Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong fired over response to misconduct

Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong (right)

The mayor of Oakland, California, has fired the city's police chief for allegedly downplaying an officer's misconduct.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao placed police chief LeRonne Armstrong on leave last month after findings from an investigation were released.

The report alleged Mr Armstrong had failed to adequately discipline a sergeant involved in a hit-and-run.

"This was not an easy decision," Ms Thao said.

"But it's one I believe it's necessary for [reform] progress to continue," she said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The Oakland Police Department has been under federal oversight for two decades - the longest of any police department in the US - because of a police corruption scandal in 2000 involving an anti-gang unit called "The Riders".

Mr Armstrong is one of seven police chiefs to leave the department within the past seven years.

In March 2021, a police officer, Sgt. Michael Chung, was involved in a hit-and-run crash while in a department vehicle and later fired his service weapon in a department elevator.

He failed to report the crash and attempted to cover up both of the actions, according to a January 2023 independent probe.

Mr Armstrong signed off on an internal investigation into the incident - which said no department rules had been violated - without reading it, the January 2023 report alleged.

Mr Armstrong downplayed concerns about police officer misconduct and disregarded the independent investigation, which found "serious flaws in the disciplinary process", Ms Thao said on Wednesday.

In a statement after the firing, Mr Armstrong said he was "deeply disappointed" by the mayor's decision.

"After the relevant facts are fully evaluated by weighing evidence instead of pulling soundbites from strategically leaked, inaccurate reports, it will be clear I was a loyal and effective reformer of the Oakland Police Department," he said.

"It will be equally clear that I committed no misconduct, and my termination is fundamentally wrong, unjustified, and unfair."

Ms Thao - who was elected last year - said on Wednesday she was committed to reforming the city's police department "not by checking boxes, but by instilling a culture of integrity and fairness at every level".

"I am no longer confident that Chief Armstrong can do the work needed to achieve [that] vision," she said.