Chief Word as assembled from four-years worth of Indymedia photography in Oakland.

With Police Chief Richard Word leaving the mean streets of Oakland for the greener pastures of Vacaville, in Solano County, let's review some of the headlines from his tenure as boss of "Jerry's gang" (gathered in part from a 10/22 article in the Berkeley Daily Planet).

Chief Word presided over the riders' scandal, in which four police officers were arrested for allegedly beating citizens, planting evidence, falsifying police reports, lying on the witness stand, and stealing drugs and money from arrestees. The accused police officers say they got the green light to "bend the law" from Mr. Word himself, who wanted the officers to "clean up" West Oakland.

But the Riders were only the most glaring example of a larger story; the city was forced to pay out an $11 million police misconduct lawsuit settlement to 119 plaintiffs because of police actions similar to the ones that got the Riders in trouble. The Oakland Police Department was also placed into a court-ordered program to monitor its efforts at reform.

OPD's chance for a little of what law enforcement calls "anti-terrorism" action came in April 2003 at the Port of Oakland, when the the Oakland police fired tear gas and wooden dowels and tossed concussion grendades at unarmed antiwar protesters, causing serious injuries and receiving reprimands from the United Nations and Amnesty International. One month earlier at another antiwar protest, Oakland police officers reportedly used their motorcycles to run over high-school students on Broadway.

The Oakland Police Dept. spent a million dollars a year in police overtime, over many years, in a poorly planned and poorly executed attempt to shutdown Oakland's sideshow scene, with rather damaging results for police-citizen relations. Read more in Berkeley Daily Planet article by J. Douglas Allen-Taylor

Word's failures as Police Chief leave Oakland residents debating this election season between giving even more money to the police, in the form of 63 new officers, or investing in other areas where the City of Oakland is suffering: schools, afterschool programs, rec centers, libraries, healthcare, jobs, food, and housing.

Here are a few Indymedia headlines from Word's term at the helm of the OPD:

• Pre-trial in Judi Bari vs. FBI; Trial set for October 1
• Community Organizing Against Police Brutality on Both Sides of the Bay
• Oct 22nd Protest in Oakland Against Police Brutality
• Community Protests Murder by Oakland PD
• Global Apartheid in Oakland: Some of Riders Gang on Trial
• Bari v. FBI Trial Underway
• Rally Kicks off Trial
• Corrupt Oakland Police Trial Begins 5/28
• FBI Tries to Stop Jury from Reading Constitution
• Oakland Cops on Trial for Widespread Corruption, Frame-ups, Beatings
• FBI LOSES: Jury Awards $4.4 Million Against FBI
• Activists Win In Judi Bari Trial
• Hundreds Demonstrate Against Police Brutality in Oakland
• Port Of Oakland Shut Down: Police Fire Concussion Grenades and Wooden Bullets at Protesters and Dock Workers
• Community Responds to Oakland Police Violence
• California counter-terrorism agency monitoring peace activists, equates them with terrorists
• Oakland to Pay $2M to settle Bari lawsuit
• "I'm an ass man," says arresting officer in police report
• Former Educator's Charge of Prostitution Reduced to Disturbing the Peace
• Riots On International Blvd Following Raiders Super Bowl Loss
• Oakland Students Detained, Searched and Threatened by Racist Police
• OPD Harass Students "Under Suspicion of Being Black"
• Stop the Nuisance Eviction Ordinance
• Remember the Shots! Return to the Docks!
• Will Oakland Fire Racist Cops?
• DA Drops Charges Against Oakland 25 Protesters
• Oakland Organizes Against Measure Y- No More Police Funding