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Oakland police under scrutiny in new misconduct case

Department has come under further scrutiny over a criminal case that led to someone in the agency being placed on administrative leave

By Kristin Bender
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — Already rocked by a sexual misconduct scandal, the Oakland Police Department has come under further scrutiny over an unrelated criminal case that led to someone in the agency being placed on administrative leave, officials said.

Prosecutors in Alameda County have been asked to investigate the new criminal misconduct case, Mayor Libby Schaaf said Thursday in a written statement.

She released few details but said the matter is not related to alleged sexual misconduct involving a sex worker and sworn personnel from the Oakland Police Department and other law enforcement agencies.

“This is an effort to reassure the public that we are taking swift action to address every instance of misconduct,” Schaaf said in the statement released with City Administrator Sabrina Landreth.

Schaaf previously ordered that any allegation involving on- or off-duty criminal misconduct by an employee of the police department must be immediately reported to prosecutors.

Earlier this week, Schaaf removed the interim police chief she had appointed just a week earlier to get a handle on what she called the “disgusting allegations” that officers had sex with the 18-year-old woman.

The teenager has alleged in media interviews that two dozen current and former officers in five San Francisco Bay Area cities had sex with her while she was working as a prostitute. Most of the accused officers worked for the Oakland Police Department.

Encounters with three of the officers took place when she was a minor, the woman has said.

The Associated Press does not generally name people who say they are victims of sex crimes.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press