Federal monitors overseeing the reform of the Oakland Police Department have a heavy workload in ensuring that the department avoid federal receivership. This is according to a city contract representing a window into the ongoing monitoring process at police headquarters being done by a seven-person team from Police Performance Solution.

The New Hampshire-based organization has a two-year contract with the city that runs out in 2014.

The $1.8 million contract for the federal monitors - which OL obtained using the Freedom of Information Act - spells out the specific details about the reform process, including how monitors are examining OPD's use of force and investigations into officer misconduct. Each monitor, or senior consultant, is being paid $175 an hour for work, according to the contract.

The monitoring team recently was given additional oversight duties by U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson who has repeatedly voiced his frustration over OPD's failure to fully comply with all of the agreed upon reforms. Henderson is threatening to put the police department in federal receivership.

The Negotiated Settlement Agreement represents deep systematic changes that the department must successfully undergo. But despite the extensive work being done by monitors, OPD has struggled to come into compliance, even as city officials and police brass publicly pledge to implement all reform measures.

Among other things, the contract outlines a 15-step plan for compliance monitoring. Besides quarterly site visits and data collection, the federal monitors hold monthly conferences with city and police officials and approve specific policy issues for the Oakland police. The group also conducts random audits of OPD. The quarterly visits are a minimum of one-week, on-site observations.

The contract also goes into great detail about the background of the individual monitors, noting that "team members" have worked with groups that include the NAACP, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Officials and the Urban League.

"Such diversity will be important to insure community confidence in the work of the monitor," the contract says.

Monitors say in the city contract that they strive to treat the police department fairly.

"There will be no surprises," the contract reads. "The team will work closely with these individuals during the site visit (and) will provide technical assistance to assist them in achieving their objectives."

The agreement states that the monitors are not running the Oakland Police Department.

"PPS clearly understands that the monitor measures and evaluates compliance and does not manage the department. PPS will avoid any activity that could be construed as intruding on the management prerogatives of the chief and his subordinates," it states.

Besides six law enforcement "practitioners," the monitors also are made up of one academic - John Klofas, who chairs the criminal justice program at Rochester Institute of Technology.

A former set of monitors originally oversaw the department's reform efforts. Their work ended in 2010. The current set of federal monitors reportedly have high hopes for how the reform efforts will change the police department.

"When properly implemented, these revisions will enhance police accountability to the community, increase individual and organizational integrity and minimize the risk of police misconduct, especially with respect to the use of excessive force," the contract reads.

The civil lawsuit from which the Negotiated Settlement Agreement stems from is connected to the Riders Scandal, which was a series of alleged bad practices by Oakland police that included the use of excessive force, unjustified arrests and falsification of evidence. One officer who was a defendant in the Riders case fled to Mexico and has yet to be captured.