Oakland to introduce new police chief

Oakland officials will announce Wednesday the selection of Anne Kirkpatrick as the city’s new police chief.

Kirkpatrick, who headed the Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Professional Standards, will be introduced as Oakland’s new top cop at a news conference scheduled for noon at City Hall.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, City Administrator Sabrina Landreth and other city and civic leaders are expected to attend.

The Oakland Police Department had a tumultuous 2016 headlined by a sexual misconduct scandal involving a teenager that resulted in some officers being fired and criminally charged.

Former Chief Sean Whent suddenly resigned in June amid the scandal and multiple interim chiefs lasted only a few days before Schaaf put Landreth in charge of the Police Department.

Acting Assistant Chief David Downing had been overseeing tactical and operational matters since then.

Kirkpatrick was the police chief in Spokane, Washington, before moving to the position in Chicago.