United States AttorneyÔøΩs Office

450 Golden Gate Avenue

11^th Floor

San Francisco, CA 94102

October 2, 2003

Dear Attorney Ryan:

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, urge you, on behalf of the United States Department of Justice, to file federal civil rights charges against the four former Oakland Police Officers known as the ÔøΩRiders.ÔøΩ As more information becomes available about the juryÔøΩs deliberative process, there can be no doubt that justice has not been served in the Alameda County criminal trial. For all of the reasons that have been cited from various sources in the last few days that help to explain the reasons for the juryÔøΩs inability to reach unanimity, or even consensus, on most of the allegations, this outcome cannot be allowed to stand.

Oakland has been racked with violence on its streets; it is unconscionable to create a circumstance that seems to endorse institutional violence as an acceptable remedy. For years, Oakland has been promised ÔøΩcommunity policing,ÔøΩ and many efforts have been made by the Oakland Police Department to win the confidence and trust of many sectors of OaklandÔøΩs community who feel antipathy towards police officers. Indeed, the police themselves have described their difficulty in apprehending criminals by citing the ÔøΩunwillingnessÔøΩ of community members to provide the police with information.

It is imperative that the United States Department of Justice send a strong message to the community that affirms the notion that the police are not above the law simply by virtue of their mandate to be law enforcers. The young and people of color, the vast majority of the victims of police misconduct in Oakland and other urban communities, require the AttorneyÔøΩs Office to protect their civil rights. Their rights have been compromised by those who would use the ÔøΩprofileÔøΩ of the victims of police brutality as the basis for defending the illegal tactics of these police officers. If the failure to find that these officersÔøΩ behavior was reprehensible, illegal and unacceptable is the ÔøΩfinal wordÔøΩ on this disgraceful chapter in OaklandÔøΩs history, the message to present and future police officers will be that they may continue to perform their duties by engaging in illegal activities with impunity because they are immune from prosecution.

As a result of the RidersÔøΩ conduct, the City of Oakland has settled in a federal Civil Rights lawsuit with 119 victims. More importantly, the City has entered into a settlement agreement that subjects the police department to an outside monitoring team who report directly to Federal Judge Thelton Henderson. The reforms called for by this agreement which require compliance at every level of the Oakland Police Department will be negatively impacted, emboldening those who are resistant to these reforms, unless the Justice Department steps in to right the wrongs that have occurred at the Superior Court level.

For these reasons, we implore your office to proceed immediately to file federal charges against these four officers, and, additionally, to call upon the F.B.I. to pursue and apprehend ex-officer Francisco Vasquez who is a fugitive, believed to be residing in Mexico. We are requesting that you inform us, in writing, of your decision no later than October 10^th.

Thank you for your deep and careful consideration of this urgent matter.

Yours truly,