any decisions on policies would be made by her and Police Chief Howard Jordan, not Bratton.

"Bill (Bratton) is not here to set out policy," she said in the interview. "The chief has said he doesn't favor stop-and-frisk."

Bratton, in an interview with CBS 5 last week, defended stop-and-frisk and said its use is more common than most people know.

"For any city to say they don't do stop-and-frisk ... I'm sorry, they don't know what the hell they're talking about," he said. "Every police department in America does it. The challenge is to do it constitutionally within the law. The challenge is to do it compassionately; you're dealing with human beings. And the challenge is to do it consistently so you cannot be accused that you're only doing it in one neighborhood in the city or directed against one population of the city."

Federal court finding

Earlier this month, a federal court found unconstitutional a portion of New York's stop-and-frisk policy involving searches of people outside buildings posted against trespassing.

Quan's letter impressed at least one council member, Libby Schaaf, who predicted the council will approve the consulting contract.

"That was a fabulous letter," she said. "It set the record straight about what Bill has accomplished and it sent the message that we have got to focus on fixing this problem and using the best resources available to do it."