Office of the Inspector General

Michelle N. Phillips was appointed as the first independent Inspector General for the City of Oakland in January 2022. She has spent her professional career conducting police science research and governmental oversight. In 2004, Ms. Phillips was a correctional officer and used her experience to garner knowledge and a firsthand understanding of the school to prison pipeline. That invaluable experience pivoted her interest into the areas of police technical assistance and research as well as local governmental oversight. She believes those areas are vital in the enforcement and protection of basic civil rights and civil liberties. Prior to her appointment as Oakland’s Inspector General, Ms. Phillips was the Deputy Inspector General of Investigations for the City of Baltimore. Among other things, she was responsible for managing the investigative unit of the office (whose tasks included investigating allegations of fraud, waste, abuse, misconduct, and public corruption). Ms. Phillips assisted in ensuring accountability, transparency, adherence to best practices, policies, procedures, and operations; by managing investigations related to individual allegations of misconduct. In that position, she also oversaw reviews and evaluations of different areas to identify deficiencies, lack of internal controls and areas of risk. The information she derived from investigations, inspections and evaluations would be provided as guidance and recommendations to City officials as ways to improve accountability measures, address identified deficiencies in operations, and mitigate risk. Prior to her promotion as the City of Baltimore’s Deputy Inspector General, Ms. Phillips held the positions of Assistant Inspector General, Special Agent in Charge and Special Agent. Prior to working for the City of Baltimore’s Office of the Inspector General, Ms. Phillips was a Project Associate for the National Police Foundation (now the National Police Institute) where she assisted in the implementation of a nationwide officer-involved shooting database. She also conducted research into community policing in crime hot spots which included social observations of police interactions. She also conducted reviews of police responses to critical incidents which included a mass shooting and a prison riot. Inspector General Phillips holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Coppin State University and a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice, with a specialization in Law and Courts from the University of Baltimore. She is a member of the Association of Inspectors General, a Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Inspector General and member of the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement.