Robert Warshaw, the federal monitor overseeing court-ordered reforms in the Detroit Police Department, is being investigated for making inappropriate sexual advances on the city administrator in Oakland, Calif., where he holds a similar post, according to multiple Bay Area media reports.
Warsaw was appointed in Detroit after the previous monitor, Sheryl Robinson Wood, was reported to have had an inappropriate relationship with former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
Oakland City Administrator Deanna Santana reported that Warshaw made inappropriate advances toward her earlier this year, and the Oakland City Attorney’s Office said that it has launched an investigation into Santana’s complaint, according to the East Bay Express.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported sources said Warshaw made remarks in private conversations with Santana that she took as inappropriate.
In one case, Warshaw allegedly took the hand of the married mother of two and told her she looked “stunning.”
Warshaw also allegedly used abusive language when talking to Santana about Police Chief Howard Jordan, the city says.
Oakland attorneys John Burris and Jim Chanin, who are involved in monitoring the Oakland Police Department, have demanded an investigation into who leaked Santana’s allegations to the press.
They note that the timing of the allegations is suspicious because court monitor Warshaw has been highly critical of the OPD and its failure to implement the reforms it agreed to make. Warshaw and his team are also close to releasing new progress reports on the department.
The Metro Times reported in May that the most recent monitor's report on the Detroit police showed the city is 83 percent compliant in reforms it agreed to make under federal supervision.
Washaw noted in the report's executive summary that since 2009 the DPD has made a serious and determined effort to comply with the requirements of the consent judgments. However, Washaw also notes that, "even with this movement forward ... it is clear that hard work, perhaps the hardest work so far, remains ahead."
Warshaw is a former police chief and antidrug official in the Clinton administration.
