OAKLAND -- Time is not on the side of Oakland's new police chief.
If it were up to most city leaders, Howard Jordan, a 46-year-old former Navy man and Oakland police lifer, would get years to leave his stamp on a department that is fighting an upswing in crime with far fewer officers than just two years ago.
However, it's not. It's up to federal Judge Thelton Henderson, who last month wrote that he was in "disbelief" at the department's lack of progress in implementing 51 reform measures it agreed to nine years ago when Oakland settled the Riders police misconduct lawsuit.
Jordan is new to the job, but he heads a department that is late in the game when it comes to meeting the terms of its settlement agreement. The reforms were to have been implemented four years ago.
Last month, Henderson stripped Jordan of autonomy on several fronts, requiring him to consult with a court-appointed monitor on tactical initiatives, personnel decisions, and policy changes. He also gave Oakland mere months to show that it was progressing on the reforms or risk becoming the nation's first city to lose control of its police department.
"This year is going to be critical," said Sgt. Bob Crawford, the department's longest-serving officer.
For many officers, the specter of a federal takeover doesn't loom large. Their duties won't change whether their chief answers to the city administrator or a federal judge.
But for Oakland officials
and community leaders, losing control would be devastating and potentially expensive. And Jordan, taking over at such a critical juncture, is predestined to be a noteworthy chief -- leading the department either to its renewal or disgrace.
Tasks at hand
Jordan, who first joined the department in 1988, says Oakland police excel at fighting crime, but struggle to win hearts.
"I think we're not as good as dealing with the community and how we treat the community," he said during a recent extended interview. "For whatever reason, we have an us-against-them mentality. We don't treat the public with the respect they deserve."
Jordan, who was officially named chief Feb. 1, said he is forming community groups to help devise training models and help officers interact better with residents. He also will appoint his own community advisory council as a sounding board for new initiatives, and will try to broaden the city's community policing program to include a wider spectrum of residents.
He's no stranger to the settlement agreement hanging over his head, previously serving as one of the department's point persons on compliance. He said he will make sure his directives are clear to officers, and will hold accountable anyone who stymies progress.
"I think it has to do with a lack of attention to detail by some of my command staff," he said.
Jordan also said he's learned from police responses to previous Occupy incidents, some of which are being independently investigated, but added that it was too early to say whether the police action has been too heavy-handed.
"I'm not going to tolerate people throwing things and assaulting our officers," he said. "As police chief, I'm not going to let my officers stand out there and get assaulted."
From Brooklyn to Oakland
Jordan may well be Oakland's only officer whose path to the city is rooted in dental prosthetics. Born in Guyana, and raised in East Flatbush, a mostly African-American and West-Indian section of Brooklyn, N.Y., Jordan went to a technical high school where he concentrated in making fake teeth and gums.
Upon graduation, he joined the Navy, even though he couldn't swim, in part because it had a similar dental program.
His only childhood encounter with police came as he was hurrying home from swim class in preparation for the Navy. He sneaked around the crowded subway fare turnstiles and hopped on to a waiting train where an officer happened to be on board.
"He gave me a ticket," Jordan said through clenched teeth -- as if 30 years later he's still kicking himself for not plunking down his subway token and waiting for the next train.
Jordan's last deployment was at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, where he lived off-base in East Oakland and fell in love with the city. "I remember driving up 73rd Avenue. I couldn't believe how clean and quiet and nice it was."
One day, while still in the Navy, Jordan was driving near 73rd and MacArthur, where he watched two police officers lose sight of a suspect hiding under a car.
"I pulled into the gas station at the corner, and I signaled to the officers, 'the guy's right there,' " Jordan recalled. "They took him into custody, and I felt like, 'Geez, that's pretty good, catching a bad guy.' "
Fit for toughest job
While no trace of Brooklyn remains in Jordan's voice, his erect posture and steady disposition ooze Navy, as does his tidy office, where the walls are still mostly barren except for paraphernalia of his favorite football teams: the New York Giants and the University of Michigan Wolverines.
Police speak highly of Jordan, both as an officer and a manager.
Crawford said that Jordan, as a lieutenant, went to bat for him when other city departments were trying to take away tools to close crack houses. "Instead of going with the flow, he backed me. I've worked with others who didn't," Crawford said.
Retired police Officer Ron Oznowicz said Jordan was a good listener, who walked around the department engaging officers, and quickly addressing their concerns, sometimes by email or text. "He's the first chief to do that in a long time," Oznowicz said. "I've heard people say, 'Wow, he's responsive.' "
Former Chief Wayne Tucker, who twice promoted Jordan, said he was the best internal candidate to run the department. "Jordan is fully committed to the welfare of the city," Tucker said. "I think that's his chief attribute. He really wants to do this."
Challenges await
Even if Jordan didn't have to satisfy an increasingly impatient federal judge, he still would have one of toughest police jobs in the country.
He must deal with a City Council that has sparred with past chiefs, a tough-minded and powerful union, a stop-snitching movement that has made it harder for police to solve major crimes and the remnants of Occupy Oakland that have identified police as their main adversary -- all with a force that has seen its numbers dwindle to the point that it can't respond to all calls for service.
"Being a police officer in the city of Oakland is like drinking water from a fire hose," Tucker said. "It's nonstop."
The Riders lawsuit was a federal civil action provoked by a group of rogue officers that planted drugs on suspects and wrote false reports. The reforms spelled out in the settlement agreement no doubt would improve department protocols, but they involve a lot of paperwork and time. "Up until now, complying with the settlement agreement and doing police work have been at odds," Oznowicz said. "If Jordan can provide officers clarity about how they are to go about their job and satisfy the (settlement agreement), Oakland will have a much better police department."
Department critics say they're troubled by Jordan's handling of Occupy Oakland, but they are still holding out hope for his tenure. Jim Chanin, a civil rights attorney who represented the plaintiffs in the Riders case, said Jordan needed to hold his supervisors accountable for the settlement deal.
"I do believe he knows the right thing to do," Chanin said. "The question in my mind is whether he has the strength to do it, and will he get the team in place that can help him do it."