Joseph B. Williams and Leo Bazile v. Joseph L. Alioto

This is an appeal from a judgment of the district court awarding attorneys’ fees to the appellees as prevailing parties in their civil rights action against officials of the City of San Francisco and officials of the Police Department. The appellees in two consolidated actions challenged police practices, which occurred from April 17, 1974 to April 25,1974, known as “Operation Zebra.” A series of unsolved murders had occurred in San Francisco, and the San Francisco Police Department initiated a special investigative procedure known as “Operation Zebra” to attempt to identify and capture the killer or killers. Police directives and mem-oranda authorized officers to stop and frisk black males resembling two composite drawings and having described physical characteristics, with no other indication that they had engaged in or were engaging in criminal activity. Over 600 persons were stopped and “pat searched” in the course of the operation.

The plaintiffs in the two actions sought declaratory and injunctive relief on behalf of black male persons who had been stopped, or were subject to being stopped, pursuant to the “Operation Zebra” practices. After an evidentiary hearing the…