The City of Oakland released an independent report that they commissioned to review the police department's actions during the Occupy Oakland protests on October 25th. The report found that the police response was "flawed by inadequate staffing, insufficient planning, lack of understanding of modern crowd management techniques, and outdated policies and protocols."
The report makes 68 recommendations for improvements to how the police department handles protests. Some of the big ones are to revise the Use of Force and Mutual Aid policies. It also cites three fundamental reasons why the police were ill-equipped to handle Occupy Oakland protesters: lack of consistency in leadership, little emphasis on career development and training, and staff cuts.
While mostly damning of the City's response, the report does give city officials some credit for immediately taking steps to implement many of the recommendations -- according to the City 74 percent are currently underway or completed.