Oakland Police Officers' Association

Suspects in Custody Less Than 100 Hours After the Murder of Oakland Police Officer Tuan Le.

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 21:35:48 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Suspects in Custody Less Than 100 Hours After the Murder of Oakland Police Officer Tuan Le.

OAKLAND, CA – Overnight, less than 100 hours after the murder of Oakland Police Officer Tuan Le, Oakland’s finest and members of the US Marshals Service arrested a key suspect in Livermore.

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President responded to the news of the arrest with the following statement, “Thank you to the members of the Oakland Police Department and allied law enforcement agencies who have worked tirelessly to bring about the swift arrests of suspects involved in our brother’s murder. We continue to grieve along with Officer Le’s family but take solace from the progress of the investigation and the relentless pursuit of justice by the professional and dedicated members of the department. Great job by everyone.”

Officer Le is the 54th Oakland Police Officer killed in the line of duty serving the residents of Oakland.

Please refer to the Oakland Police Department and the Alameda District Attorney’s Office for suspect details.

About the Oakland Police Officers’ Association: The Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) represents all sworn members at all ranks within the Oakland Police Department. Representing the hardest working Police Officers in America. The OPOA can be found on the Web at www.opoa.org.

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Oakland police officer killed in shooting, suspect remains at large

Sat, 30 Dec 2023 01:59:21 GMT

By JAKOB RODGERS | jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group and HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: December 29, 2023 at 7:51 a.m. | UPDATED: December 29, 2023 at 5:36 p.m.

OAKLAND — A plainclothes Oakland police officer died Friday after he was shot while responding to a burglary at a cannabis business along the city’s waterfront, leaving city and police leaders in shock at the first officer slain on duty in Oakland in 14 years.

The undercover officer, identified by police as Tuan Le, was driven by fellow officers to Highland Hospital where he died from his wounds. A manhunt for the gunman continued hours later. No suspect was in custody as of Friday afternoon.

“The dangers and the demands of this profession are real and come with significant sacrifice,” Oakland Police Department Interim Chief Darren Allison said. “Sadly, today one of our officers paid the ultimate sacrifice.”

Le’s death marked the 54th time an Oakland cop has died in the line of duty, dating back to the 1860s, and it touched off a wave of mourning across the city for what the mayor called a “heart-wrenching” death of a member of OPD’s burglary suppression unit.

It comes at a time of unprecedented burglary levels in the city. As of last week, there were more than 17,000 burglaries reported citywide this year, an increase of 24 percent compared to last year and several thousand more than during any year since at least 2008. Of those, roughly 1,600 were commercial burglaries.

The deadly encounter happened during officers’ second pre-dawn trip to a “cannabis-related business” near the city’s Fifth Avenue Marina.

Police first responded at about 1 a.m. to a cannabis-related business on the 400 block of Embarcadero near 5th Avenue for a burglary in progress but found nothing, Allison said. Officers took a report, secured the area and left.

At 4:33 a.m., a team of plainclothes and uniformed officers responded to a second call about the same business. When they arrived, multiple suspects were seen fleeing. One of them fired multiple shots at Le, who was driving with his partner at the time, the chief said. No officers fired their weapons, Allison said.

“Throw and go. Throw and go,” another officer replied, suggesting the officer personally drive the wounded officer to a hospital. Within a few minutes, someone on the radio suggested that the gunman had been in a black vehicle that fled toward Interstate 880.

A white pickup truck, which had at least one bullet hole and shattered windows, remained behind the police tape after it apparently crashed into another truck. Police did not announce any arrests Friday afternoon, nor did they release any suspect description. They urged anyone with information to call police.

Sgt. Barry Donelan, the president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, said the officer died at 8:44 a.m. with his family and fellow officers by his side. In a statement, the police department called Le “a dedicated public servant, loving husband and a cherished member of the Oakland community.”

Le, 36, was born in Saigon and later moved to Oakland and gained his citizenship on Sept. 11, 2001, OPD said. He had been on the force for four years and over the past two years served as a community resource officer in West Oakland.

Before Friday, the most recent on-duty deaths happened on March 21, 2009, when four officers — Mark Dunakin, John Hege, Ervin Romans and Daniel Sakai — were fatally shot by Lovelle Mixon. At the time, it was the nation’s largest single-day loss of life for officers since Sept. 11, 2001.

“Our members are devastated by this unwarranted attack and the loss of one of our family. I am proud of the officers who responded this morning and carried their brother to the hospital on their shoulders,” Donelan said. “As we mourn, rest assured that we are also determined to bring this cop killer to justice.”

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao urged Oaklanders to unite in solidarity after the “heart-wrenching” killing. She was seen personally visiting the hospital Friday morning, where she conferred with police commanders and leaders.

“I am deeply devastated by this heartbreaking news, and I know the entire Oakland community feels the profound impact of this loss,” said Thao, adding that “this senseless act of violence against a member of our police force, the guardians of our City, will not go unanswered.”

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price said her office “is standing by to assist in any way we can and to support the Town in this critical time” and that she told Donelan she “stands ready to prosecute whoever is responsible and hold them accountable for killing this officer.”

Officers and investigators from Oakland, the California Highway Patrol and the Alameda County Sheriff’s swarmed Embarcadero after the shooting — closing both directions from Oak Street to 16th Avenue, along with multiple on-ramps to Interstate 880.

Across town, Highland Hospital became a site of mourning as scores of officers — including at least 50 from the Oakland Police Department and more than 25 from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office — gathered and exchanged hugs. Officers from the California Highway Patrol lined up along 14th Avenue for a procession to ferry Le’s body away from the hospital to the coroner’s office.

“It’s devastating,” said Sgt. Ramon Jacobo of the Oakland Housing Authority Police Department. Other officers from Piedmont, Richmond, Berkeley and Dublin also offered their condolences.

“It’s a family — we’re close knit,” added BART police Deputy Chief Joshua Patzer, whose eyes began to well up while walking outside the hospital.

Jeff Ng, an officer with the California Highway Patrol, was on a morning walk with his dog outside of the hospital when he came across the Oakland officers lined up in honor of their fallen colleague. The sight left him in shock.

“You realize it happens, but it’s different when it’s this close to home,” Ng said. “It’s sort of a reminder that it’s very real — we put ourselves in harms way.”

As Oakland’s Finest Mourns the Loss of One of Own Every Police Officer is Determined to Bring This Cop Killer to Justice.

Sat, 30 Dec 2023 01:54:09 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

As Oakland’s Finest Mourns the Loss of One of Own Every Police Officer is Determined to Bring This Cop Killer to Justice.

OAKLAND, CA – Around 4:30 AM, Oakland Police Officers responded to a burglary in progress in the area of Jack London Square. During the response an Oakland Police Officer was ambushed and shot. Officers on scene transported the wounded officer to the hospital where medical staff worked valiantly to save his life. Sadly, at 8:44 AM the officer passed away with his family and Oakland Police Officers by his side. This officer became the 54th Oakland Police Officer to be killed in the line of duty serving the residents of Oakland.

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan responded to events by stating: “Our members are devastated by this unwarranted attack and the loss of one of our family. I am proud of the officers who responded this morning and carried their brother to the hospital on their shoulders. Their actions personified what it means to be an Oakland police officer.” Donelan continued, “As we mourn, rest assured that we are also determined to bring this cop killer to justice.”

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the suspect in this case should contact the Oakland Police Department.

Chief Darren Allison will conduct a press conference detailing events at 1pm today.

About the Oakland Police Officers’ Association: The Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) represents all sworn members within the Oakland Police Department. Representing the hardest working Police Officers in America. The OPOA can be found on the Web at www.opoa.org.

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San Francisco’s Woes Are Well Known. Across the Bay, Oakland Has Struggled More.

Sun, 17 Dec 2023 22:03:41 GMT

OAKLAND — Suzane Loi has been perched behind the cash register at The Coffee Mill in Oakland, Calif., for 27 years, watching the daily thrum of Grand Avenue through the cafe’s huge windows.

Lately, she has been unnerved by the view.

Thieves have broken into cars at the gas station across the street as their owners stood in disbelief at the pumps, she said. Several times a week, masked burglars have smashed the windows of vehicles parked near her shop.

The Coffee Mill itself has been robbed three times in the last six months, so frequently that her annual insurance premiums have doubled to $12,000.

“When I park my car, I leave my windows open this much,” Ms. Loi said with a note of resignation, holding her hands apart several inches, wide enough to let someone reach into her vehicle without shattering glass.

The surge in crime — in such brazen waves that some community groups have publicly suggested that the National Guard was needed — has shaken even the most loyal residents of Oakland, a city of 420,000 that has long seen itself as California’s scrappy answer to San Francisco.

Across the bay, San Francisco has become a national poster child for pandemic woes, its downtown suffering from vacant storefronts, public drug use and absent workers. But beyond the spotlight, Oakland has had worse problems with crime and homelessness since Covid-19 began, blunting the momentum that had made the city a more desirable — and affordable — alternative for artists and young professionals.

Video Unveiled: Armed Suspect Fires at Oakland Police Sergeant; Witness the Sergeant's Swift and Courageous Response

Sat, 16 Dec 2023 00:35:50 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Video Unveiled: Armed Suspect Fires at Oakland Police Sergeant; Witness the Sergeant's Swift and Courageous Response

OAKLAND – Today, the Oakland Police Department released a remarkable video documenting the courageous response of Sergeant Hamilton during an ambush at city hall in the early hours of November 7, 2023.

In this riveting footage, viewers witness Sergeant Hamilton's unmarked car approach its destination. Suddenly, an armed suspect emerges from behind the vehicle, brandishing a firearm and threatening our unsuspecting sergeant. However, in a remarkable display of bravery and resilience, Sergeant Hamilton swiftly turns the tables on his assailant, putting an end to the attack in a decisive exchange of gunfire. The video can be watched and downloaded via the following link:

https://oaklandca.nextrequest.com/documents/27099088/download

After watching the video, Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan said, “Sergeant Hamilton demonstrated great courage, tactics, and professionalism while under fire in this life-threatening situation. His actions illustrate what Oakland Police officers are made of. We are all thankful and relieved that our colleague went home safe following this unprovoked attack.”

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Video Unveiled: Armed Suspect Fires at Oakland Police Sergeant; Witness the Sergeant's Swift and Courageous Response

Sat, 16 Dec 2023 00:31:31 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

policeofficers@opoa.org

December 15, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Video Unveiled: Armed Suspect Fires at Oakland Police Sergeant; Witness the Sergeant's Swift and Courageous Response

https://oaklandca.nextrequest.com/documents/27099088/download

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Controversy over missed funds to fight retail crime continues in Oakland

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 03:21:41 GMT

Whether it was the mayor, a city department, or someone else who dropped the ball, the auditor hopes to have an answer in February

The head of the Oakland Police Union is fired up after a new report in the online publication The Oaklandside uncovered emails of city staffers questioning OPD’s role in the city’s failure to submit for a state retail theft prevention grant.

And the OPOA thinks Mayor Sheng Thao is now trying to pin it on the police.

“We’re seeing an anti-police campaign smearing the police officers, who did their duty trying to point the finger at those who actually come to work every day and serve this community,” said Barry Donelan, Oakland Police Officers’ Association president. “What we’re seeing now, her administration is pushing out emails suggesting it’s the police department’s fault when in fact, it has nothing to do with us. It’s her administration‘s fault.”

The Mayor has publicly taken responsibility for the misstep, most recently during the State of the City address. And her staff says nothing has changed.

It’s the Oakland Way: Mayor Sheng Thao Blames Cops for Her Own Failure to Apply for a Grant.

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 02:41:59 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

It’s the Oakland Way: Mayor Sheng Thao Blames Cops for Her Own Failure to Apply for a Grant.

OAKLAND, CA – This Summer we learned that the City of Oakland spectacularly missed a grant deadline for a state retail theft prevention grant, missing out on Oakland’s share of the $267 million available to combat crime. Ultimately, Mayor Sheng Thao took responsibility, until now. This week the mayor engaged in revisionist history, by driving an anti-police media campaign pointing the finger of blame at hardworking Oakland Police Officers for her administration’s failure.

The truth is, the Oakland Police Department successfully applies every year for scores of grants and other law enforcement funding via various federal, state, and local opportunities. In this case, the grant application deadline was missed because of the incompetence of the City’s Economic and Workforce Development Department. The police department put together the grant application, and Thao’s staff at the Economic and Workforce Development Department derailed the application by simply missing the deadline to turn it in. Now, they point the finger at police officers for their own failure.

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan responded to Mayor Thao’s revisionist history media attacks by stating; “The failure to apply for this grant was brought to you by the Thao Administration. The same folks that brought us Oakland’s ransomware attack debacle, a year without a permanent police chief, and the elimination of 91 police officer positions in a city with skyrocketing crime. There is no ambiguity where the blame for this epic failure lies, its lies with Mayor Sheng Thao.”

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Attorney: Oakland police sergeant acted in self-defense in fatal shooting The sergeant exchanged gunfire early Tuesday morning with another man, who police identified Friday

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 22:18:53 GMT

OAKLAND — An Oakland police sergeant fatally shot a man Tuesday morning near City Hall after the man confronted him with a pistol and they exchanged gunfire, according to the sergeant’s attorney.

On Friday, the police department identified the man killed as Lloyd Dillard but did not provide an age or place of residence for him. The sergeant’s name has still not been released.

The shooting happened about 4 a.m. Tuesday near the intersection of 16th Street and San Pablo Avenue.

The sergeant, who works in the Internal Affairs Division, which has its office nearby, had just parked his unmarked police car.

The sergeant’s attorney, Harry Stern, of Rains Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver, a law firm that frequently represents law enforcement officers, said the sergeant told him the man began pounding on the trunk of the car.

Stern declined to identify the sergeant, but said he got out of the car to investigate and the other man “for no apparent reason pointed a pistol at him.”

The sergeant ducked back inside the car to try and get away but “was forced to engage in a close quarters gunfight with the suspect who fired at least two shots at him,” Stern said.

The sergeant, who eventually got out of the car, fired more than one shot at the man, Stern said.

Dillard was pronounced dead at the scene. The sergeant was not injured.

The gun the man had was recovered at the scene.

Stern said, “It’s clear the sergeant had no other choice but to defend himself when he was attacked. It was one of the most harrowing incidents I’ve seen, even in the context of the out-of-control crime in the city of Oakland.”

The sergeant, who has more than 20 years on the force, is on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. Those conducting investigations include the police department, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and the Community Police Review Agency.

The investigations will include review of video surveillance of the shooting.

Except for minimum details released the day of the shooting, neither the police department or city officials have released any additional information. Responding to a request Thursday for more information, Mayor Sheng Thao’s office referred the request to the police department. The only new information released was the dead man’s name.

Thieves use backhoe to smash into Oakland, California store, try to rip away ATM

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 22:12:10 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Would-be thieves used a backhoe to bust through the front of an Oakland, California store, causing some $70,000 of damage in a failed attempt to steal an ATM.

Oakland police sergeant fatally shoots suspect after he was ambushed

Fri, 10 Nov 2023 22:10:16 GMT

An Oakland police sergeant was defending himself when he shot and killed a man who targeted him just steps away from the plaza at City Hall, an officer with the police union said. Velena Jones said.

Armed Criminal Picks the Wrong Victim.

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 17:41:43 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Armed Criminal Picks the Wrong Victim.

OAKLAND, CA – At around 4 AM, a veteran Oakland Police officer arrived at Oakland City Hall to start his early morning shift. The officer was confronted by an armed individual who opened fire. In response, the officer discharged their weapon, striking the armed assailant. The officer was uninjured, and the gunman died at the scene.

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan responded to the attack by stating: "This morning at Oakland City Hall, a criminal picked the wrong victim. We are thankful for our officer's safety and equally relieved that community members were not injured during the incident."

Multiple agencies are investigating the incident.

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100 Homicides in 2023: A Continuing Crisis in Oakland

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 13:27:47 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

100 Homicides in 2023: A Continuing Crisis in Oakland

Oakland Records Fourth Consecutive Year with 100 Homicides

2022: Oakland Suffered its 100th Homicide on October 3rd, 2022

2021: Oakland Suffered its 100th Homicide on September 20th, 2021.

2020: Oakland Suffered its 100th Homicide on December 7th, 2020.

OAKLAND – As we approach Mayor Sheng Thao's State of the City address, Oakland faces a critical moment. City officials, law enforcement, community leaders, and concerned citizens must come together to secure our city’s safety, well-being, and prosperity. That need was underlined by the chilling revelation this weekend that Oakland suffered its 100th homicide for the year. 2023 is the fourth consecutive year with 100+ homicides. Before 2020, 2019 had 78 homicides, the seventh consecutive year there were less than 100 killings.

However, 100 homicides in 2023 is not an isolated crime statistic . Startling increases have been reported across all major crime categories, including Robbery (up 35%), Carjacking (up 22%), Motor Vehicle Theft (up 51%), and Burglaries (up 36%).

These statistics paint a stark picture of Oakland's public safety crisis, marked by a shortage of law enforcement personnel, the absence of a permanent police chief, and a mayoral administration that lacks a comprehensive public safety strategy. Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan voiced his concerns, emphasizing, "Residents and police officers anxiously await tomorrow's State of the City address to learn if there's a concrete public safety plan to combat surging crime." Donelan underscored the critical crossroads Oakland's public safety has reached.

Currently, Oakland's police department maintains a sworn staffing of 711 officers, with a maximum budgeted number of 712 officers. This is the lowest budgeted number of police officers Oakland has had since 2014.

Alameda DA’s office hired Pamela Price’s boyfriend, raising nepotism concerns

Mon, 14 Aug 2023 01:59:51 GMT

By JAKOB RODGERS | jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: August 13, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. | UPDATED: August 13, 2023 at 3:04 p.m.

OAKLAND — The office of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price hired her boyfriend for a six-figure salary, despite a past that includes allegations he extorted Richmond business owners for tens of thousands of dollars — a claim that drew the attention of the FBI.

Antwon Cloird joined Price’s team at the beginning of her administration, occupying an office at her headquarters as a “senior program specialist” whose responsibilities the county declined to detail.

Good government groups have long criticized Alameda County for not having a clear nepotism policy, and the lack of rules surrounding the hiring of a romantic partner seems to have benefited Price and Cloird. County officials told this news organization they could not find any documents showing Price voluntarily notified them of the potential conflict of interest.

The couple’s relationship has been an open secret at work, raising the eyebrows of colleagues. And his time in Richmond has brought its own concerns.

Emails obtained by this news organization highlight those concerns. They show that in 2015, Richmond’s mayor, city manager and police chief suspected Cloird, at the time a politically connected nonprofit executive, of shaking down businesses to the tune of $5,000 to $20,000.

Around that time, the FBI began investigating Cloird’s dealings in the city, according to emails and a sworn affidavit filed by an attorney claiming to be an FBI informant in a lawsuit that quoted Cloird as saying “you gots to pay to play” in Richmond. Cloird ultimately was not charged.

Since her historic victory in November, Price has faced heightened scrutiny — and now a budding recall effort — for seeking to recast how justice is dispensed across the East Bay.

Now, the hiring of Cloird has brought questions about her workplace ethics.

“I see so many problems with it. I see problems with conflict of interest. I see a problem with nepotism. I see a problem with lack of transparency. It’s problematic in every way I look at it,” said retired Santa Clara County Judge and former San Jose Independent Police Auditor LaDoris Cordell. “In public government, you don’t do this. There’s no way in my view to justify this.”

From the start, at least one member of Price’s top administration worried about the optics of Price hiring Cloird.

“I begged not for it to happen, only from a communications standpoint,” said Ryan LaLonde, Price’s top spokesperson until he resigned barely two months into her tenure. “I was like: How do I stand steadfast with someone having their significant other working in the office, and we’re talking about wanting to clean up the office from past improprieties?”

But LaLonde added that if the pair “weren’t dating, he’d be qualified enough to have the job.”

Cloird publicly acknowledged their relationship at his birthday celebration earlier this year at the Richmond Country Club, calling Price “the love of my life,” while she clutched his arm and said, “I’m blushing.”

“It takes a strong woman to deal with a strong man, and a strong man to deal with a strong woman,” said Cloird, in a video posted to YouTube. “I ain’t weak now. I’ll tell you, Pamela has stood for me through everything I’d done on my journey, and I’ve stood with her.”

Price’s office on Friday did not address specific questions about Cloird’s hiring or their relationship but called him “a valued member of the team whose distinguished work and accomplishments in communities throughout the Bay Area are well documented.”

“Cloird, who has overcome so much adversity in his own life, is a testament to what an individual can achieve and contribute to the health and well-being of fellow community members,” said a statement sent by Price’s spokesperson, Patti Lee. Cloird did not respond to a list of questions sent to him.

Alameda County, which came under fire in a 2013 Civil Grand Jury report for lacking nepotism policies, continues to lack such ethics rules a decade later. The issue has arisen before: Price’s predecessor, Nancy O’Malley, also employed relatives. O’Malley’s sister worked as a senior program specialist in her administration, while her nephew worked as a prosecutor, under both O’Malley and Price, staff rosters show.

The human resources department said there’s no record that Price or Cloird notified the department of their relationship, nor is there any policy requiring them to do so.

When asked to provide a description of his job, the agency offered a generic job listing for a county senior program specialist but it included no details specific to work within the district attorney’s office. The agency declined to provide his resume, CV or job application, claiming they were confidential.

But the county HR agency did confirm Cloird’s base pay: $115,502 a year, just shy of the top end of what someone in that position can make. As of Dec. 31, there were five senior program specialist positions in the DA’s office.

What is known about Cloird’s work over the past seven months is that it is centered in the field of re-entry for incarcerated people. Former Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Erin Loback, who worked closely with Cloird until recently joining the San Francisco DA’s office, said he helped identify candidates for early release and assess their readiness to rejoin society. Cloird presented her with lists of people he wanted to see let out of prison, an unorthodox practice that broke from the unit’s traditional process, Loback said.

“I was afraid to speak up about anything,” said Loback, who said she grew suspicious of names on Cloird’s list because he offered vague explanations when pressed about where they came from. “There was no one I could go to, to say, ‘What is this?’ I couldn’t question it, because of his relationship with her.”

Price’s office said a team of lawyers makes resentencing and re-entry decisions, not Cloird. The mission of the units is to reduce recidivism, the statement said.

Before joining the DA’s office, Cloird worked as Price’s campaign manager after spending years as a street-level activist in Richmond. He was a regular presence at City Council meetings, organized job fairs, ran Thanksgiving turkey drives and community softball games, and helped the city’s homeless population.

His redemption as an ex-offender who turned his life around from the days he was known as “29 Seconds” — a nickname he earned on the streets for getting whatever you needed within that time — was chronicled in this newspaper more than a decade ago, as part of a “Hometown Heroes” profile series.

Cloird started a nonprofit called Men and Women of Purpose that helped convicts readjust to society outside of prison, and he sat on Contra Costa County’s Alcohol and Other Drugs Advisory Board. His supporters say he’s no stranger to the task that Price has assigned him.

“You need someone who has lived that experience and who has come out of that experience,” said Rev. Andre Shumake, who has known Cloird for more than 50 years and worked together on prison re-entry issues. “So Antwon, in essence, is a symbol of hope.”

By 2015, however, his reputation took a turn.

Concerns arose of a possible “shakedown” by Cloird of a company that was moving to a new location in the city of Richmond, according to obtained city emails.

For a $5,000 fee, Cloird allegedly told the Golden Gate Meat Company’s owner that he could “expedite” permits sought by the meat packing company, according to an email then-Mayor Tom Butt sent to then-City Manager Bill Lindsay.

A few months later, the owner of a Peruvian restaurant relayed to Butt that Cloird had asked for $20,000 to “facilitate” a conditional use permit to open the new eatery with a liquor license in the Pacific East Mall, another city email shows. Attempts to reach the restaurant owner were not successful and the meat company owner declined to comment for this story.

The restaurant owner appeared resigned to paying Cloird, telling Butt that “otherwise he will bring a bunch of people to speak against it,” the email said.

“I don’t know if this is illegal or not, but it doesn’t make our city look good when businesses feel they have to pay someone off to get a permit,” Butt wrote to the city manager, police chief and planning and development manager.

To Butt’s eyes, “essentially, he is paying protection money,” another of the emails said.

“I will be following up with the FBI about this,” added then-Chief Chris Magnus, in another message.

It remains unclear what became of that inquiry, but one email shows that an FBI agent requested a meeting with Butt and Magnus. Magnus, now Washington D.C.’s deputy auditor for public safety, declined to comment for this story.

Reached by this news organization, Butt lamented the reported shakedowns, saying that it “diminishes the confidence that people have in doing business in the city.”

A year later, in 2016, three businesses – all marijuana dispensaries – became the subject of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit alleging that they hired Cloird and other Richmond influencers to drum up opposition to an incoming fourth dispensary. The alleged conspirators’ goal: monopolize the marijuana market to keep prices fixed abnormally high, the lawsuit alleged.

The lawsuit by Richmond Compassionate Care Collective included bombshell allegations that Cloird sought to pay off Richmond City Council members for their votes on the proposed dispensary. In the process, Cloird was said to have leaned on the collective’s attorney for payoffs, the lawsuit said, while other court documents show he allegedly said that “you gots to pay to play” in Richmond.

The attorney suing those other dispensaries claimed in a court filing sworn under penalty of perjury to have been an FBI informant at a time when federal investigators were looking into corruption on Richmond’s City Council. Cloird and another community member were also subjects of that investigation, the attorney claimed.

In 2022, a nearly-$20 million judgment was entered against multiple defendants in that lawsuit, although by then Cloird successfully argued to have his name removed as a defendant in the lawsuit, after arguing the lawsuit failed to prove a conspiracy between Cloird and the other defendants under the state’s Cartwright Act, which prohibits agreements to restrain competition or fix prices.

By that time, Cloird had moved on to other ventures. Around 2018, Cloird appears to have stepped away from his nonprofit, federal tax records show. He took a position that year to help Price run her first campaign for district attorney. That same year, Price listed income between $10,001 and $100,000 for work at Cloird’s nonprofit, according to state financial records she filed that year.

The pair are now working out of an East Oakland branch of the DA’s office, where Price moved her administration months after taking office.

“Lawyers are bound to uphold professional responsibilities — uphold the rule of law — and one of the core responsibilities that lawyers have is avoiding conflicts of interest,” said Scott Cummings, a UCLA law professor specializing in ethics.

Another ethics scholar called the top prosecutor’s hiring of her boyfriend “surprising,” because it raises the question of whether a public official is “feathering their own friends or family members’ financial situation.”

“It has the high potential to raise these questions about the appearance of something improper happening,” said John Pelissero, senior scholar on government ethics at Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. “And when that is perceived by the public, it undermines their trust — not only in the district attorney, but also in the county government itself.”

Contact Jakob Rodgers at 510-390-2351 or jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.

‘Oakland has to love us back': Business owners fed up with crime call on city leaders to take action

Mon, 14 Aug 2023 01:56:58 GMT

The frustration is growing for Bay Area businesses fed up with crime.

In Oakland, some business owners now say spikes in robberies, car thefts, and burglaries are all making it extremely hard to even convince people to come to the city.

“It is getting worse by the minute, you have to something and you have to do something now,” said Chef Michele McQueen of the Town Fare Cafe at the Oakland Museum.

Oakland community calls for permanent police chief after 2 shootings

Mon, 14 Aug 2023 01:55:06 GMT

A Call to Action: Oakland’s Urgent Need for a Permanent Police Chief

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 20:51:14 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A Call to Action: Oakland’s Urgent Need for a Permanent Police Chief

The City of Oakland is in the throes of a crime wave that has reached alarming proportions in 2023. With over 2,000 robberies marking a 24% increase, more than 400 carjackings reflecting a 16% surge, and an astounding 10,000+ burglaries, a staggering 42% rise, the situation has escalated into a public safety crisis that demands immediate attention.

OAKLAND – Seven months have passed since the dismissal of the police chief, a period marked not by decisive action but by inertia and indecision. Rather than actively pursuing a new leader for the police department to combat these substantial increases in crime, the police commission has been engaged in sparsely attended community meetings, soliciting opinions on what residents’ desire in their new police chief.

Barry Donelan, the President of the Oakland Police Officers' Association, has voiced his frustration and concern with a resounding call to action: "The time for talk has passed. In this critical moment of public safety crisis, action is not just necessary; it is imperative. Seven months have gone by – seven months too many. We must recruit a police chief now. Our community needs stability and certainty and a robust plan to address this spiraling crime. Enough is enough."

The time to act is now. The city's leadership must heed this call, recognizing the gravity of the situation and the dire need for a strong and capable police chief.

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Oakland’s National Night Out: An Opportunity to Appreciate Devoted Law Enforcement Amid Rising Crime Rates

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 19:48:20 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland’s National Night Out: An Opportunity to Appreciate Devoted Law Enforcement Amid Rising Crime Rates

OAKLAND – The crime statistics unveiled today cast a gloomy shadow on the eve of Oakland’s National Night Out, reflecting a reality familiar to the city’s residents and police officers, who face these challenges daily.

"The public safety situation in Oakland, fueled by rising crime and a revolving door justice system, is exacerbated by too few cops struggling to keep up with the surge in criminal activity and increased calls for help from our residents," said Barry Donelan, the President of the Oakland Police Officers' Association. Donelan continued, "I urge community members attending National Night Out block parties to express their gratitude to Oakland's dedicated yet overstretched police officers. I also invite the elected leaders present to share their strategies for tackling Oakland's public safety crisis."

On August 1st National Night Out will unfold at multiple block parties across the city. This presents an unparalleled opportunity for community members to interact firsthand with their city’s dedicated police officers and our city's decision-makers. As we come together, let's pause to acknowledge the relentless efforts of Oakland’s police officers and seize this moment to engage our city leaders in a critical conversation about their strategies to counteract Oakland's rising crime rates and their plans to appoint a permanent chief of police.

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Critics, fans of DA Pamela Price clash at Oakland crime meeting

Sat, 29 Jul 2023 15:19:35 GMT

Thursday night's public safety meeting with DA Pamela Price showed a divide in the community but also common ground.

Hundreds of people turned out Thursday night for a community meeting in Oakland focused on public safety and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.

Some came to question her. Others came to defend her. In the end, many were left with frustration about rising crime in Oakland and what, if anything, can be done about it.

It may have been the hottest ticket in town, with people lining up to get inside Montclair Presbyterian Church more than an hour before the scheduled meeting time. Crowds and heavy traffic drew curious questions from passersby who happened to be in the neighborhood for other reasons.

A Zoom link allowing for 100 attendees quickly filled up, blocking many would-be listeners and causing technical problems for organizers and a delay to the event.

Some people at home even had attendees call from inside the room so they could listen over the phone lines when the Zoom link failed.

"This was scheduled to be … a nice little neighborhood association meeting," said organizer Carolyn Burgess of the North Hills Community Association in starting remarks. Nodding at Price with a smile, she added: "And somebody’s pretty much in the news nowadays."

Price: DA's office is just one piece of the equation

The event drew an overflow crowd: In addition to those lucky enough to get seats, attendees stood along every wall of the room, which had a listed capacity of nearly 200 people. Others sat on the floor or listened from outside Montclair Presbyterian through open doors and windows.

Seemingly every Bay Area news outlet was also in attendance, with a bank of TV cameras at the back of the room and news photographers and print reporters scattered throughout.

Read more about DA Pamela Price on The Scanner.

Earlier in the day, meeting organizers — the North Hills Community Association, Montclair Neighborhood Council, Rockridge NCPC and neighborhood groups from Adams Point and Piedmont Pines — had advised attendees to bring a "photo ID for admission" due to "the numbers expected."

Word also spread at one point that only neighborhood residents would be allowed inside. But ultimately that did not come to pass.

The reason for such high interest in the town hall was twofold: rising crime in Oakland and ongoing scrutiny of Pamela Price herself, a progressive prosecutor elected in November on a pledge to reshape her office's approach to criminal justice as Alameda County's first Black DA.

Critics have blamed Price for neglecting victims and being too lenient on criminals, while supporters have said the blame is misplaced. They say Price has been demonized in the media, that no DA can control crime rates and that she is doing what voters elected her to do.

On Thursday night, Price placed her work in the context of a criminal justice system that involves not only police and probation officers but the city of Oakland, the Oakland City Council, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and her own deputies.

"I have about 35 charging deputies," she said. "I am not sitting anywhere in an office making a decision about who gets charged."

(In fact, one of Price's earliest changes was to standardize charging and sentencing decisions with an eye toward reducing potential penalties, limiting the discretion of prosecutors and requiring more stringent review by Price herself for anyone who wishes to deviate from her guidelines.)

Price said one of her main goals Thursday night was to offer context she felt had been missing from the public discourse, particularly given the lack of understanding around the role of the DA in the first place.

"Very few people were paying attention to what the district attorney was doing before now," she said.

Organizer: "We want to all feel a love for Oakland"

The meeting got off to a rocky start, in part due to technical difficulties related to the overloaded Zoom.

Then Price launched into a lengthy PowerPoint about what the DA's office does and how it is structured. It featured a series of slides entitled "Criminal Justice 101."

But many attendees, on Zoom and in the room, weren't having it. They wanted to know when they could ask their questions and when questions they had already submitted would be posed.

In response to those concerns, Price zipped past many of her slides to move faster into public comments. As the hours wore on, however, in response to questions and remarks, she repeatedly referenced the slides she had not been able to show.

To her credit, Price stayed at the church for more than two hours — and independently volunteered to answer more questions when the organizer announced that the meeting was about to end.

At times throughout the night, emotions ran high, with people shouting comments and questions from all corners of the room.

One young man who was given the microphone more than an hour into the event, when very little ground had been covered, said it had been "a huge waste of time" because people were "too busy pointing fingers." He urged his fellow attendees to "come together and tackle these problems step by step."

An Oakland city staffer managed to restore order by calling for mutual respect.

"If you are screaming or talking loud then we are going to pass you by," she said. "You are not going to be heard if you are disorderly."

Thursday night's meeting began with a prayer from Montclair Presbyterian's pastor, who said he hoped the night would be a "holy experience" where residents would recognize each other "across divisions" as neighbors who love Oakland and also "love each other."

Organizer Burgess said the goal of the night was to "raise awareness" about "some of the changes that are going on" and address "misunderstandings" about Oakland public safety.

"We want to all feel safe. We want to all feel a love for Oakland. And it’s been pretty difficult lately," she said. "Sometimes, just like you read on the news —there’s too much in the media and it really scares us."

According to the latest Oakland crime statistics, violent crime is up 15% this year compared to 2022.

Police say there has been a 22% increase in robberies, with nearly 2,000 reports already in 2023. That includes a 10% increase in carjackings.

This week, an alarming video of an attempted carjacking in the Oakland Hills went viral online — stirring up intense community concern.

Police have now announced arrests in that case, but nerves remain frayed, with many Oakland residents saying they are afraid to go out due to violent crime as well as skyrocketing auto burglaries, which are up 44% amid the Bay Area's relentless "bipping" trend.

Oakland carjacking victim: "I don't feel safe here"

One woman who spoke Thursday night shared how she had been the victim of an Oakland Hills carjacking one morning in early July.

"I was pulled out of my car at gunpoint," she said. "They took my bag. They took everything.… I don't feel safe here."

The woman, who described herself as an immigrant who had lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, asked why such crimes were allowed to go on with such "impunity and brazenness."

"What are we doing to prevent this?" she asked. "How do we solve this?"

Another woman described having been with a friend from Berkeley who was attacked by youth in Oakland.

"She was dragged by her hair across a sidewalk. We ended up putting her in an ambulance and taking her to the emergency room," she said.

Her friend who was attacked had pledged not to come back to Oakland, she said.

"I just want to say that there must be consequences," she said. "There are no consequences for these children."

Many questions about how to handle youth crime

Throughout the night, some attendees expressed frustration about the seeming lack of consequences for some of Oakland's most serious and high-profile crimes, from homicide cases to a recent robbery series involving youth who were later released without charges.

Others in the audience injected their own questions as a counterpoint: Had the youth been identified by witnesses? If not, what was Price to do?

A large portion of the night focused on that youth robbery series, which included an incident at Market Hall in Rockridge in May.

The series preceded a massive meeting with Oakland Councilman Dan Kalb where residents said women had been targeted and that Kalb had failed to address public safety concerns. (Kalb attended Thursday night's meeting. He made several remarks but was not prominently featured.)

On Thursday night, OPD Capt. Clay Burch and DA Price each talked about how their agencies dealt with the youth robbery case, which they said remains open, with work actively underway.

Burch said police cannot control what happens when it comes to charging but also said, with a nod to Price, that OPD just met with the DA's office about how to "present cases in a way that she’s looking for."

Part of that discussion, he said, focused on "what further can we do for these cases to bring them to fruition when it comes to charging."

Price spoke more specifically about the case, noting that the involved youth wore masks and hoodies and that different members of the group were alleged to have taken part in different incidents. (OPD said the group was linked to 35 holdups.)

Price said video evidence police had found "was not clear enough to identify them" and that witness identifications had been weak. She said her charging DA had determined that, so far, the case could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

One meeting attendee asked Price what she had done to "follow" the youth after they were released.

"What have I done to follow these kids?" she asked. "The district attorney’s office does not have a division or a deputy or the budget to follow kids anywhere in this community. It is not part of our responsibility."

Price said she had asked her deputies whether it might be possible for her to send a letter to parents to let them know their children had been identified in relation to criminal activity.

"I don't have that answer yet," she said. "We need more programs for young people. But I don’t have the budget and it is not my responsibility to create that."

She continued: "It is absolutely true that we don’t have a mechanism to hold them accountable after they get out."

DA Pamela Price supporters came out strong

In addition to the neighborhood residents who attended Thursday's meeting with questions about crime and accountability, many people also came out to support DA Pamela Price.

Price herself had asked them to do so in a Facebook post last week.

"We know that opponents of criminal justice reform plan to attend this meeting and use it as a forum against the policies that Alameda County voters mandated DA Price to deliver. We cannot let them succeed," she wrote on her campaign Facebook page. "That's why I'm asking you to join us at the town hall. We need to show up in force and make sure that our voices are heard."

Throughout the night supporters cheered Price on, offered testimonials about how she had inspired them and focused their comments on root causes and grassroots solutions to public safety.

One woman credited Price for her work to reduce lengthy prison sentences while another described how she had been moved at a convention when she heard Price speak.

"The light that I felt was something I felt would never come for us," said the woman, who is Black, describing what it was like to see Price in charge.

"You don’t know what we have been through," she said, addressing the room. "Before she came … the police — you railroad our children. You call them gang leaders."

One person described Price as the "great Black hope."

NACCP: Oakland's Public Safety Crisis

Sat, 29 Jul 2023 15:08:53 GMT

July 27, 2023

End Oakland’s Public Safety Crisis

by Cynthia Adams, President of the Oakland Branch of the NAACP

Bishop Bob Jackson, Senior Pastor, Acts Full Gospel Church

Oakland residents are sick and tired of our intolerable public safety crisis that overwhelmingly impacts minority communities. Murders, shootings, violent armed robberies, home invasions, car break-ins, sideshows, and highway shootouts have become a pervasive fixture of life in Oakland. We call on all elected leaders to unite and declare a state of emergency and bring together massive resources to address our public safety crisis.

African Americans are disproportionately hit the hardest by crime in East Oakland and other parts of the city. But residents from all parts of the city report that they do not feel safe. Women are targeted by young mobs and viciously beaten and robbed in downtown and uptown neighborhoods. Asians are assaulted in Chinatown. Street vendors are robbed in Fruitvale. News crews have their cameras stolen while they report on crime. PG&E workers are robbed and now require private security when they are out working. Everyone is in danger.

Failed leadership, including the movement to defund the police, our District Attorney’s unwillingness to charge and prosecute people who murder and commit life threatening serious crimes, and the proliferation of anti-police rhetoric have created a heyday for Oakland criminals. If there are no consequences for committing crime in Oakland, crime will continue to soar.

People are moving out of Oakland in droves. They are afraid to venture out of their homes to go to work, shop, or dine in Oakland and this is destroying economic activity. Businesses, small and large, struggle and close, tax revenues vanish, and we are creating the notorious doom-loop where life in our city continues to spiral downward. As economic pain increases, the conditions that help create crime and criminals are exacerbated by desperate people with no employment opportunities.

We are in crisis and elected leaders must declare a state of emergency and bring resources together from the city, the county, and the state to end the crisis. We are 500 police officers short of the number that experts say Oakland needs.

Our 911 system does not work. Residents now know that help will not come when danger confronts them. Worse, criminals know that too.

Our youth must be given alternatives to the crippling desperation that leads to crime, drugs, and prison. They need quality education, mentorship, and, most importantly, real economic opportunities. Oakland should focus on creating skilled industrial and logistics jobs that pay family sustaining wages, and vocational training so Oakland residents can perform those jobs. With this focus we can produce hundreds, if not thousands, of the types of jobs desperately needed to stem

economic despair. Unfortunately, progressive policies and failed leadership have chased away or delayed significant blue collar job development in the city, the Port of Oakland, and the former Army Base. That must change!

We also must continue with mentoring programs like the Oakland branch of the national OK Program that steers youth away from criminal activity. We believe that young people currently in the criminal life will choose another path if they are shown a way.

We urge African Americans to speak out and demand improved public safety. We also encourage Oakland’s White, Asian, and Latino communities to speak out against crime and stop allowing themselves to be shamed into silence.

There is nothing compassionate or progressive about allowing criminal behavior to fester and rob Oakland residents of their basic rights to public safety. It is not racist or unkind to want to be safe from crime. No one should live in fear in our city.

We need our elected leaders to take responsible action to ensure public safety. The best way to start is to declare that we are in a public safety emergency. Then marshal resources to address crime and create economic opportunities, training, and youth mentoring so people can work and live productive lives.

We encourage the entire Oakland community to join a broad-based, united coalition around these three issues: 1) we have an emergency, 2) we must end the proliferation of crime in our streets and, 3) we must provide jobs, training, and mentorship so our youth have alternatives to crime.

Do it for the love of all Oakland residents. Each and every one of us has the right to live peacefully and safely.

President Cynthia Adams can be reached at (510) 219-3840.

Bishop Bob Jackson can be reached at (510) 567-1300.

Borenstein: Oakland crime surges way beyond San Jose and SF levels

Sat, 29 Jul 2023 14:53:23 GMT

East Bay city becoming even more dangerous as police are badly understaffed and response times are pathetically slow

By DANIEL BORENSTEIN | dborenstein@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: July 29, 2023 at 5:30 a.m. | UPDATED: July 29, 2023 at 7:04 a.m.

Crime rates are surging in Oakland this year, police are badly understaffed, and response times to critical calls are pathetically slow, making the city an increasingly dangerous place to live.

From Jan. 1 to July 23 this year, violent crime in the city is up 15% over the same period last year, and property crime has increased 28%. Don’t count on a cop to show up in a timely fashion in an emergency. If it’s not an immediate crisis, the wait can be hours or an entire day.

Even before this year’s crime surge, of the three most-populated cities in the Bay Area, Oakland crime on a per-capita basis far exceeded that of San Jose and San Francisco. Now, the difference is getting worse.

Population-adjusted data so far for 2023 shows that people are 2½ times more likely to be a victim of a violent crime in Oakland than in San Francisco and three times more likely than in San Jose.

Property crimes are similarly disproportionate in Oakland — 1.7 times more likely to victimize someone there than in San Francisco, and four times more likely than in San Jose.

Brazen and brutal crime

Indicators of Oakland’s escalating crime wave can be found in posts on Nextdoor, the car-window glass littering the streets and news reports of women being violently robbed.

The brazenness is sometimes shocking. Occupants of two vehicles engaged Monday in a midday rolling gun battle through downtown just a few blocks from police headquarters.

The crimes are brutal and frightening. A 67-year-old woman was robbed and carjacked last Sunday in the city’s hills, and a 62-year-old man who had just used an ATM at a downtown bank on Tuesday evening was beaten with a rifle, robbed and carjacked. A woman nine-months pregnant was shot Wednesday as she rode in a vehicle in East Oakland.

The 15% increase in violent crime this year in Oakland counters the national and regional trends. U.S. violent crime declined in the first half of 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, according to the Council on Criminal Justice. And it has leveled off in San Francisco and San Jose.

There is one slightly positive trend in Oakland’s violent crime data. Homicides so far in 2023 are down 13% compared to the same period in 2022. Nevertheless, when adjusted for population, Oakland this year has experienced about three times as many homicides as San Francisco and about seven times as many as San Jose.

Meanwhile, as property crime declines in San Francisco and San Jose, it has increased 28% this year in Oakland, where bad guys are having a field day breaking into cars or simply taking the vehicle. Burglaries are up 41% this year, with auto break-ins accounting for most of the cases. Motor vehicle thefts have increased a staggering 50%.

Getting a cop to show up

The chance of getting a police officer to show up quickly is small. Even with a life in immediate danger, the response will likely be unacceptably slow.

Data from the Oakland Police Department show that response times have spiked this year and are now far worse than they were just four years ago.

The department aims to keep the number of pending calls — those that dispatchers already have received but that need officers available to handle — below 100 at any time. Four years ago, crossing the 100 threshold was considered a troubling event.

Now it’s a common occurrence. Indeed, since the start of the second quarter of this year, the number has frequently topped 200. Which helps explain why response times for urgent and emergency calls roughly doubled from the first quarter of 2023 to the second.

Department dispatchers rank calls for help in three levels:

Priority One includes calls that involve imminent potential for serious injuries, prevent violent crimes or increase chances of apprehending felony suspects. For those, the average response time was about 12 minutes in spring 2019. This year it was 62 minutes in May and 36 minutes in June.

Priority Two includes urgent calls but not immediate emergencies, in-progress disputes with potential for violence, misdemeanor offenses in progress, or just-occurred felonies or misdemeanors where a quick response might help catch a suspect. In spring 2019, the average response time was 2-2½ hours. This year, it was 11 hours in May and six hours in June.

Priority Three calls are the “cold” reports, non-emergencies with no indication of danger to life or property. In spring 2019, a response would have taken an average of about six hours. In May and June this year, it was about 17 hours.

Badly understaffed

Which brings us to the fundamental problem: There aren’t enough cops in Oakland.

City officials, City Council members and Mayor Sheng Thao tout the civilian violence protection and mental health intervention programs the city has been launching. They’re laudable steps worth pursuing, but they’re not going to make a meaningful dent in the city’s deplorable response times.

There’s too much crime in Oakland for the current number of cops to handle. This staffing squeeze has been going on for more than a decade. There are 10% more people in the city today than at the police force peak in 2009 and 14% fewer sworn officers. The city’s sworn personnel number topped out 14 years ago at 830, plummeted to 613 after the Great Recession, increased to 749 by 2019, fell to 671 in 2021, and now stands at 717.

To reach the statewide staffing average, measured by the Public Policy Institute of California in 2021, of 235 cops per 100,000 population, Oakland would need more than 1,000 sworn officers.

Until residents speak out, there will be no political appetite for even returning to the 800 level in Oakland, where Thao, when she was on the City Council, and her progressive allies slowed efforts to beef up the size of the police force.

The basic question now is whether the city will even maintain the current staffing level — whether it will train and hire enough new cops to keep pace with the expected retirements in the next couple of years.

In other words, city leaders are only focused on maintaining the status quo. We see how well that’s working.

These women were violently robbed. In Oakland’s crime surge, they say it’s ‘like nobody really cares’

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 08:51:08 GMT

From behind, the woman recalled in an interview, she heard footsteps. She turned around. Inches away stood a figure in a ski mask, pointing a knife at her stomach. He lunged, grabbed her car’s key fob and clicked it to open the driver’s-side door. The woman frantically fought back.

Residents heard screams and emerged from their homes just as the attacker punched the woman’s shoulder and shoved her to the ground. He ripped two canvas bags from her arms, one with a laptop, the other filled with personal items. Crouched on the ground, dazed, she tried to call 911, but said she got disconnected.

The incident, shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 15, came in a year that has seen a significant increase in robberies in Oakland, with 1,880 reports as of July 16 — up 22% from the same period last year. In the first six months of the year, overall crime was up 15% citywide and had risen 42% since the first half of 2021, records show.

Embattled Alameda County DA Pamela Price responds to recall effort, critics

Mon, 17 Jul 2023 22:48:20 GMT

OAKLAND -- In office for six months and facing a recall campaign, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price sat down with KPIX for a television interview that didn't quite go as expected.

Price campaigned on progressive criminal justice reforms that included alternatives to incarceration, not charging juveniles as adults and holding police accountable. She has faced backlash over her charging decisions in high-profile cases, including in the murder of toddler Jasper Wu and Home Depot loss prevention employee Blake Mohs.

Alameda County judge robbed at downtown Oakland ATM - She is the second judge robbed this month

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 16:36:08 GMT

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: June 29, 2023 at 12:16 p.m. | UPDATED: June 30, 2023 at 8:10 a.m.

OAKLAND — A retired Alameda County judge was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday after using an ATM in downtown Oakland, authorities said.

The robbery happened about 5:05 p.m. Wednesday in the 1900 block of Franklin Street. Authorities said she had just used an ATM at a U.S. Bank branch and was walking to her car when a man with a gun confronted her and took her bag, which contained her phone, wallet and cash.

The robber fled in a waiting vehicle, which was last seen going northbound on Franklin Street at 20th Street.

Police believe the same suspects were involved in another armed robbery of a man who had just made a deposit at a bank in the 2000 block of Franklin Street at about 3:45 p.m. Wednesday. The man was confronted in the bank’s rear parking lot on Webster Street and had his phone, wallet and other personal items taken, police said

Recently, Oakland police have warned about an “uptick” in robberies at ATMs throughout the city. Two such robberies happened Monday evening, one outside a Montclair bank and the other on Lakeshore Avenue near Trestle Glen.

Although retired, the judge is still assigned to an Oakland courtroom, according to the county’s current judicial roster. She is the second judge robbed in downtown Oakland this month. On June 1, three masked gunmen robbed a judge of his Rolex, wallet and iPhone inside the Alco Park garage near 13th and Madison streets, mere blocks from the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse.

Suspect questions man, then shoots him as he walks home in East Oakland

Fri, 30 Jun 2023 16:33:17 GMT

The man was in stable condition with a wound to his neck

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: June 29, 2023 at 7:49 a.m. | UPDATED: June 30, 2023 at 1:37 a.m.

OAKLAND — A 30-year-old man was shot early Thursday by a man who confronted him as he was walking to his East Oakland home, authorities said.

The man was reported to be in stable condition at a hospital, where he was being treated for a wound to his neck, authorities said.

The shooting happened about 2:22 a.m. Thursday in the 1200 block of 65th Avenue.

The man told police he was walking from work to his home in the area when a man confronted him on the sidewalk.

After the suspect asked the 30-year-old victim some questions — police did not specify what was said — the suspect pulled a gun and shot him before fleeing on foot.

The victim told police he did not know the man who shot him. Investigators were working to figure out why the man was confronted and shot. A detailed description of the suspect was not released.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $5,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the shooter. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3426 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

Crime pushes shops to go cashless

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 00:11:06 GMT

More Oakland merchants say safety outweighs fees, equity ideals

By Rachel Swan

After suffering three burglaries in two years, workers at Asha Tea House — a small shop in Uptown Oakland — made a wrenching but practical decision: They stopped accepting cash.

“We’re hoping it solves the problem,” assistant manager Angel Her said on Friday morning, standing over a flat-screen register bearing a small “credit cards only” sign.

Across the street, on the same block of Grand Avenue at Broadway, proprietors of Cafe Umami had placed a similar sign in their window, with a picture of a dollar bill crossed out. The cafe barred cash roughly a year ago, following a spate of break-ins in which thieves seemed to beeline for the register.

“We’d keep getting robbed for about $50, and the cost of fixing the door was more,” employee Haemi Lee

said. Once the sign went up, she added, the burglaries stopped.

As crime spikes in shopping districts throughout Oakland, more businesses are forbidding cash transactions — a move so controversial in San Francisco that the Board of Supervisors passed an

ordinance in 2019 requiring all merchants to take

The legislation emphasized “San Francisco’s ethos of inclusivity,” which extends to people who are denied credit or cannot get bank accounts. No such law exists in Oakland, where cashless sales — enabled by

credit cards and smart-phone apps — became more commonplace during the pandemic yet now appear driven by fears of crime. In recent months, “no cash” placards began popping up on storefronts throughout Uptown and downtown, in the Laurel, along College Avenue and on Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Most of these corridors lie in “Police Area 2,” a swath of the city bounded by Lake Merritt, the borders of Piedmont and Berkeley and Highway 13 near the Caldecott Tunnel. Area 2 has witnessed 137 commercial burglaries this year, up slightly from 135 at this time last year, but nearly triple the 52 reported as of the second week of June in 2021, according to data from the Police Department.

Robberies are up as well — from 113 through June 11, 2021, to 121 last year and 134 this year. Given those numbers, representatives of business districts in Oakland say they are not surprised to see their members reject cash, even if it means shutting out some customers, and paying fees on every credit payment.

“If a merchant is only accepting credit cards (and other cashless payments), that’s cutting anywhere from

2.5 to 4% of their profit margin,” said Chris Jackson, manager of the Rockridge District Association. “But

what are they going to do? People are desperate. Businesses are trying to figure out ways to survive.”

“It’s like the ‘Beware of dog’sign,” Daniel Swafford dryly observed. Swafford, who serves as the

executive director of the Laurel District and Montclair Village associations, is keenly aware of the uptick

in commercial burglaries and robberies, with thieves often striking at night, breaching doors or smashing

windows and ransacking businesses in search of a safe. These break-ins can easily turn violent if a worker

happens to be on the premises after hours, Swafford said.

With the advent of new payment technology, many merchants don’t handle much cash anyway, and some

find it’s no longer worth the risk, Swafford said.

Some shop owners who no longer accept paper money describe it as a drastic choice, made after

considerable hand-wringing. Like the supervisors in San Francisco, many Oakland merchants worry about

excluding low-income customers or others who don’t carry smartphones or credit cards. But ultimately,

business owners said they had to stave off the damage from burglaries and prioritize the safety of

employees who in some cases were being held at gunpoint.

“It was brutal,” said Joel Di-Giorgio, co-owner of Arthur Mac’s Tap and Snack, a pizzeria and beer garden

in North Oakland. For DiGiorgio and his business partner, banning cash was a last-ditch fix that followed a

raft of other security measures: They had already spent $20,000 on security cameras, laser alarms, panic

switches, strobe light and horn-sound alarms and met with city officials and police captains to discuss

crime in the neighborhood, said DiGiorgio, who also runs Farm League, a restaurant and bar management

group with businesses throughout Northern California.

Yet a series of armed stickups left the restaurateurs with no choice but to ditch their cash register,

DiGiorgio said. The last incident occurred at 8:30 p.m. on June 26 of last year, when two men stormed in,

one cocking a gun at an employee behind the counter. Shortly thereafter, workers put up signs with a

crossed-out dollar emoji.

Since then, they haven’t seen any robberies, said DiGiorgio, who still has misgivings, and feels he defied

his ideals about social equity by going cashless.

Shops in Chinatown and Fruitvale still seem to use paper currency, possibly to accommodate shoppers

who may not carry credit cards. Nonetheless, some of the Chinatown mom-and-pops are installing credit

card machines, a transition that community leaders applaud, said Jessica Chen, executive director of the

Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. She and others are encouraging merchants to remove “cashonly” signs from their window displays, a move she hopes will help insulate them from thieves.

For Kevin Greene, owner of a haberdashery on 14th Street that was ransacked by burglars days before its

scheduled opening in February, cash never seemed like an option.

“No cash — that just eliminates the problem,” said Greene, whose shop, the Suit Lounge, is stocked with

men’s couture: blazers, cashmere sweaters, slacks, dress shoes with buckles, fedora-style hats with red

brims. When his store was burglarized, thieves snatched $45,000 worth of merchandise in minutes, said

Greene, who had to replace everything.

He’s since posted a “credit and debit card only” notice on the door to dissuade prospective burglars, by

signaling that the store has no safe or register. Greene also keeps his front door locked during business

hours.

Around the corner, bicycle shop owner Greg Archer said he still accepts cash, and thinks it’s a “wonderful”

currency, especially since each credit card purchase tacks on a 25-cent charge. Nonetheless, he understands

other merchants’ apprehension about crime. Days ago, Archer walked by a liquor store at 12th and

Franklin streets as it was being robbed, bystanders helplessly watching the perpetrator sprint to a waiting

car.

Such robberies occur daily, said Greene, whose shop is three blocks away. Speaking on the phone Tuesday

morning, Greene said that just 20 minutes earlier, he’d seen a man case the street outside his shop, wearing

a mask and a backpack.

“The feeling I got from him was — he was out lurking,” Greene said bleakly. “I feel safer with that sign.

‘We do not accept cash.’ It’s very necessary.”

Reach Rachel Swan: rswan@sfchronicle.co

Liberal Prosecutors Are Revisiting Police Killings but Charging Few Officers So Far

Mon, 19 Jun 2023 00:03:03 GMT

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/us/police-killings-charges.html

Pamela Price, a new district attorney in Northern California, is the latest to reopen cases that had seemingly been shut, including one from

more than 15 years ago.

By Eliza Fawcett and Tim Arango

Eliza Fawcett reported from Oakland, Calif., and Tim Arango from Los Angeles June 8, 2023

Agustin Gonsalez was shot dead in 2018 by officers in Hayward, Calif., when the police said he refused to drop a sharp object during a confrontation on a dark street. Andrew Moppin-Buckskin was killed by Oakland officers in 2007 after the police said he ran away following a car chase, hid under a

vehicle and failed to comply with their demands.

Two years ago, Mario Gonzalez died after he was pinned on the ground for more than five minutes by officers in Alameda, Calif.

In all three cases, prosecutors determined that the police should not be criminally charged, seemingly closing the book. But shortly after she became the district attorney of Alameda County in January, Pamela Price initiated a new review of those cases and five others in one of the most extensive re-examinations of police killings launched by progressive prosecutors.

Ms. Price’s review is notable because her predecessors had already cleared the officers of wrongdoing and two of the reopened cases occurred more than 15 years ago. As high-profile instances of police brutality shocked the public in recent years and raised questions about official law enforcement accounts, liberal prosecutors campaigned on the promise that they would review cases that they felt were hastily closed without charges.

Their efforts to revisit old cases have won praise from the activists and liberal Democrats who voted for them. But the re-examinations so far have rarely led to criminal charges. “To reopen a police use-of-force case is, in many ways, a herculean task,” said Steve Descano, the commonwealth’s attorney in Fairfax

County, Va. He lost in court after he charged two federal Park Police officers for the 2017 shooting of a man who fled a car crash, a case that the Justice Department previously reviewed and declined to pursue.

The incidents almost never have evidence as stark as the bystander video showing George Floyd being pinned to the ground in 2020 for more than nine minutes by Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering Mr. Floyd.

The circumstances often are more ambiguous, the footage less telling. And once a district attorney writes a lengthy memo detailing why criminal charges are unjustified against a police officer, it can be difficult for a successor to overcome those arguments, absent new evidence.

“Everybody is going to go through it again, and the outcome in all probability is going to be the same,” said Jim Pasco, the executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police. “And what’s Einstein’s definition of insanity?”

The biggest hurdle for pursuing criminal charges is the wide latitude that officers have to use force. State legislatures, including California’s, have tried to narrow that ability. But officers generally can still use lethal force when they feel they or others could be killed, a level of immunity that law enforcement officials say is necessary to ensure the public’s safety.

Alameda County, Ms. Price’s jurisdiction, covers a large swath of the East Bay across from San Francisco, containing 14 cities and numerous police departments. In the county seat of Oakland, where the Black Panther Party emerged in the 1960s, a legacy of radical politics is intertwined with a troubled history of law enforcement. The Oakland Police Department has been under federal oversight for more than two decades.

Ms. Price campaigned on a liberal platform that, besides reviewing old cases, included removing local residents from death row and resentencing inmates serving life sentences — an effort, she said, to restore public trust. Since taking office, she has directed her staff to seek the lowest possible prison sentence for most crimes.

She said that in the past, prosecutors routinely gave officers a pass when they killed someone on the job, and she wants questionable police killings to face the same rigor that other criminal cases get.

“Every case that we’re looking at now was determined under a double standard,” Ms. Price said in an interview. “Police officers received a different standard of justice than everyday people.”

Ms. Price is among a growing cadre of progressive prosecutors elected over the last decade, beginning with the 2016 elections of Kim Foxx in Chicago and Kimberly Gardner in St. Louis, on promises of reducing jail populations and holding police accountable. The movement gained steam after Floyd’s murder.

Some prominent district attorneys have since faced a backlash over crime concerns. Chesa Boudin was recalled last year in San Francisco, while Ms. Gardner resigned last week as she faced criticism for her handling of violent crime. Ms. Foxx is not running for re-election next year and has endured criticism from moderates and conservatives, especially for her support of eliminating cash bail statewide.

In Maine, a police officer has never been prosecuted for an on-duty killing. But in July 2020, Natasha Irving, the district attorney for four counties, said she would seek charges for the 2007 police shooting death of Gregori Jackson, who was drunk and ran away after a routine traffic stop in Waldoboro, the town where Ms. Irving grew up. Three years later, however, Ms. Irving said that based on the attorney general’s review of the forensics from the case, she will not file charges.

“It’s just not going to be a provable case,” she said in an interview.

In the Virginia case pursued by Mr. Descano, Bijan Ghaisar, 25, was involved in a minor car crash and then fled in his Jeep, pursued by two officers who cornered Mr. Ghaisar in a residential neighborhood. When the vehicle moved toward a police car, they opened fire, killing him.

Mr. Descano brought a case, but a judge dismissed the charges, ruling the officers reasonably feared they were in danger. His efforts to pursue the case further were rejected by the state’s attorney general and the Justice Department. Such reviews offer the possibility of justice for still grieving families but also may unrealistically raise their hopes. Karla Gonsalez, the mother of Mr. Gonsalez, the man who was killed in Hayward, said she was torn when she heard Ms. Price was reopening her son’s case.

Television outlets began replaying the body camera footage of Mr. Gonsalez’s confrontation with police. For his family, all of the anger, grief and unresolved questions came rushing back. Why had the officers not tried to de-escalate the situation?

“I was excited to know that it was going to be opened up again,” Ms. Gonsalez said. “At the same time, I was very nervous that it was going to be another roadblock, another failure.”

Less than 2 percent of police killings result in charges, according to Philip M. Stinson, a professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University. That figure has not budged since 2020. The number of people killed by the police is holding steady — last year it was 1,200, compared with 1,147 in 2021, according to Mapping Police Violence.

“From where I sit, nothing has changed,” Mr. Stinson said.

Karla Gonsalez stood at a memorial to her son at the site in Hayward, Calif., where he was shot and killed by police officers.

In Los Angeles County, George Gascón, who was elected district attorney in 2020, appointed a special prosecutor to reopen four cases in which his predecessor, Jackie Lacey, declined to file charges. He also asked an independent team of experts to review more than 300 previous use-of-force cases to see if the evidence warranted criminal charges.

The special prosecutor, Lawrence Middleton, had secured convictions in a 1993 federal trial against Los Angeles Police Department officers for beating Rodney King. In the new cases, he has secured indictments against two officers in the 2018 shooting death of Christopher Deandre Mitchell, who was driving a stolen vehicle and had an air rifle between his legs when he was confronted by officers in a grocery store parking lot. (“Both officers’ use of deadly force was reasonable under the circumstances,” Ms. Lacey wrote in a 2019

memo.)

The re-examinations themselves take time, and liberal prosecutors may yet file criminal charges against more officers in past cases. But they said that charges should not be the only benchmark of whether their reviews are worthwhile.

“I think there is huge value to reopening a case if there is probable cause, or if there is evidence that seems compelling in any way,” Ms. Irving, the prosecutor in Maine, said. “Yes, part of it is to send a message to people who would be bad actors. Part of it is to send a message to families that have lost loved ones, or individuals who have been harmed, that they count.”

Ed Obayashi, a California-based expert in use of force who trains law enforcement, said in 2021 that Mario Gonzalez did not seem to be a threat to the public in Alameda and questioned why officers restrained him before he died. The police had responded to a call that Mr. Gonzalez, 26, was acting strangely in a park and talking to himself.

Mr. Obayashi said this week that he did not fault Ms. Price for reviewing the case, but he also felt that if there was consensus in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office under her predecessor, Ms. Price should not have reopened it.

“It’s a big concern to law enforcement because these types of decisions, to revisit old cases that former prosecutors have decided that no charges should be brought against the officer, it’s political,” Mr. Obayashi said. “It’s politically driven.”

Ms. Price’s review also includes two cases from 15 years ago that occurred seven months apart and involved the same officer killing men who ran away after traffic stops, including Mr. Moppin-Buckskin. The officer, Hector Jimenez, was cleared in each case and remains with the Oakland Police Department.

“For the life of me I can’t understand what Ms. Price thinks she’s doing with those kinds of cases, some 15 years after they occurred,” said Michael Rains, a lawyer for Mr. Jimenez.

In Hayward, the city agreed to pay $3.3 million to settle a federal lawsuit with Agustin Gonsalez’s family but said it was a way to support his children rather than an admission of wrongdoing. The city said in April that there appeared to be no new evidence that warranted reopening the case.

Mr. Gonsalez was shot in November 2018 after police officers confronted him. Prosecutors asserted that he was suicidal and was holding a razor blade, then refused to drop the blade and approached the officers with his arms outstretched. That’s when the two veteran police officers shot him 12 times.

In Los Angeles County, George Gascón, who was elected district attorney in 2020, appointed a special prosecutor to reopen four cases in which his predecessor declined to file charges.

Karla Gonsalez recently sat in her sister’s kitchen and described her son as a father of two who was an Oakland sports fan and often drove nearly 400 miles south to Disneyland with his season pass. In the corner of her living room was a makeshift shrine, with a flickering

candle and a crucifix draped over his portrait.

Cynthia Nunes, Mr. Gonsalez’s cousin, said her family was grateful his case was being reopened. But they want more.

“Charges actually have to be brought forward, too,” she said. “The system needs to change.”

Julie Bosman contributed reporting from Chicago.

A correction was made on June 8, 2023: An earlier version of this article omitted attribution for the descriptions of the circumstances surrounding the killings of Agustin Gonsalez and Andrew Moppin-Buckskin. They were based on police accounts and witness interviews conducted by prosecutors.

When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at nytnews@nytimes.com. Learn more

Eliza Fawcett is a reporter for the National desk and a member of the 2022-2023 New York Times fellowship class. @ElizaFawcett

Tim Arango is a Los Angeles correspondent. Before moving to California, he spent seven years as Baghdad bureau chief and also reported on Turkey. He joined The Times in 2007 as a media reporter. @tarangoNYT

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Years Later, Prosecutors Revisit Police Killings. Charges Are Rare.

Teens Arrested for String of Robberies in Oakland Back on the Streets

Thu, 01 Jun 2023 03:43:51 GMT

Eight teenagers, recently arrested for a string of more than 35 robberies in Oakland, are all back out on the streets Wednesday.

The robberies included an attack on a 63-year-old woman in Rockridge last Sunday and the lack of punishment is prompting concern and frustration from residents.

“If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime. But if there is no time, go ahead and do the crime, right?” said Michael Melland of Oakland. “It's a terrible situation. I don’t think these kids need to have their lives ruined but they should’nt have done what they did.”

It was a crime spree that hit nearly every part of the city -- in total, eight juveniles and one adult were arrested.

“It doesn’t make people feel safe,” said Katherine Fuller, Rockridge resident.

That adult was charged with possession of stolen property, according to Oakland Police Officers Association President Sgt. Barry Donelan.

Oakland crime wave has residents and business owners on edge: ‘Failed progressive utopia’

Wed, 31 May 2023 14:42:35 GMT

Within the first five minutes of a raucous community safety meeting Tuesday night in North Oakland, residents vented frustrations and fear over a recent crime spike — and their perception that city leaders are doing little to address it.

Over the two hours that followed, a crowd of roughly 200 gathered at Oakland Technical High School confronted a panel of city officials, the interaction ranging from volcanic heckling to stunned silence. A woman stood and delivered a wrenching personal story about being beaten in front of her house. The owner of a pizzeria said his employees had been held up at gunpoint four times in six years. One person called the city a “failed progressive utopia.”

Others described deteriorating street conditions and predicted that businesses would leave — a San Francisco “doom loop” that had migrated across the bridge.

The meeting, organized by City Council Member Dan Kalb, mounted pressure on political leaders and loudly made clear that crime is among the rawest topics in Oakland.

In North Oakland, eyes have turned to College Avenue, the shopping corridor in the Rockridge neighborhood that has become a new epicenter for burglaries and robberies.

3 killed, 3 injured in several East Bay shootings within 24 hours, police say

Tue, 30 May 2023 16:57:15 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Police are investigating several shootings across the East Bay on Saturday.

Three people were killed and three injured in less than 24 hours.

Oakland father considers moving family after stray bullet shoots through kitchen window

Tue, 23 May 2023 15:46:12 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A father of two is considering moving his family out of Oakland after a stray bullet went through their kitchen window Friday afternoon.

Paul, who requested we not use his last name, has lived in the Tuxedo neighborhood for about three years and says incidents, such as hearing gunshots, is not out of the ordinary.

However, what happened Friday around 2:15 p.m. took things to the next level.

"Broad daylight, I'm working from this desk and I hear men yelling, two gunshots and windows shattering," Paul said.

Oakland mayor releases $4.2 billion plan amid city’s largest budget crisis in history

Tue, 02 May 2023 15:16:50 GMT

Sheng Thao proposes merging city departments and leaving unfilled positions vacant to plug fiscal gap.

Photo of Sarah Ravani

Sarah Ravani

May 1, 2023

Updated: May 1, 2023 8:04 p.m.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao released a two-year budget proposal Monday that aims to avoid layoffs by cutting vacant positions — a road map for how she plans to tackle the largest budget shortfall in the city’s history.

Thao’s nearly $4.2 billion plan reorganizes the city by merging some government departments as she attempts to deliver and fund the programs she promised to voters during the campaign. Some of the cutbacks will fall on the police and fire departments, including a reduction in the number of sworn officers compared with earlier hiring plans, despite a rise in the overall police budget.

Her draft proposal, which the City Council will amend and approve in June, establishes a plan for the city’s near future.

Some members of the City Council, including the council president, applauded Thao for her efforts to rein in spending, but the police union criticized the plan, saying it caps the department’s ranks at a time when the city is grappling with violent crime.

Thao, who vowed a hiring blitz at City Hall to fill vacancies, was forced to contend with a gaping $360 million two-year shortfall in the city’s general purpose fund, which pays for police, fire and other city services.

The gap raised concerns about layoffs within the city and how the new mayor would handle them. During her election campaign, she won support from major labor unions and building trades in Oakland. But last month, Thao instituted a hiring freeze across all city departments and said Monday that the move would save the city about $133 million over the next two years.

Only last week, the city Finance Department had reported its most recent revenue and spending estimates concerning the two-year shortfall in the general purpose fund. For fiscal year 2023-24, the projected budget gap is $175 million. For fiscal year 2024-25, the general fund could see a $170 million deficit, the report said.

Thao asked all city departments that receive money from the general purpose fund to come up with plans for 20% cuts to their operating costs. In the end, such draconian measures weren’t imposed, but city staff said the outlines helped inform Thao’s final budget. She has required across-the-board cuts from all city departments — resulting in the elimination of some unfilled jobs.

If Thao hadn’t addressed the deficit, it could have increased to more than $750 million by 2028, according to the city’s estimates. The shortfall is a result of inflation and rising employment costs, coupled with decreased tax revenues. In addition, the city no longer has access to federal COVID relief to fill budget gaps.

“We inherited the largest deficit in Oakland’s history,” Thao said in a statement. “But thanks to the ingenuity and hard work of our City staff, we have found a way to not only close that gap, but actually lay the foundation for Oakland to be stronger in the future.”

Some of her council colleagues praised her proposal, saying she used a thoughtful approach to maintain city services and avoid layoffs.

“Unlike past budget deficits, there are no federal bailouts this time,” said Council Member Kevin Jenkins, who represents part of East Oakland and is the chair of the city’s finance committee. “I appreciate that the mayor used every possible tool to close the deficit and maintain current city of Oakland employees — from the hiring slowdown announced in March to freezing vacancies and attrition.”

To address the deficit, Thao is proposing to merge several city departments to eliminate redundancy and reduce administrative overhead. She wants to combine the homelessness and housing departments; fold parks into a new children, youth and family department that also includes services from the city’s existing Human Services Department; and combine planning and building into the Economic & Workforce Development Department. Merging these organizations should save the city about $2 million over the next two years.

Thao envisions some cutbacks to the Fire Department, including terminating the use of one fire engine and delaying the launch of another, for a savings of $20 million over two years. Zac Unger, a firefighter and president of the union representing firefighters, said taking a fire engine out of service can have major impacts because units will have to respond to 911 calls from stations that could be farther away. Firefighters have criticized the city for taking fire engines out of service in previous years.

“We do want to restore them as quick as possible and we also understand the budget is what it is and all departments will have to take cuts,” Unger said.

Some new city programs, for example, Democracy Dollars, a voter-approved initiative that requires the city to send every adult resident four $25 vouchers every two years to be donated to political candidates, will be delayed.

Aside from the cuts, Thao is making some investments. She aims to pour an additional $10 million into Oakland’s IT department after a ransomware attack disrupted city services for two months and caused the personal data of some residents and staff to be leaked. She also wants to shift about $100,000 into job training programs with local high schools and community colleges, a campaign promise.

Thao proposes spending $160 million, mostly from other sources of revenue than the general purpose fund, to upgrade parks, libraries and recreational centers, clean storm drains and for other non-road infrastructure. She also allocates $87 million to repave roads, $9.1 million to traffic-calming efforts and $3.2 million for bike and pedestrian plans.

The mayor’s first budget since taking office comes amid increased pressure from residents to tackle major problems, including homelessness and public safety. A city survey done earlier this year to help inform Oakland’s priorities revealed that homelessness is the top concern for residents, cited by more than 35% of residents as the city’s most urgent problem. The number of unhoused people has increased by 131% since 2015, and grew 22% from 2019 to 2022.

Around 20% of the 1,270 residents surveyed said crime and violence was Oakland’s most urgent problem, while 14% said housing costs and affordability were their top concern. The new budget spends spends nearly $200 million on affordable housing — in part thanks to the passage of Measure U, a bond that the city can use for affordable housing and infrastructure projects. Thao also proposes allocating $108.5 million in local, state and federal funds to provide shelter and housing for 4,000 people.

The most contested part of Thao’s budget concerns law enforcement. The Police Department, which has struggled to retain and recruit staff, currently has 706 officers — short of the 726 previously budgeted. Thao’s proposal pays for six police academies during the next two years and budgets $722 million over that period, an increase from the $680 million earlier allocated, for a total of 710 officers. The head count is less than previously envisioned because salaries have increased, city staff said.

Thao also proposes cutting vacant sworn positions in criminal investigations, crime reduction and community resources. The Police Department, which has often gone over its spending plan due to overtime, will face a 15% cut in its overtime budget.

Barry Donelan, the president of the police union, took exception. “We don’t have enough police officers now just to deal with the calls for service that we have,” he said. “It’s not a recipe for success in a city that has the call volume and violence we’re experiencing.”

Some police reform advocates countered that the mayor’s proposal doesn’t cut spending enough. “Most if not all other city departments have already been stretched as much as possible over the years due to the enormous size of our police budget,” said James Burch, the policy director of advocacy group the Anti Police-Terror Project. “While we acknowledge that it will take time to set things straight, we think that the current budget crisis necessitates more drastic action when it comes to addressing our bloated OPD budget.”

Thao proposes trimming the city’s Department of Violence Prevention budget from about $48 million to $41 million, including a $3 million reduction in contracts with community organizations and freezing a full-time public information position. She also aims to move internal affairs investigations out of the Police Department, a significant change after a report detailed the department’s mishandling of officer misconduct cases, resulting in the firing of the police chief.

Police reform advocates applauded the plan to move internal affairs, saying Oakland could become the first city to have civilians overseeing internal misconduct cases.

Some city positions were moved out of the general fund and into other special funds that weren’t facing a deficit, city staff said. Thao is also tapping into a $12 million city savings rainy-day fund to help offset the budget shortfall.

The city is also expecting a boost of $20 million in revenue after implementing a progressive business tax, which voters approved last November, as well as new revenue from installation of parking meters at Lake Merritt.

Reach Sarah Ravani: sravani@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @SarRavani

Pamela Price’s Crusade Against Police Officers and Advocacy for Murderers Continues by Charging a Veteran Oakland Homicide Investigator.

Wed, 26 Apr 2023 13:37:59 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

April 25, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pamela Price’s Crusade Against Police Officers and Advocacy for Murderers Continues by Charging a Veteran Oakland Homicide Investigator.

OAKLAND, CA – The Oakland Police Officers' Association (OPOA) expresses anger over the baseless perjury charges against a seasoned Oakland Police homicide detective. These charges come despite a previous investigation by the District Attorney's Office and the police department, which had cleared the officer of any wrongdoing.

OPOA President Barry Donelan voiced his support for the officer, stating, "We are confident that this officer will be vindicated once a competent court reviews these unfounded charges. This case is not about seeking justice or ensuring public safety; rather, it appears to be an attempt by District Attorney Pamela Price to undermine the credibility of dedicated public servants and facilitate the release of convicted murderers. Such actions will undoubtedly jeopardize the safety of Oakland and Alameda County residents."

The OPOA, along with every Oakland police officer, stands in solidarity with our fellow officer and his family during this challenging and unjust ordeal.

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 25, 2023

Statement from Andrew M. Ganz, Attorney for Oakland Homicide Detective Tran

"The DA treats murderers like heroes, looking for every possible excuse to keep them out of jail. Yet,

real heroes such as Oakland Homicide Detective Tran – who has dedicated and risked his life to try to

keep the city safe – are treated like criminals. He is being prosecuted for having the audacity to

investigate, arrest and bring to justice the killers who terrorize Oakland. These charges are baseless

and should gravely concern every Alameda County resident that desires a truly equitable criminal

justice system.”

###

Did Oakland fumble its ransomware response?

Mon, 10 Apr 2023 14:33:08 GMT

By Benjamin Pimentel | Examiner staff writer Apr 6, 2023 Updated Apr 7, 2023

Two months after a major network breach, the City of Oakland is reeling from a ransomware attack that has steadily morphed into a broader crisis.

Oakland just confirmed that more data has been released into the Dark Web by the culprits. The data theft has caused an even bigger rift with the city’s police union which filed a complaint accusing Oakland officials of keeping law enforcers in the dark about the impact of the breach.

“The response is terrible,” Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan told The Examiner. “It’s pathetic.”

The crisis began Feb. 8 when Oakland city officials discovered that the city’s network had been hacked in a suspected ransomware attack. The city announced the breach two days later, saying “the public should expect delays from the City as a result.”

The impact of the attack became evident to Oakland police officers. “Cops came to work and realized their field based reporting system in the cars wasn't working,” Donelan said. That meant they had no easy access to the data system for crime reports and investigations.

“That wasn't working,” Donelan said. “Turns out that overnight, the first week of February, the whole thing was locked up and we didn't know what it was.”

Donelan said Oakland police found out about the breach from media reports before city officials confirmed the attack. Five days after the breach, the city said it had to take its network offline “to contain the attack.”

Key services were taken offline, although some were eventually restored, including Oakland’s 311 phone system used for infrastructure emergencies. One of the critical areas that the city had to address was payroll, Donelan said. “We had just been paid so it was 10 days out, maybe two weeks out for the next payroll,” and the big question was, “How do you pay people?”

That was subsequently resolved by the city, but the sudden network breakdown led to disruptions, he added. “I was shocked at the operational challenges this brought up right across the city.

The disruption was particularly disorienting for young police officers, who grew up in a digital world, and had no idea how things were done before the web, he said.

“I've got more than 20 years of service” and suddenly “you're telling these young lads on patrol, ‘Here's a pen and paper. Write a report,’” he said. “And they're like, ‘Why?’ They've never done that. That was kind of an interesting experience for a few days.”

Then the crisis took a tougher turn when it was revealed that the personal financial information of employees had been stolen.

Initially, city officials told employees and employee unions that “there was no indication that any personal data was released,” Donelan said. But in early March, the city announced that city officials “recently became aware that an unauthorized third party has acquired certain files from our network and intends to release the information publicly.”

By then, the Oakland breach became known to some cybersecurity companies that routinely monitor so-called Dark Web sites used by ransomware groups.

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Sergey Shykevich, Check Point Software's threat intelligence group manager, said a ransomware group would typically “publish only the fact that some company or organization or city was breached,” which then kicks off negotiations. When the “victim” organization refuses to pay up, the attackers start publishing some of the information they stole, he told The Examiner.

Rafe Pilling, researcher with Secureworks, another cybersecurity company, describes the attacks as a “lock and leak” operation.

“They will compromise an organization,” he told The Examiner. “If they just steal data, they'll use that as leverage. If they steal data and encrypt systems, then they'll enter into a negotiation phase with the victim. This is the standard MO.”

The ransomware group will “start to pile on the pressure,” he added. “If the negotiations aren't going well, they can publish to a leak site. They might just say, ‘We have compromised organization X. If they don't pay up in 10 days, 15 days, whatever it might be, we will publish [their data]. Sometimes they’ll publish a little bit of teaser data, like some like proof of breach or proof of life.”

The revelation stunned many Oakland police officers and other employees, Donelan said. What was particularly frustrating was that they learned that personnel data had been compromised from media reports, not from city officials, he added. On March 30, the police union filed a legal claim against the city, seeking damages for the harm caused by the breach which led to the “dissemination” of “confidential and sensitive information.”

The breach, the complaint said, “was a foreseeable consequence of the City’s failure and refusal to implement reasonable, adequate, and industry-standard information security protocols.” The complaint said the city had been “ explicitly warned at least twice” that its network security had “significant deficiencies.”

“The city attorney does not have a comment at this time,” a City of Oakland spokesperson told The Examiner.

On Tuesday (April 4), the city issued an update, saying an “extensive manual review” has “determined that the personal information of certain current and former employees and a limited subset of residents.”

Within the Oakland police force, the leaks have been disruptive and demoralizing for many officers. The complaint said police officers have been forced to spend money on “credit and identity theft protection services” and other “services to remedy specific instances of credit and identity theft, and lost opportunity to acquire credit at rates they otherwise would have qualified for absent the damage to their credit caused.”

Donelan said, “I’ve got retirees calling every day like, ‘Are we impacted?’ I’ve got folks who are newer officers trying to buy homes and want to see if they qualify for mortgages and are worried about the impacts.”

Donelan portrayed the legal complaint as a reaction to the lack of transparency from the city.

“All we wanted to do was collaborate with the city to minimize these impacts, get operations back up and protect city employees and their families from the damage as a result of all their stuff being released,” he said.

The union understood that dealing with ransomware groups involves sensitive issues, he said: “I understand you don't want to reveal the investigation. I mean, I’m a policeman. I understand the importance of that. But people need to be told to protect themselves and to understand what the situation is. And the city does have the responsibility to protect our private information.”

Oakland’s ransomware crisis worsens as city confirms largest leak yet

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 14:47:07 GMT

Release of sensitive data goes beyond city employees, city admits

By SHOMIK MUKHERJEE | smukherjee@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: April 4, 2023 at 6:47 p.m. | UPDATED: April 5, 2023 at 3:55 p.m.

OAKLAND — Another large trove of sensitive data stolen from the city’s internal network has been dumped onto the internet, potentially exposing even more confidential personal information of current and former city workers, as well as non-employee residents.

City officials confirmed that the same “unauthorized third party” group of unethical hackers behind the February attack was responsible for the latest release.

Sources who viewed a link to download the data on the dark web — a layered version of the internet not searchable on the web accessed by most ordinary users — told this news organization that the cache amounted to around 600 gigabytes, or the equivalent of 360,000 webpages.

It is a far larger haul than the nearly 10 gigabytes that were dropped last month, immediately putting Oakland’s workers and other residents on high alert for fraud and other breaches of their personal information.

The large data dump supports what experts had spent the past month suggesting: that the first round of data exposure was the group’s way of extorting money from the city — which has not disclosed the hackers’ demands — by signaling it meant business.

“We are working with third-party specialists and law enforcement to investigate and we will continue conducting a thorough review of the involved files,” city spokesperson Jean Walsh said in an email.

The full extent of the data contained in the massive bundle of files is not yet clear. Walsh said the city has begun “notifying individuals whose information was involved in this incident, and will continue to do so in accordance with applicable law.”

The ransomware gang Play has claimed responsibility for the attack that has led to a flurry of connectivity issues in the city’s phone and internet systems.

More damagingly, thousands of current and former city employees have had their medical information, home addresses and social security numbers exposed on the dark web, which anyone can access with the proper software.

The city acknowledged Tuesday that the hack also affected a “limited subset” of residents who aren’t employees, such as those who filed a legal claim against the city or applied for certain federal programs through Oakland’s public services.

The city has opened a call center — between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays — that can be reached at 866-869-1861.

The aftermath of the attack has left numerous workers frustrated. This week, Oakland’s police officers union made good on its earlier threat to file a legal claim against the city seeking damages.

“As a result of the city’s conduct, the (union) members have suffered, and are at an increased risk of suffering, economic harm and identify theft,” states the union claim, noting how the city was twice warned of being vulnerable to a ransomware attack.

Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, said in an interview last week that several union members had already seen their credit information breached by fraudsters.

“I’ve had an officer try to freeze his credit and someone got there ahead of him and put their name on his credit first,” Donelan said, adding that his worst fear is “a year, two years from now, a young person tries to buy a home and their credit is shot.”

The city, for its part, maintains it has communicated with affected employees “every step of the way.” Mayor Sheng Thao hasn’t responded to multiple requests for comment on the ongoing ransomware fiasco.

“We remain committed to protecting the data we maintain, and regret any inconvenience or concern this incident caused our community,” Walsh said in Tuesday’s statement. “We will continue to provide pertinent updates and thank our community for their continued support.”

Alameda County DA moves to disqualify judge who torpedoed plea deal in three-count murder case

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 14:42:14 GMT

Judge denied recusal motion hours before announcement

By NATE GARTRELL | ngartrell@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: April 5, 2023 at 10:05 p.m. | UPDATED: April 6, 2023 at 7:40 a.m.

OAKLAND — Weeks after an Alameda County judge shot down a plea deal that would have sentenced a man accused of three homicides to 15 years, the district attorney announced she is moving to disqualify him from all criminal cases.

Alameda County DA Pamela Price announced the move Wednesday afternoon on a YouTube video, hours after Judge Mark McCannon denied motions by both the prosecution and defense to recuse him from the case of Delonzo Logwood. In the video, Price took aim at McCannon, saying the judge “overstepped his boundaries” and “created a firestorm of prejudicial comments that do not, in my view, serve justice.”

It is an uncommon but hardly unheard of practice that is more often used by defense attorneys. But last July, then-DA Nancy O’Malley, Price’s predecessor, wrote that her prosecutors “cannot have a fair and impartial trial or hearing or any criminal procedure” before Judge Amy Sekany in a motion to disqualify her.

In Contra Costa County, the Public Defender’s office has moved to disqualify various judges several times in recent years, and the Alameda County Public Defender sought to remove a superior court judge last year as well.

Price didn’t specify which of McCannon’s comments she was referring to, nor did she say which law her office will cite to disqualify McCannon. State law provides two options — flood a judge with disqualification petitions in a practice commonly known as papering, or file a singular motion with a much higher legal standard to forcibly recuse the judge for bias.

Price’s exact wording — that her office will file “a motion” to disqualify McCannon from “any criminal cases being prosecuted by my office” — suggests she was referring to the latter option, though simply papering McCannon would likely produce faster results. The California civics code allows attorneys on either side one opportunity per case to disqualify a judge simply by asking for recusal, provided there hasn’t been a factual hearing in the case.

Last month, McCannon, a former prosecutor, rejected a plea deal for Logwood, an alleged West Oakland gang member accused of murdering three people when he was 18. McCannon said he had “many sleepless nights” while contemplating the deal.

McCannon told Logwood, ““You can’t think an apology will make this all better,” and at an earlier hearing, called it one of the most lenient deals he’d ever seen.

On Wednesday, just hours before Price announced she was moving to disqualify McCannon, he rejected motions by both prosecutors and Logwood’s attorney to remove him from the case. The Berkeley Scanner wrote that McCannon chided the attorneys, telling them, “I am not the low-hanging fruit or scapegoat for the debacle this case has become.”

“It seems to me you all don’t like my ruling, so you think that I should be disqualified,” he later added, the Berkeley Scanner reported.

Logwood’s attorney says he is planning to appeal McCannon’s ruling, and meanwhile, the clock is ticking for Logwood’s trial. Jury selection has been tentatively scheduled for April 17, and unless Logwood waives time, that’s when it will start. Logwood was charged, along with Dijon Holifield, in 2015. Since then, Holifield’s case has been sent to juvenile court, since he was 17 at the time of the alleged offenses.

Adding to the confusion, the Deputy District Attorney who had been handling Logwood’s case for years recently resigned, joining roughly two dozen attorneys who have been quit, been fired, or been placed on leave since Price took the oath of office last January.

Oakland police chief was unfairly fired, confidential reports show

Sat, 01 Apr 2023 14:51:11 GMT

Mayor Thao, pressured by court monitor, terminated Chief Armstrong using internally inconsistent and thin findings

By DANIEL BORENSTEIN | dborenstein@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: April 1, 2023 at 5:35 a.m. | UPDATED: April 1, 2023 at 5:46 a.m.

Confidential reports that provided the basis for the firing of Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong were internally inconsistent and relied on thin evidence to unfairly tarnish his reputation.

That’s my take after reading the reports — and I’m not alone.

“I was dumbfounded by their conclusions,” says civil rights attorney John Burris. “The evidence did not support the termination.”

As lead attorney in the infamous Riders case litigation against the city that has led to two decades of federal court oversight of the Police Department, Burris also has read the confidential documents.

So have members of the Oakland Police Commission, whose chairperson, Tyfahra Milele, in statements after the firing, lauded Armstrong as an “effective reform-minded Chief.” Speaking on behalf of the commission, she too expressed concern about the “questionable quality, sufficiency, and credibility of the outside investigations.”

The confidential reports, prepared by an outside law firm at the behest of court-appointed monitor Robert Warshaw, are reviews of two problematic internal investigations of actions by police Sgt. Michael Chung. In March 2021, Chung left the scene of a vehicle collision in San Francisco without reporting the incident to police there. In April 2022, he discharged a service weapon in an elevator of the Oakland Police Administration Building.

The Oaklandside online news publication obtained a copy of the confidential review of the vehicle collision investigation and published it on its website in February. Bay Area News Group has obtained a copy of the confidential review of the Police Department’s handling of the elevator discharge incident.

The actions of Sgt. Michael Chung have led to two outside probes of how the Oakland Police Department investigated wrongdoing by its own members. To read those confidential reports, click here.

The outside reviews provide clear evidence that Oakland police are incapable of policing themselves. They convincingly show that a captain ordered the internal report on the vehicle collision watered down and that the internal probe of the elevator shooting was badly mishandled.

“I was dumbfounded by their conclusions,” says civil rights attorney John Burris. “The evidence did not support the termination.”

But the outside reviews overreach in their attempts to blame Armstrong. In claiming that the chief should have known about the problems, the reports ignore the obligations he had to distance himself from his subordinate’s internal probes so that he could make fair rulings when their recommendations were brought to him.

The outside reports’ scapegoating of Armstrong is further evidence that the federal oversight of the city’s Police Department has lost its way. Warshaw forced out a qualified chief who was trying to make reforms and confront the city’s soaring homicide and crime rates.

As the Police Commission searches for candidates to be the new top cop, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want the job, from which he or she could be fired by the mayor, the police commission or the court-appointed monitor. There are simply too many bosses to please.

Calling the shots

The outside reviews were officially commissioned by former City Administrator Ed Reiskin, but it’s well-understood — and confirmed by Burris — that Warshaw, whose signature of approval appears at the end of each report, is calling the shots.

That’s because, for two decades now, the Police Department has been under federal court oversight as part of a 2003 settlement in the infamous Riders case in which officers were accused of beating and planting drugs on West Oakland residents.

In March 2021, Sgt. Michael Chung left the scene of a vehicle collision in San Francisco without reporting the incident to police there. In April 2022 he discharged a service weapon in an elevator of the Oakland Police Administration Building.

William Orrick is now the judge in charge of the case, and he has given Warshaw sweeping power as the monitor and compliance director, a job for which the city must pay his firm’s bills that last year totaled $755,000.

City officials, who have been trying for years to convince the court to lift the oversight, have felt they must genuflect to Warshaw or risk his wrath. With Armstrong as chief, the city last year was close to finally meeting all the conditions for lifting the court oversight. Then the Police Department’s botched internal investigations of the Chung cases surfaced.

The outside reviews of the two cases conclude that Armstrong’s testimony for the external probes was not credible and that, in the vehicle collision incident, the chief was derelict in his duty to hold subordinate officers accountable.

Those findings led to Mayor Sheng Thao exercising her authority to fire Armstrong in February without first letting the Police Commission investigate. The mayor has said that Warshaw pressured her to fire Armstrong, according to a source with firsthand knowledge. Another source has heard the same thing from others the mayor talked to. Neither Thao nor Warshaw returned messages seeking comment.

Meanwhile, a careful review of the two confidential reports reveals how poorly supported their findings about Armstrong are.

Vehicle accident case

In each case, the reports contain summaries of the outside law firm’s interviews with police personnel who were witnesses or subjects of the investigations. But the conclusions about Armstrong in the two reviews often do not match the testimony summarized in the same reports.

For example, the findings in the first case, regarding the investigation of the vehicle accident, suggest that the chief somehow enabled a coverup. But there’s no evidence in the confidential report to support that.

In that incident, Chung was the driver of a police vehicle involved in a collision with a parked car, left the scene of the incident and failed to report it. An Oakland internal affairs investigator probed the case. In draft findings, the investigator concluded that Chung failed to obey hit-and-run laws and failed to report to superior officers his dating relationship with his passenger in the car, who was a subordinate Oakland officer. The draft findings also called into question Chung’s and the subordinate officer’s credibility.

But the investigator’s commander, Wilson Lau, a captain who has since left the department, ordered the findings be watered down so that they merely faulted the sergeant for the preventable collision but not for the hit and run, removed the identification of the passenger as an officer, removed discussion of the relationship issue, and concluded that the sergeant and officer were credible.

It was those revised findings that were, in a weekly meeting of top commanders in December 2021, presented to Armstrong to make the final calls on wrongdoing and later punishment. The outside law firm concludes that Armstrong knew the true facts of the case before the meeting but was dishonest when questioned later about his past knowledge.

Building on the assumption that the chief knew the truth about the case, the outside review then faults him for not questioning the revised findings, shutting down discussion in the meeting, failing to review a videotape of the incident and failing to read the full revised findings before signing off on them. This is the basis of the dereliction of duty finding.

But there is no testimony in the confidential report to support that the chief did know the true facts. Nor did any witness interview show that someone expressed a desire to ask questions in the meeting and was denied the opportunity.

As Burris, the civil rights attorney, noted, “The report did not have evidence that he (Armstrong) was aware of what had taken place in the effort to change the report. There was nothing in the meeting that suggested that he was trying to prevent evidence coming out.”

The chief freely admitted he knew before the meeting about the existence of the investigation. But there was good reason for him to remain out of the loop on the details — so that he could have an open mind when he reviewed the case presented to him for a ruling on discipline of Chung.

When that time came, the information presented to the chief pertained only to a traffic collision. With 134 homicides in the city that year, we shouldn’t be expecting the police chief to devote hours to a probe of what he was being told at the time was essentially a fender-bender.

Elevator shooting

The second case, involving the elevator shooting, also was badly mishandled during the internal police review. The saga began in April 2022 when a bullet strike mark was noticed in a freight elevator at the Police Administration Building. A week after the mark was noticed, as police were narrowing the possible suspects, Chung confessed to firing the shot and said he had thrown the shell casing into San Francisco Bay.

The Police Department’s initial internal investigation treated the incident as only a negligent discharge without considering that a more-serious crime might have been committed and that Chung might have removed and destroyed evidence. The initial investigation did not include efforts to find evidence or understand the motivation of the shooter.

Armstrong directed that Chung be placed on administrative leave while the department conducted administrative and criminal investigations. And, soon after, the outside law firm took over the internal affairs investigation, and Warshaw directed that the chief be “walled off” from the probe.

It’s that walling off that is a key issue driving the conclusion in the outside review that Armstrong was not credible in his testimony about the case. Armstrong said he respected the walling off; the outside attorneys say he did not.

To support their conclusion, the outside attorneys point to testimony by Deputy Chief Drennon Lindsey and then-Assistant Chief Darren Allison. But that testimony doesn’t seem to support the attorneys’ conclusions. According to summaries of testimony in the report, Lindsey, who is Armstrong’s wife, kept Allison briefed on the case and was certain he was briefing the chief. And Allison, who is now acting chief, said he gave Armstrong regular updates on “high-level issues regarding the investigation.”

That’s consistent with what Armstrong testified. He interpreted the walling off order to mean that he should not have a hand in the decision-making on the case but that he needed to know the progress because Warshaw and the court wanted the case investigated quickly and information promptly provided. Which is why Allison was giving him high-level briefings.

Indeed, Armstrong says, he advised Warshaw that he was receiving those briefings, something that the chief told the outside lawyers but they did not include in their summary of his testimony.

Instead, the outside investigators in their report launch a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t critique.

On one hand, they slam him for not respecting the walling off. But on the other they claim that he wasn’t involved enough, saying he approached the case with disinterest and casualness when he should have paid “laser-sharp and focused” attention “to an investigation involving a pattern of criminal misconduct by a sergeant of police under his command.” The failure to do so, they write, “indicates a problem with ‘tone at the top.’”

Recipe for failure

Actually, the problem is not with the tone at the top. Armstrong had nearly brought the department into full compliance with the federal court’s mandates.

“Why,” asks Burris, “would you terminate this particular chief who has worked very hard getting us in compliance, working with the community, working with the commission, getting us moving in a very positive direction?”

The problem is with the process. As the reports and history show, letting police investigate police is a recipe for failure.

But Warshaw’s signing off on these two obviously very-flawed confidential reports suggests the court-appointed monitor was hellbent on taking down the city’s police chief rather than seriously addressing the broken oversight system that Armstrong couldn’t control. If Warshaw and Judge Orrick really want to fix the Police Department culture, they would press for turning over oversight to the independent Police Commission structure that city voters approved in 2016 and 2020.

Meanwhile, the city has lost a solid police chief who was fighting for the very reforms Warshaw purports to be championing.

Former Alameda Co. prosecutor voices concerns, calls DA's policies dangerous

Wed, 29 Mar 2023 18:17:17 GMT

"Pamela Price and her administration are putting criminal defendants, criminal suspects before victims, before the community."

ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Concerns about the policies of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price are being raised by one of her own prosecutors who has resigned in protest.

"You actually felt that lives would be lost because of (Pamela) Price being elected?" I-Team reporter Dan Noyes asked Charly Weissenbach, former prosecutor in Alameda County.

"I really did. And I hoped that I was being dramatic. I hoped that I was wrong. And now that her policies are playing out, I know that I wasn't," she answered.

Weissenbach is far from the only prosecutor to quit the DA's Office in the few months that Price has been on the job. Price is shaking things up. With each passing day, we're receiving new information about plea deals that favor criminals and leave victims of violent crime feeling like they haven't received justice.

The court records tell the story. April 29, 2018 -- a Sunday, two in the afternoon. Unlicensed driver Cesar Garcia speeds 70 mph on northbound 880 in a red sedan, makes an unsafe lane change, side-swiping a car, sending it into the sound wall. Several people suffer serious injuries in the crash, including a pregnant woman who lost her 8-month-old fetus as a result. Garcia ditches the car in this parking lot and tries to report it stolen.

Ransomware fallout: Could lawsuits break Oakland’s silence?

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 13:40:56 GMT

City workers say they’ve been victims of identity theft after personal information was leaked to the dark web

By SHOMIK MUKHERJEE | smukherjee@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: March 27, 2023 at 4:33 p.m. | UPDATED: March 28, 2023 at 5:33 a.m.

OAKLAND — Numerous city workers received alerts this month confirming the worst: strangers were attempting to open lines of credit on their accounts, using social security numbers hacked from the city during a ransomware attack that began Feb 8.

It’s a nightmare no one would want to experience, but Oakland’s union leaders are just as concerned about the messages they say workers aren’t getting — from city leaders who have yet to offer a pathway out of the ongoing mess.

Citing a lack of communication, union officials say they are now considering lawsuits to secure more extensive credit protections for the thousands of workers whose personal information was stolen last month and posted on the dark web.

“The city has taken no steps; it’s just business as usual, with no interest in taking care of their workers,” said Barry Donelan, the Oakland police officers’ union president, who added his worst fear is that “a year, two years from now, a young person tries to buy a home and their credit is shot.”

As part of the attack, 10 gigabytes of data in compressed files — a mother lode of IDs, employee forms, passports, home addresses and other sensitive information — were released last month to the dark web, an internet network where criminal activity is rampant.

Making matters worse for Oakland is that the attack likely also compromised the information of ordinary residents whose data happened to be on file with the city through parking ticket payments or business contracts.

In the wake of the attack, the city alerted federal law enforcement — plus cybersecurity and forensic professionals — began an internal investigation and guaranteed employees a year of free credit protection through Experian.

But workers want to meet with city leaders to openly discuss why a robustly staffed IT department couldn’t defend against such a large-scale attack — and how another one could be prevented.

“We are hoping that the folks at Human Resources will come around and do the right thing, but if not, we’ve filed a number of grievances already, and we’ll take those to the logical conclusion,” said Zac Unger, the head of the city’s firefighters union.

In a statement, city officials said they had been forthcoming with staff “every step of the way,” from all-employee updates, an FAQ email address, a pair of information sessions and a dedicated call center, plus formal letters “outlining the specific data that was breached.”

In response to the letter from the unionized police officers, the officials said in the statement that they were “looking forward to meeting with them.”

Oakland’s leaders had limited options for recovering the data, given that the hackers in control of it could make infinite copies. The city’s decision to pay for workers’ credit monitoring is a common early step among victimized agencies, but one that is “reactive, rather than proactive,” according to Brett Callow, a cybersecurity analyst at New Zealand-based cybersecurity firm Emsisoft.

“It doesn’t stop fraud, it simply lets people know that it’s happened,” Callow said in a recent interview.

It isn’t known if the group connected to the attack, Play, is still holding data ransom to extort payments from Oakland, though experts earlier this month warned of a strong possibility that more information is yet be dumped online.

But another group last week claimed responsibility for the attack — the hacker gang LockBit, which said that it would release more of Oakland’s data online on April 10, the hacker news site Bleeping Computer reported.

LockBit is known to carry out bounty ransomware attacks ordered by third parties, but the Bleeping Computer report noted how the gang has a history of falsely taking credit for high-profile hacking incidents to garner publicity.

Could further damage lie ahead? No one has said for sure, but Daniel Aranki, an assistant professor in information at UC Berkeley, said it’s one of the first steps of transparency that employers could reasonably be expected to provide.

“Ideally you’d want to explain the scope properly,” said Aranki, “There’s a very burning question: if the leak that happened is just a partial dump, what more information could they have?”

City officials said in a statement that they have several considerations to make in deciding what information to release, but insisted that they weren’t ducking their responsibility.

“The nature of these kinds of incidents demands that we balance our commitment to transparency with the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and the security of our systems,” the statement said. “We will continue to communicate directly with our employees and our community, sharing updates as we build on our progress.”

Oakland Police Officers Association says city is ‘stonewalling’ it regarding cyber breach information

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 13:36:07 GMT

(KRON) — The Oakland Police Officers Association said the city is “stonewalling” it regarding information on the cyber security breach Oakland experienced in February, which led to city employees’ personal data being compromised, according to a news released from OPOA. The association said it has tried to contact city officials about the matter several times but has not received a response.

“Oakland city leaders talk about accountability, yet there has been zero accountability and a deafening silence for the safety and financial security of the city’s valued employees.” OPOA president Barry Donelan said. “This city is truly broken when city employees learn more about the release of their confidential information from the media than their employer, whose incompetence and sloppy security allows these data breaches to occur.”

Oakland City Employees Face a Reckless Avalanche of Identity Theft.

Mon, 27 Mar 2023 15:46:51 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

March 27, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland City Employees Face a Reckless Avalanche of Identity Theft.

Meanwhile, City Leaders Ignore and Stonewall Employees.

OAKLAND, CA – Between February 6-9, 2023, the City of Oakland experienced a cyber-attack that released all city employees’ personal information. This is the second serious breach of employee confidential information within the last two years. The Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) immediately wrote to the administration, seeking a meeting to learn the impacts on employees, how the City plans to mitigate the damage caused to its employees, and how to ensure employees’ confidential information can be safeguarded in the future. [ The March 6th letter to the city administrator is attached ].

The city failed to respond.

The lack of a response led the OPOA to write directly to Mayor Sheng Thao seeking a response. [ The March 20th letter to the mayor is linked here ].

The mayor has not responded to the OPOA’s March 20th letter.

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan said: “Oakland city leaders talk about accountability, yet there has been zero accountability and a deafening silence for the safety and financial security of the city’s valued employees.” Donelan continued, “This city is truly broken when city employees learn more about the release of their confidential information from the media than their employer, whose incompetence and sloppy security allows these data breaches to occur.”

Unfortunately, continued stonewalling by our employer may leave litigation as the only recourse for victims of the City’s latest incompetence.

###

‘You can’t think an apology will make this all better’: Judge throws out controversial plea deal for man accused of three Oakland killings Delonzo Logwood had faced potential sentence of up to life

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 19:48:43 GMT

By JAKOB RODGERS | jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com and NATE GARTRELL | ngartrell@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: March 23, 2023 at 10:56 a.m. | UPDATED: March 23, 2023 at 12:29 p.m.

OAKLAND — Less than two months after lamenting “he had never seen a case pled down like this before,” an Alameda County Superior Court judge rejected a plea deal that would have imposed 15 years for a reputed West Oakland gang member accused of gunning down three people when he was 18 years old.

Judge Mark McCannon ruled Thursday that 31-year-old Delonzo Logwood should go to trial, saying he had decided against accepting a plea deal proposed by prosecutors. Logwood had previously been eligible for a sentence of death or life without parole before being offered the unusual plea deal by District Attorney Pamela Price.

Before he rejected the deal, McCannon said he has had “many sleepless nights” about this case. He then picked apart comments by Logwood’s attorney, who had attempted to rebuff the evidence against his client.

“You can’t think an apology will make this all better,” McCannon said in court Thursday. “What are you sorry for if you didn’t do anything?”

“I keep asking myself — and you should be asking yourself — ‘What if he did it?’,” McCannon continued. He later said he often presses prosecutors for less prison time and added, “I don’t just hand out lengthy sentences. One minute, I wouldn’t want to be in jail. I’ve got family in jail. I’ve got friends in jail. So this isn’t lost on me.”

McCannon noted that the deputy district attorney who helped broker the deal, Staci Pettigrew, wasn’t in court. When he asked about her absence he wasn’t given an explanation, he said. Multiple sources within the DA’s office, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, have said Pettigrew resigned earlier this month. Two other county prosecutors have also recently turned in their resignations, blaming a new policy introduced by Price designed to drastically reduce prison terms through eliminating the use of sentencing enhancements, with few exceptions.

Jimmie Wilson, a longtime Alameda County prosecutor who was appointed to serve as one of Price’s administrators after running against her for DA last year, showed up for Thursday’s hearing in Pettigrew’s place.

Price herself attended the hearing, sitting in the first row of the gallery. After the proceeding, she left the courtroom surrounded by a half-dozen employees, declining to comment on the ruling.

It is unusual for a judge to reject a plea deal that has been agreed upon by both defense attorneys and the DA. During Thursday’s hearing, Logwood apologized and the mother of one of his three alleged victims submitted a letter to the court that said three times of Logwood: “He will kill again.”

A trial date has not yet been set.

Appearing in court in a yellow jail jumpsuit with a white long sleeve undershirt and a blue face mask, Logwood said he wanted to apologize for “all the destruction I caused.” He spoke for about two minutes.

“I want to apologize for my conduct. I’m going to turn a negative into the positive,” Logwood said in court Thursday, while referencing his desire to help end violence and build up the community. “It’s going to take us to save us.”

He ended his apology by saying: “Please forgive me, I’m sorry.”

The mother of Zaire Washington — one of three people Logwood was charged with killing — submitted a letter to the court that was read aloud Thursday by a victim’s advocate, saying her son was “so senselessly and cruelly taken from me.”

“There is emptiness inside me that haunts me every day for the rest of my life … (Washington) will never be able to live out his full potential,” the letter reads. She asked McCannon for a strict prison sentence, adding that when she heard of the proposed deal, “It felt like I was shot in the heart again.”

“I know that this man will kill again,” she wrote, later adding, “I fear for my life and everybody else’s.”

After the ruling, Logwood — who appeared attentive throughout the hearing — looked back at the gallery where his mother and other loved ones were sitting. He then leaned over and consulted with his attorney. As court was let out, Logwood waved at his family before deputies led him back to the bus to Santa Rita Jail.

Logwood’s mother told this news organization last month that she was displeased by the deal and hoped her son would prove his innocence at trial.

Attorney David Briggs, representing Logwood, gave a point-by-point rebuttal of the evidence in the two homicide counts that Logwood hadn’t pleaded no contest to, saying he didn’t want to address the third homicide in detail in case McCannon rejected the deal. He said he was confident Logwood would be exonerated at trial.

“We don’t do justice to the family or defendants or the community if we convict an innocent man,” Briggs said, adding that much of the prosecution evidence in one of the killings was based on “a convicted liar.” He argued Logwood was the product of an extremely rough upbringing, that he’s worked to reduce violence in the community, he’s stayed discipline-free in the jail, that he got baptized, and that he plans to improve his life when he gets out of prison.

“He decided what he wanted to do was mentor young people so they didn’t make the same mistakes (he) did,” Briggs said. He later added, “He wants to live a responsible life himself.”

Attorney Linda Fullerton, also part of Logwood’s defense team, said she was “completely disappointed” with the ruling and said “this was a just plea.”

The case represents one of the highest-profile decisions yet by Price, who won election in November while proposing a sweeping new approach to justice and punishment, including reopening investigations of fatal police shootings while placing numerous longtime prosecutors on leave. Among her first moves was to review cases involving defendants who were younger than 25 at the time of their crime.

The move also comes just a month and a half after McCannon expressed deep concern over Price’s deal, particularly given the lack of remorse shown by Logwood over the 15 years since the killings. Chief among McCannon’s “public safety” concerns was an alleged statement Logwood made to another Santa Rita Jail inmate about how he plans on “just going bad on everybody” after his release.

At an early February hearing, McCannon said he needed to hear that Logwood had matured and “changed his ways” before approving the deal.

The deal represented an about-face from the office’s approach just last summer, when Pettigrew argued in court records that it was proper to charge the case in a way that made Logwood eligible for life without parole.

She noted in a pretrial motion that all of the charges — save one carjacking count — carried a potential life sentence, adding that jurors would be prejudiced if prosecutors tried Logwood for all three homicides at once. Logwood was charged with murder in the deaths of Eric Ford, 22, Zaire Washington, 24, and Richard Carter, 30, in separate Oakland shootings in 2008.

Logwood was charged alongside 30-year-old Dijon Holifield with five slayings between the two of them in a span of 45 days in the summer of 2008. Holifield, who was 17 at the time, was ultimately prosecuted in juvenile court, records show.

The original charges included enhancements alleging that the killings were committed to further the interests of the West Oakland-based gang known as Ghost Town and that both men belonged to a subset of Ghost Town known as the P-Team. Prosecutors also connected the pair to a number of other violent crimes, including the nonfatal shooting of a potential witness and a series of armed carjackings.

Washington was gunned down on June 30, 2008, near his mother’s home on the 8000 block of MacArthur Boulevard. One of two suspects yelled “get him” before the gunmen shot Washington in the back and buttocks. Three weeks after the day of his death, he’d been scheduled to testify against Logwood’s half-brother in an unrelated shooting case.

Oakland’s new prosecutor tests voters’ views of crime and punishment

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 16:44:21 GMT

After San Francisco kicked out its progressive district attorney, a new one steps intooffi ce just across the bay

By Scott Wilson

March 20, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

OAKLAND, Calif. — For more than a decade, the district attorney for Alameda County, where this city is the center of gravity, prosecuted crime the old-fashioned way, with stiff sentences and the reliable support of law-enforcement unions at election time.

That changed sharply in November. Nancy O’Malley, the incumbent, declined to seek reelection amid the strengthening national push to reexamine who is punished and for how long. In her place, voters chose Pamela Price, a civil rights lawyer, who four years and apandemic earlier had lost her challenge to O’Malley.

Now, a woman who made a living taking on the local justice system is running it. “They elected me with a mandate,” Price, the first Black woman to serve as Oakland district attorney, said in an interview. “And,

to me, the right prosecutor for the moment is one who is not wedded to the status quo.”

Price has, in a few short months, abandoned the status quo.

The speed with which she is moving to remake the office has delivered a shock to the system at a time when this city just marked a record third-straight year with more than 100 homicides, most of those carried out with guns.

Price’s approach will provide a stark test of whether some of California’s most liberal voters will continue to support more-lenient approaches to prosecution and imprisonment at a time of rising gun violence, street crimes and homicides. Those who have tried to carry out similar programs have found that the public’s patience is thin in this liberal state with a historical affinity for conservative, tough-on-crime measures.

Since taking office, Price has endorsed a plea bargain in one murder case that surprised even the judge because of its leniency. She is formalizing new sentencing guidelines that will favor probation and reduce jail time by ending the use of “enhancements” — sentencing add-ons that include the use of a gun in the commission of a crime.

And she has signaled loudly to law enforcement agencies that her approach to police misconduct allegations will be much different from her predecessor’s.

In her dozen years in office, O’Malley brought one homicide case against a police officer, charging a White San Leandro officer with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a Black man.

Before completing her first month in office, Price reopened eight cases involving law enforcement-involved deaths, one of them more than 15 years old.

“She’s going to be learning a lot along the way,” said Antoine Towers, a father of three teenagers who works on nonviolence programs in schools and is part of the nonprofit Oakland Violence Prevention Coalition. “She may make some mistakes, she will learn some lessons, but will she figure it out? And will it be too late once she does?”

Towers’s 21-year-old brother was fatally shot a few years ago. A few years before that, his 17-year-old nephew was killed while being robbed in Oakland.

Towers, who spent six years in some of California’s most notorious state prisons for committing an armed carjacking when he was 18 years old, said he did not vote for Price, preferring her opponent because of his knowledge of the anti-violence programs already underway.

Towers, who is Black, said he understands the toll that incarceration has taken on his community. But, as Price advocates for lighter sentences and alternatives to prison time, he worries that the line between right and wrong is becoming blurred.

“Is it really helping us as a community?” Towers said. “How do we get to a place to make good decisions about ourlives when many here feel that the decision you make doesn’t matter either way?”

A mixed message around the bay

The clarity of Price’s mandate — at least over the long term — is clouded by a look across the bay to Alameda County’s angry, and at times unruly, cousin San Francisco.

In June, San Francisco voters recalled Chesa Boudin, a liberal former public defender turned district attorney, amidrising property crime and an overriding sense, amplified by his opponents on social media, that the city had become unmanageable.

Brooke Jenkins , a former prosecutor under Boudin who helped lead the recall effort, was appointed by MayorLondon Breed (D) to replace him and then won election in November.

She stepped up prosecution of property crime and street-level drug dealing, crimes that liberal critics say disproportionately target Black and Latino residents. But one of her sharpest departures from Boudin has been in her relationship with a traditionally politically powerful police force.

Last month, Jenkins dismissed a case filed by Boudin against a San Francisco police officer who fatally shot an unarmed carjacking suspect, citing an “internal conflict” in a letter to the state attorney general explaining why she intended to drop the case.

“Good cops want bad cops ferreted out,” Jenkins said in a recent interview. “But what I don’t want to see is prosecutions of police officers as something used politically.”

Jenkins describes herself as “a prosecutor who is looking away from the historical method of punishment and incarceration,” an echo of Price and of Boudin. But she added a caveat.

“No one wants to further the prison-industrial complex,” she said. “Where it gets tricky is when people say, ‘But I want to feel safe.’ There’s a gray area there, but I think the bottom line is people do want prosecutors to act like prosecutors.”

Will voters prove fickle?

Price’s arc from civil rights lawyer to prosecutor began in Cincinnati, where she was born 66 years ago. She attended schools where Black children accounted for 95 percent of the student body. She visited Yale College on a school-sponsored trip and, on what she called a long-shot whim, later applied and was accepted.

“I got to see something very different than what I was living,” she said of New Haven, Conn. “We were told to have hope and put it in a can. But we didn’t have a can to put it in where I had come from.”

Price headed west to study law at the University of California at Berkeley and has lived in the Bay Area ever since, practicing law and advocating for police reform, affordable housing and other issues that she says today are some of the root reasons that “people first pick up a gun.”

In 2018, Price lost to O’Malley in the June primary and then decided to run for Oakland mayor that November. She finished third. In winning this past November, Price beat Terry Wiley, O’Malley’s second-in-command. She secured 53 percent ofthe vote in the general election, despite being outspent.

Jason McDaniel, an associate professor of political science at San Francisco State University, said White liberal voters often are key elements of the racial coalitions that decide local races, including Price’s.

“But these voters are also often more willing to hold those they elect accountable — especially women of color,” he said, noting the recent defeat of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot after a single term amid a backlash against crime.“ Their support can drop off very quickly.”

Since winning, Price has spoken with Boudin and Diana Becton, the district attorney in next-door Contra Costa County, and others in what she describes as the progressive prosecutor movement. She also met with members of Martin Luther King Jr.’s family and calls herself a “drum major for justice,” a reference to King’s sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta two months before his assassination in Memphis.

Her approach is being tested immediately, even though it is too early to tell whether the public supports the changes.

“She’s consistent,” said Barry Donelan, the president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, which represents more than 700 department members. “The residents of Alameda County knew what they were voting for.”

‘A throwaway kid’

Long a proving ground for police-reform initiatives, Oakland was experimenting with reducing and reallocating police budgets years before the national movement to do so. The calls for reform picked up momentum after the videotaped murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May 2020.

So did the surge of crime that many cities experienced during the pandemic, short-circuiting the debate over whether more police officers result in less crime.

The Oakland Police Department has been under federal oversight since 2003, and over that time, its staffing levels have ebbed and flowed. Once employing more than 800 people, the force dipped into the low 600s last year before rising just above 700 employees in recent weeks.

Homicides have risen, too, during the pandemic and in its immediate aftermath.

“Ideology meets reality in Oakland,” Donelan said. “When the defund movement happened, murders skyrocketed.”

Donelan said “a revolving door policy” adopted by prosecutors during the pandemic — largely to keep jails as empty as possible to prevent illness from spreading among inmates — also kept too many dangerous people on streets where guns abound.

Last year, Donelan said, was the third straight that Oakland police confiscated more than 1,000 guns. Of the roughly 1,400 seized last year, he said, about 1,000 had been used in crimes.

“This is the legacy that the new district attorney has inherited,” Donelan said.

Any grace period Donelan offers Price, however, is tempered by her decision to reopen eight cases in which civilians died in encounters with law enforcement. The cases, all of them reviewed internally, date from 2007 through 2022.

The earliest case involved an Oakland police officer who Donelan said had been cleared after extensive investigation and “comes to work every day making the public safer.” He called Price’s decision to reopen the case “cruel.”

But Price said that the county is “desperate for police accountability,” and she believes the public will have more confidence in the process if the cases are reviewed.

“The relationship too often between the community and the Oakland Police Department has been one of danger,” Price said. “I have a mandate to undo that.”

On March 1, Price circulated within her department a draft of new sentencing guidelines, policies consistent with her promise to shorten or forgo jail sentences, especially in the cases of young offenders. One element of her 10-pointcampaign platform pledged to “stop over-criminalization of youth.”

Her intention was on display a few weeks earlier in an Oakland courtroom. Prosecutors announced that a plea agreement had been reached in the case of Delonzo Logwood, who in 2008 allegedly killed three people. He had just turned 18 years old.

The agreement dropped two of the murder charges and recommended a sentence of 15 years, roughly a fifth of what Logwood faced.

According to reporters in the courtroom, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Mark McCannon responded with dismay when the deal was presented. He did not sign off on it, saying, “I’m going to need to get here, okay? Because I’ve never seen a case get pleaded down like this before.”

He is expected to announce his decision in the coming weeks.

“We have to hold young people accountable, but we have to do it in a way that will not destroy their lives,” Price said when asked in the interview about the case. “We can’t throw kids away, and I can say that because I was a throw away kid.”

Daring to think differently

A measure of the willingness of some in Oakland to try something different, even very different, is captured in the case of Jen Angel.

Angel was a 48-year-old baker, a White Midwestern transplant to the Bay Area who sold must-have cakes and pies from a house turned bakery in a tough part of this city’s tough downtown.

On Feb. 6, Angel was attacked and robbed. She was preparing to leave a Wells Fargo Bank parking lot when two men smashed her car window and grabbed her bag. As she pursued them on foot, she became trapped in the door of their moving car, her head slamming along the ground for 50 yards. She died Feb. 9 of brain injuries.

By consensus, Angel’s wide circle of friends and family made clear that she would not want those who had killed her to be prosecuted and imprisoned, preferring instead a sentence that relied on restitution.

“She would want us to be brave enough to try something different in her honor,” said Emily Harris, a close friend, who works at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. “She would say, ‘Let’s imagine the world we want. Let’s try itout. Let’s test it.’”

On a recent morning, three women worked behind the counter at Angel Cakes, kneading dough and stocking shelves. The bakery survived the pandemic lockdowns in part through personal donations to Angel from friends.

Price was in office little more than a month when Angel was killed, and her death has provided a concrete case to implement her pledge to prosecute and sentence even violent cases differently, this time with support from the victims’ family and friends.

“The case says a lot about Oakland, and it says that we recognize that our systems are failing,” Price said. “I’m not surprised that Jen Angel, her family and her friends, say this is not working, that I don’t want to be a part of something that is racist, that is archaic, that does more harm than good. I understand that they want no part of it.”

Donelan, the police union president, said Angel’s case “has been the subject of much discussion” within the department whose members he represents. He said the department is investigating the case and hopes to

make arrests, leaving the decision on charges to the new district attorney.

“What that will be will have to be determined,” Price said.

Alice Crites in Washington contributed to this report.

Oakland: Man recovering from gunshot wounds shot dead in his long term care facility bed

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 19:21:03 GMT

The man had been wounded in a drive-by shooting last September in Oakland after attending a wake

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: March 14, 2023 at 8:58 a.m. | UPDATED: March 14, 2023 at 3:15 p.m.

OAKLAND — A man fatally shot Saturday morning in his bed at a long term care facility in Adams Point was recovering from gunshot wounds suffered in a drive-by shooting last September in Oakland that left another man dead, authorities confirmed.

The man killed Saturday was identified by authorities as Paris Moffett, 23, of Oakland.

Investigators have not provided a motive for the Saturday killing and are trying to determine if the two killings are related. No one has been arrested in the September shooting.

Moffett, who was partially paralyzed from the September shooting, was killed about 12:53 a.m. Saturday in his room at the facility near Lake Merritt in the 300 block of MacArthur Boulevard by two men who shot him multiple times.

No staff members or other patients at the 53-bed skilled nursing facility were injured and the shooters escaped before police arrived.

Authorities said Moffett had been at the facility a few weeks.

A person who answered the phone at the facility Tuesday morning said they would not be making any statements at this time about the killing.

Moffett had previous stays at two hospitals since he was shot multiple times shortly before 6 p.m. Sept. 8 in the 300 block of 27th Street, just west of Broadway in Oakland.

Although his name was not released at the time, police said he and a man identified as Dominique Miles, 40, of San Francisco had just left a wake held at a hall in the area for a person they both knew. Moffett and Miles knew each other, police said.

Miles was sitting in a parked vehicle on the north side of 27th Street and Moffett was standing outside the vehicle when a car drove by on 27th street and someone inside began shooting at both men. Miles died later at a hospital. Moffett got his own transportation to a hospital. A motive for the shooting has not been released.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are now offering up to $10,000 in reward money in each shooting for information leading to the arrests of the suspects. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

One dead in shooting at homeless camp near Oakland Coliseum

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 19:18:49 GMT

OAKLAND — A 27-year-old man was shot to death at a homeless camp near the Oakland Coliseum on Sunday, police said.

Authorities did not identify the man immediately.

Officers were called to the encampment in the 8100 block of Baldwin Street about 9 a.m. and found the man shot more than one time, police said. An ambulance took him to a hospital, but emergency personnel there pronounced him dead about 9:45 a.m.

Police said they don’t know if the man was living at the camp or just visiting. Police said they don’t have a motive. They did not announce any arrests.

The homicide is the 21st of 2023 investigated by Oakland police. A year ago on March 12, they had investigated 22.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $10,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the shooter. To contact Oakland police, call 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7960. To contact Crime Stoppers, call 510-777-8572.

Oakland police witnessed burglary suspects fleeing. Why didn’t officers chase them?

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 16:33:12 GMT

Feb. 27, 2023

Updated: Feb. 27, 2023 3:52 p.m.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

Police officers who last week witnessed four people fleeing a burglarized gem shop in Oakland decided not to chase them, citing a department policy that bars vehicle pursuits except for incidents involving guns or forcible, violent crimes.

Thieves who broke into the Happy Heart shop on Piedmont Avenue made off with about $100,000 worth of jade, owner George Lee told The Chronicle, tripping an alarm before they bolted at 11:34 p.m. on Feb. 20.

Officers dispatched to the scene “observed four individuals enter an awaiting vehicle and flee northbound on Piedmont Ave.,” a statement from the department said, but the police did not follow them.

They allegedly stole “pendants, bangles — jade we have collected since 2005 or 2007,” Lee said Monday, waiting as a work crew repaired a front door the perpetrators had broken when they used a tool to pry open the lock, according to police.

Oakland’s rules on police chases dictate that “pursuits may only be initiated when there is reasonable suspicion to believe the involved individual(s) committed a violent forcible crime and/or a crime involving the use of a firearm, or if there is probable cause that the involved individual(s) is in possession of a firearm,” a statement from the department read.

A special order that took effect in December also prohibits police from chasing a vehicle if either the officer’s or the suspect’s vehicle exceeds 50 mph, unless a watch commander or command officer has granted permission. Officer Rosalia Lopez, a department spokesperson, said Oakland police generally need approval from a supervisor before they pursue a motorist, and that they always have to consider other risk factors, including traffic conditions and the number of pedestrians on the street.

“The policy is based on what this community values,” Sgt. Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association said. “The decision has been made that we should not chase except in the most extreme circumstances. That’s what the officers did in this case.”

San Francisco Police Department has a similar policy, authorizing pursuits of people suspected of committing a violent felony, or “When there is … reasonable belief that the individual needs to be immediately apprehended because of the risk that individual poses to public safety,” a general order issued in 2013 states.

It requires police to safely apprehend the alleged violator without unnecessarily endangering the public or law enforcement. State law also mandates that police weigh the benefits of immediate capture against the danger posed to officers and the public, when determining whether to initiate or end a chase.

Surveillance video reviewed by the Chronicle shows a person entering with a gun drawn, though Lopez said officers weren't aware of any weapons when they spotted the alleged perpetrators. The initial information conveyed to patrols did not mention weapons, Lopez said.

Lee believed the officers opted not to trail the suspected burglars because it was too dangerous — a decision the shop owner supported.

“The money lost, you can make it back,” Lee said in a weary, resigned tone. But you can’t recover a life lost in a violent confrontation, he conceded, adding that a chaotic or high-speed chase also presents the risk of vehicle crashes.

Still, he seemed crushed by the burglary, his first in 27 years of running a business in Oakland.

Reach Rachel Swan: rswan@sfchronicle.com

Oakland Officials Demand Change Following Deadly Shootings, Sideshows

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 16:30:41 GMT

Oakland police plan to increase patrols across the city following a deadly weekend that saw seven shootings and three major illegal sideshows.

City council members are also demanding more be done to end the violence in Oakland.

"It's really disturbing," Oakland City Councilmember Noel Gallo said. "It's a challenge."

The violent weekend started Friday night with three separate shootings, killing three people just hours apart in East Oakland.

On Saturday morning, another shooting occurred on International Boulevard and sent a person to the hospital.

By Sunday night, the total of weekend shootings hit seven incidents, leaving five people dead, including a woman whose body was found in her car on the Interstate 580 offramp at Edwards Avenue.

Police said they do not believe any of the crimes are connected.

"We don't have any linkages in terms of the types of crimes that we are seeing," said Drennon Lindsey, a deputy chief for OPD's bureau of investigations. "We have various disputes, so nothing that we can say is for the community to fear."

A Bloody Friday Night in Oakland; Three Separate Murders in Three Hours.

Sat, 25 Feb 2023 20:55:02 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

February 25, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A Bloody Friday Night in Oakland; Three Separate Murders in Three Hours.

OAKLAND, CA – Last night, Oakland residents and police officers tragically faced three separate murder scenes in East Oakland within three hours.

#14 – At about 7:46 pm, officers responded to a ShotSpotter activation in the 7200 block of International Blvd. Officers located a male victim who died from multiple gunshot wounds.

#15 – At about 8:45 pm, officers were flagged down in the 6900 block of International Blvd for a shooting. Officers located a female victim who died from multiple gunshot wounds.

#16 – At about 10:30 pm, officers responded to a residence in the 2400 block of 67th Ave to investigate a report of a person shot. Inside, officers found a male victim who died from multiple gunshot wounds.

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan said, “These tragedies illustrate the challenges facing Oakland residents and the skeleton staff of police officers who serve them. While Oakland’s police officer numbers remain low, our responding and investigating officers are committed to bringing the violent perpetrators to justice by following every lead.”

###

A closer look at Oakland’s alternative police response unit

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 18:35:53 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – The City of Oakland’s non-police response program, MACRO, has helped thousands of Oakland residents, but there are questions regarding the number of 911 dispatch calls for MACRO left unanswered.

MACRO, which stands for Mobile Assistant Community Responders of Oakland, is approaching its one-year anniversary in April. Although the city’s community response program for nonviolent, non-emergency 911 calls is still a work in progress, MACRO spokesperson Michael Hunt says, “the upside has been huge.”

Hunt says in the early stages of the pilot program, MACRO made nearly 10,000 contacts with people.

Oakland’s Alternative to Police Response – MACRO - Cost Oakland Taxpayers $16 Million and Responded to Just 26 Calls. - That’s $615,384 Per Call. -

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 16:56:44 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

February 21, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland’s Alternative to Police Response – MACRO - Cost Oakland Taxpayers $16 Million and Responded to Just 26 Calls. - That’s $615,384 Per Call. -

The Oakland Police Department Received Over 1,000,000 Calls for Help in 2022; MACRO Responded to Merely 26 of Them.

OAKLAND, CA – A front-page story in the Eastbay Times yesterday laid bare the failure of Oakland’s alternative to police response: Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland (MACRO). MACRO is a $16 million police alternative program that responded to just 26 calls in 2022.

“An Oakland patrol officer answers more calls in a single shift than what MACRO does in an entire year,” said Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan. Donelan continued, “$16 million was removed from the police department for MACRO, and it has failed to deliver on what was promised. The program is a gigantic waste of money that needs immediate overhaul.”

City leaders should adopt the following three-point plan to improve MACRO’s responsiveness and effectiveness:

Do what was promised. - MACRO should exclusively take the citizens’ calls for assistance that they promised, reducing the weight on the overburdened police department.
Residents should know how to call MACRO. - Immediately publish a telephone number for residents to call seeking MACRO assistance and response.
Be transparent with taxpayer funds. - The Oakland city council public safety committee should hold a hearing into MACRO’s effectiveness.

###

No guns, no escalations: Oakland program experiments with alternatives to police response

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 16:49:49 GMT

By SHOMIK MUKHERJEE | smukherjee@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: February 20, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. | UPDATED: February 21, 2023 at 7:31 a.m.

OAKLAND — For all that Kim Dean was experiencing — the morning’s “hella cold” wintry chill, the days-old bandages peeling off her wounded leg, the lack of weekend shelter — none would be classified by police as an active emergency.

So when a pair of community workers found the 54-year-old hunched over an East Oakland curb, they calmly engaged her in conversation, offering blankets and new socks, and one attended to Dean’s leg with steely focus, carefully applying saline to flush the wound before redressing it with gauze.

After handing Dean some extra bandages for later, the pair drove away in a van marked MACRO — Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland. They planned to circle back to the area later that week to see how she was doing.

“It’s harder for women, especially older women, to survive out here,” Fran Ramirez, a trained medical technician and MACRO team member, said later as she applied sanitizer to her hands. “If you don’t have a full-time encampment or another setup, you don’t sleep at night. You have to be on guard.”

These are the lessons learned by workers at MACRO, a $16 million program in the Oakland Fire Department that began last April with the intention of taking nonviolent, nonemergency 911 calls out of law enforcement’s hands. But they’re also trying to provide assistance before those calls need to be made.

Cities across the Bay Area and beyond are experimenting with community nonpolice response, hailed by progressives and police reformists as a pathway for treating those experiencing crises with compassion, not suspicion. San Francisco, New York City and Portland have all started pilot programs, while cities across the East Bay, from Antioch to Hayward, have explored the addition of mobile crisis teams.

In Oakland, though, MACRO often finds itself under scrutiny from those who had expected the teams to spend most of their time responding to lower-stakes 911 calls, allowing Oakland police to focus on violent crime.

Only about 3% of MACRO responders’ 854 interactions with the public involved a 911 dispatch from September, when such calls began transferring, to the end of the year. Another 3% came from community referrals — direct requests by the public for MACRO’s assistance for themselves or others.

The rest of the interactions were classified as “on-view” or “self dispatch,” which involve two-member teams driving the streets and looking for those who need help.

That’s not enough for members of law enforcement such as Barry Donelan, head of the Oakland police officers’ union, who said the program’s focus means it hasn’t made a dent in the flood of emergency calls to police and fire departments.

And it isn’t just police officers who have complained. Members of a citizen group appointed to advise MACRO on its affairs say the program’s leaders don’t sufficiently communicate their progress.

“The community kept saying that people need someone other than the police department to show up because cops make us nervous,” said Millie Cleveland, a member of the community advisory board. “If that’s the case, they need to be able to respond to calls that come into the dispatch center.”

With an ethos “grounded in empathy, service, and community,” according to its mission statement, the program is one of a kind — formally operating under the fire department, but headed by an Oakland native with no experience in fire, police or emergency medical services.

Program manager Elliot Jones, a former political organizer whose last job was at Airbnb, is animated about the value of a “proactive outreach” that results in fewer people requiring emergency response because they’re kept above a certain level of suffering.

“Don’t broaden what you want us to do because you think it’ll be effective,” Jones said in an interview. “Let us work on what we’ve proven is effective. For all those on-views, how many calls did we save? What didn’t end up coming through the 911 system?”

What do those on-view calls actually entail? A two-hour ride-along with a MACRO response team in late December revealed the many ways its process differs from typical police procedure.

The responders are on a first-name basis with many of the unhoused residents they encounter, keeping track of where they can be found and the resources they most likely need. They look for signs that those they interact with might be traumatized from past gun violence or are actively using drugs — helping the responders flag early signs of an overdose.

The teams are also unarmed and rely on codewords to exit gracefully when someone they approach has a weapon, or if the same vehicle circles around more than once in a neighborhood known for turf wars between gangs.

“When the adrenaline kicks in, you need to find a way to keep yourself grounded,” said Ramirez, who recalled a grisly car crash for which emergency responders asked MACRO’s EMTs to help out. “You remind yourself why you’re doing this.”

On one December morning, the crew approached a man, Daniel, who was lying motionless on a street corner off International Boulevard. Responders call these cases “sleepers,” and the goal is to make sure they aren’t knocked out from fentanyl use. By the time they left, Daniel had a new water bottle and fresh blanket, courtesy of MACRO.

Over time, the responders want to build relationships with residents ahead of stressful situations. During last month’s Bay Area storms, the program made several hundred visits to residents around town, mostly for wellness checks or sleeper cases.

But a process like that is built out over time, leaving critics, community advisors and police frustrated with what the program has to show for itself after nearly a year.

That includes some who supported the idea of MACRO from before it had an official name. Cathy Leonard, a member of Oakland’s Coalition for Police Accountability, said the pilot program has suffered from a “lack of transparency, community education and community engagement.”

“I talked to someone today who said they called the MACRO number and nobody answered the phone when there was a guy in crisis in deep East Oakland,” Leonard said at a recent Oakland Police Commission meeting.

Jones said he wants the program to produce increasingly more data as it expands in scale. For now, it’s the small successes that he says move the needle and stop a number of crimes from ever taking place.

A recent impact report released by the program detailed a case where a person looking to steal from Safeway would have likely ended up in jail if MACRO had not tracked them down and transported them to a shelter.

Dean, the East Oakland woman with a wounded leg, lives alone on the streets — dramatically increasing her likelihood of falling into sudden trouble. It gives her all the more reason to be on guard, as she was when Ramirez and team partner Rob Hanna approached her that December morning.

The last cell phone she owned had recently stopped working, but to the responders that wasn’t too much of a problem. They would be coming back around soon enough.

“If you see our vans with MACRO on the side, flag us down,” Hanna told her. “Whenever you’re ready to go to a shelter, let us know. We’ll get you there.”

Oakland Continues to Deal With Ransomware Attack

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 15:00:42 GMT

Oakland residents still can't file a police report online, pay their taxes or get an email to a council member, as a ransomware attack continues to cripple several the city’s services.

Thursday was another day with a lot of frustration for some people and very few answers for anyone trying to take care of business with the city of Oakland.

“It’s frustrating that you cant take care of your business, we came so far to do this,” said Willie Betts of Fremont.

Betts has rental properties in Oakland and is trying to the handle taxes, but said he couldn't access the city website. That's when he came downtown in person and learned the city had been hit by hackers.

‘It’s unjust’: Mother of man slain in Oakland carjacking reacts to D.A.'s deal to drop murder charge

Sat, 11 Feb 2023 14:15:21 GMT

Rachel Swan

Feb. 10, 2023

Pamela Price, the district attorney of Alameda County, announced a transition team that includes two dozen civil rights and police accountability experts, nonprofit leaders, pastors and justice system reform activists. These people supported Price’s campaign in 2022, and have been open about their willingness to be critical if needed.

The mother of a man killed during an Oakland carjacking in 2008 was angered and bewildered to learn that Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price has cut a plea deal to drop the murder charge against the defendant in her son’s case.

“It’s wrong. It’s unfair. It’s unjust,” said the mother of Richard Carter, 30, one of three people who prosecutors have said were slain by Delonzo Logwood. She asked not to be identified by name out of fear for her safety. “I’m angry, I’m upset, but what can I do? Who can I talk to? I wish I knew people in high places.”

She said she had not attended a court hearing Thursday during which prosecutors presented a plea deal negotiated by Price. According to court documents, the deal struck down a lengthy list of felony charges against Logwood, 31, who had been accused of shooting and killing Carter in Fruitvale shortly after Logwood turned 18.

In the original criminal complaint, filed in 2018, prosecutors working for former District Attorney Nancy O’Malley charged Logwood and co-defendant Dijon Holifield with a raft of felonies, including three murders — among them Carter’s killing — in addition to gang enhancements that carry a sentence of up to life imprisonment.

Pamela Price's first month as Alameda County DA sees big moves, leaves many questions

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 15:33:46 GMT

Pamela Price has declined to talk about her biggest decisions, citing confidentiality around pending investigations and personnel matters.

In the month since Pamela Price took charge as Alameda County's new district attorney, she has put a half-dozen of the office's most experienced prosecutors on leave and fired its top two investigators, dismissed special circumstances in a high-profile murder case and created a funereal atmosphere for many employees, numerous sources familiar with the situation told The Berkeley Scanner in recent weeks.

Nearly three weeks ago, in an internal memo about staffing changes and what Price called "our transition to a new season," she directed employees not to speak with the media about any personnel matters including transfers and leaves.

That directive had a chilling effect: Multiple people say they are now worried about ongoing efforts to track down office leaks. The Scanner has granted anonymity to all sources related to this story in response to dee p concerns about potential workplace retribution.

"They’re just trying to silence everybody," one person said.

Oakland baker dies after brutal car break-in

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 15:31:36 GMT

Annie Vainshtein

Feb. 9, 2023

The owner of a cherished Oakland bakery who was severely injured in a robbery on Monday died Thursday afternoon, according to an online post from her family and friends.

Angel Cakes owner Jennifer Angel, 48, had been on life support three days after she was dragged more than 50 feet by the car of thieves who cornered and robbed her in the parking lot of a Wells Fargo in Oakland.

Angel’s fiance, Ocean Mottley, told The Chronicle Thursday that doctors were planning to take Angel off life support imminently to see whether she could breathe on her own.

Shortly before 6 p.m. Angel had been "medically declared to have lost all brain function and will not regain consciousness," the post said.

"Friends and family of Jen hope that the story of this last chapter of her brilliant, full, dynamic life is one focused on her commitment to community, on the care bestowed upon her and her family by the people who loved her, and on the generous and courageous role of countless health care workers and public servants who fought to preserve her life," it continued.

The brutality of the robbery, which unfolded on a busy street in broad daylight, has shaken the culinary and political communities Angel was a part of in the Bay Area, where she has longtime roots. The robbery took place on Angel’s day off from her busy work as the owner of the small-batch cupcake shop and catering business that opened in one of Oakland’s historic Victorian buildings, T.J.’s Gingerbread House.

By Thursday afternoon, more than $90,000 had been raised through GoFundMe to support her family.

Oakland police officials refused Thursday to provide additional details about the attack, which took place around 12:30 p.m. Monday in the parking lot by the 2000 block of Webster Street. They also declined to comment on the status of their investigation. Angel was leaving her parking spot in the lot when a car pulled up in front of her and blocked her from leaving, Mottley told The Chronicle.

San Jose police officer shot by suspect in standoff

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 15:29:14 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — A San Jose police officer was shot during a standoff Friday night, according to the San Jose Police Department.

At around 10:30 p.m., two officers conducted a traffic stop in the area of King and Story Roads. The suspe ct exited his car and began to shoot at the two officers, police said.

Carpenter’s death in Oakland school shooting ruled homicide

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 15:20:14 GMT

OAKLAND — The death of a school district carpenter Nov. 17 — which happened seven weeks after he was one of six people wounded in a shooting at an East Oakland high school — has been ruled a homicide by the Alameda County Coroner, authorities said.

The coroner’s office said this week that Kazuhiro David Sakurai, 64, died as a result of complications from a gunshot wound, police said.

His death is now being investigated by Oakland police as the 121st homicide of 2022 in the city.

Even though Sakurai had been shot, the coroner’s office still had to determine if the actual cause of death was from the wound, a pre-existing medical condition he had, or a combination of the two, authorities said.

Sakurai was one of six people wounded about 12:45 p.m. Sept. 28 when two gunmen opened fire at Rudsdale High School, which is among a cluster of schools at the King Estates education complex in the 8200 block of Fontaine Street.

Police have said the shooting was a gang-related attack against a student but police have not said who the shooters intended to target. The gunmen took off in a vehicle driven by a third person. No arrests have been made in the case.

Besides Sakurai, two students, one 18 and one 19, were wounded, as were three other district employees. They are all recovering.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are now offering up to $35,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the suspects. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

How Bay Area cops tied shootout at Sun Valley Mall to freeway gang shootout that killed 1-year-old Fremont boy

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 15:17:21 GMT

NATE GARTRELL | ngartrell@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: January 26, 2023 at 6:45 a.m. | UPDATED: January 26, 2023 at 4:16 p.m.

On the early afternoon of Nov. 6, 2021, Keison “Keke” Lee was pulling away from a friend’s house on 82nd Avenue in Oakland when something suspicious caught his eye. He called the friend and asked him to check his home security camera.

As the 82nd Avenue resident would later tell police, Lee was concerned by a dark gray Infiniti that appeared to have been scoping out the residence and just “pushed up on them.” The Infiniti appeared to be following the gray Nissan carrying Lee and Richmond resident Johnny Jackson toward Interstate 880.

It turned out that Lee’s suspicions were correct. As the Nissan approached the Filbert Street exit heading northbound on I-880, a gun battle broke out between Lee and Jackson and the occupants of the Infiniti. One of the bullets struck a Lexus, and fatally wounded 1-year-old Jasper Wu, who was just weeks away from his second birthday.

A split-second difference could have prevented the boy’s death; his family was traveling southbound on I-880 in the Lexus, and happened to cross paths with the two northbound vehicles at the exact moment someone fired a shot.

The shocking death of a toddler spurred a wide-ranging police investigation that eventually led to San Francisco and Contra Costa County, linking a mall shooting in Concord to the Oakland case and giving authorities enough evidence to file charges in Jasper’s death. This is the story — based on police and court records — of how Jasper’s alleged killers were caught.

After the shooting, police scoured the northbound side of the freeway for shell casings, hopeful that fingerprints on at least one of them would point them toward a suspect.

It would take days before police received their first solid tip indicating that the Nissan and Infiniti contained rival gang members engaged in a daytime shootout on a crowded freeway. And it would take more than a year before three suspects were arrested and charged: Jackson, 34, of Richmond; Trevor Green, 22, of Richmond; and Ivory Bivins, 24, of Vallejo.

Authorities allege that Lee, Jackson, and the 82nd Avenue resident — whom the Bay Area News Group is not naming because he was not charged in the incident — were members of a Bay Area gang known as Eddy Rock. Green and Bivins are affiliated with a rival group known as Chopper City. Both gangs originated in San Francisco, but gentrification and rising costs of housing forced some members to relocate to other parts of Northern California, taking their rivalries with them.

Police say they first became aware of the gangs’ possible involvement thanks to an unrelated occurrence: A man named Ronnie Mitchell, in custody for alleged gun possession and a probation violation, picked up the phone at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and called the 82nd Avenue resident. Their conversation — monitored by deputies, as is legally allowed — included details about the freeway shooting and how “Keke,” later identified by police as Lee, had been shot in the back and wounded, while Jackson was uninjured.

With recordings of the jail call in hand, investigators were now convinced that Eddy Rock gang members played a role in the shooting. But the next big break would tie in the rival gang: While crime lab technicians found no fingerprints from shell casings on I-880, they were able to recover a woman’s DNA. The woman was a close relative of Green, the suspected gang member, and her name had come up in a similar shooting, in Contra Costa County, six months before Jasper was killed.

That shooting involved a May 24, 2021, incident at Sunvalley Mall, in which Green and the female relative spotted a man wearing an expensive chain entering a jewelry store; Green allegedly later returned to the mall, along with fellow Chopper City gang member Bivins, and opened fire at the man.

It took Contra Costa County authorities until March 2022 before they had evidence to charge Green and Bivins with attempted murder in the mall shooting. Bivins was arrested March 16 at his Vallejo home. Green was arrested a day earlier at San Francisco International Airport, court records show.

Just two weeks earlier, police had conducted surveillance on Green’s Richmond home in the 100 block of South 16th Street. Police say Green appeared to notice the surveillance team and sped away from the residence in a stolen Honda.

Later that same day, police served a search warrant on Green’s home, where they allegedly found 27 rounds of ammunition with the same-numbered head stamp as the shell casings found on I-880, as well as some of Bivins’ possessions. That discovery turned out to be the long-sought break in Jasper’s killing.

Police confirmed that Bivins had owned a dark gray 2008 Infiniti similar to the one described by eyewitnesses to the freeway shooting, but authorities said that the car had been involved in a crash and turned over to an insurance company.

All three men have pleaded not guilty, and are being held without bail in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. The Contra Costa County attempted murder case against Bivins and Green in the mall shooting is pending trial.

‘A saint on earth’: How one Oakland priest comforts the grieving during city’s most violent, tragic moments

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 15:02:55 GMT

By Sarah Ravani

Dec. 28, 2022

Just before midnight on Dec. 9, Father Jayson Landeza was settling into his bed at the rectory of St. Benedict Church in East Oakland when his phone rang. It was the Oakland police. Two people had been shot less than a mile away, including a 16-year-old who was killed. Police wanted to know if Landeza could go to the scene and comfort the family.

At that moment, the father didn’t think about the holiday luncheon he was hosting for nearly 50 people in his parishioners the next day, nor the hours of confession he was scheduled to hear, nor the Mass he would be leading in the evening, nor the Christmas tree lighting after that. He ran out of the church and drove to the scene, where a growing number of family members and friends had gathered, sobbing. It was the 114th homicide recorded by Oakland in 2022.

Landeza is among a group of often unseen frontline workers in Oakland who respond to the city’s surging gun violence. Oakland counted 129 homicides in 2021, the deadliest year since 2012. The number is down slightly so far this year at 117 unlawful killings.

Like police officers and EMTs, Landeza is a vital part of the city’s response to these tragedies. The Catholic priest, who has been the chaplain for the Oakland police and fire departments, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and other federal law enforcement agencies, has been on the scene of hundreds of homicides over the past 22 years. He often goes to offer support to the family members of victims and law enforcement officers — either through prayer or by just being there as they grieve and vent. He also tries to answer questions about what may have just unfolded.

The scenes are familiar, and the trauma he’s witnessed stays with him. This year alone, he has responded to a triple homicide, the fatal shooting of a beloved dentist in the Little Saigon neighborhood and a school shooting where two gunmen fired 30 rounds total, among other shootings. In 1999, Landeza started hammering crosses into the lawn of St. Columba Church in West Oakland, where he served as pastor until 2009, as a reminder of the toll — which the current pastor has continued to do today.

At times, the deaths make Landeza question God.

“Sometimes when you see that kind of suffering, I think, what the hell is that about?” Landeza said. “That’s the frustrating part. As a person of faith, you’d like to be able to see God’s presence.”

Just as Landeza has struggled to make sense of the violence, politicians have struggled to address it. Mayor Libby Schaaf has said she believes the city’s flagship anti-violence program, called Ceasefire, is key. The program creates a partnership between law enforcement, local clergy and nonprofits. But Ceasefire went largely silent during the pandemic when participants were forced to work remotely and the program lost staffing. The police department said Ceasefire’s staffing is back up, but whether it can make up for what was lost during the pandemic remains to be seen.

As Schaaf terms out and Mayor-elect Sheng Thao takes over, public safety is one of several crises she will have to tackle as many Oaklanders remain on edge. A recent poll from the Oakland Chamber of Commerce found that respondents were overwhelmingly concerned with gun violence, 97% said it’s an extremely or very serious problem, and 88% said the same about crime.

Thao has promised a comprehensive response that focuses on building up the police department’s staffing to budgeted levels and investing in violence prevention, job training and social services. But Thao faces a $200 million budget shortfall over the next two years. If early projections are correct, she will have to contend with tough budget cuts to prevent financial collapse and many of her plans may be stalled.

Despite the challenges and moments of doubt, Landeza can’t help but find some hope amid the despair, such as the mother who showed a strong faith in God even after learning her son was killed and the residents who come together from so many neighborhoods to support one another in the wake of devastation.

Landeza recalled the agony after a beloved 60-year-old dentist, Lili Xu, was shot and killed last August. City leaders and residents were outraged at the violence that unfolded in broad daylight — two months before Xu’s longtime partner was arrested in what law enforcement allege was a murder-for-hire case.

In the days following the shooting, community members held at least two separate vigils, both of which Landeza attended. Landeza said he was struck by the people who attended — from all corners of the city. That kind of unity and support, he said, is what Oakland should be known for.

“Oakland, in the midst of tragedy, knows how to bring itself together and coalesce,” Landeza said.

It’s in those moments where Landeza said, “I could still see goodness in the midst of the tragedy.”

When six adults were shot at a high school in East Oakland in September, Landeza immediately searched for family members. And then he turned his attention to the school staff, who he said were standing off to the corner, clearly in shock.

“You are there as a resource, you’re not there to push anything,” Landeza said.

When Landeza looks back on incidents he has responded to over the last year, he thinks about how moved he was by the grandparents he met in June who remained stoic and strong when they learned their 16-year-old grandson was shot to death.

Sometimes there are multiple casualties and the mourning goes on for weeks. For example, Landeza stayed at the scene of the Ghost Ship fire, which killed 36 people in 2016, comforting family members for nearly two weeks.

“This guy is literally a saint on Earth,” said Barry Donelan, the president of the police union. “What I’m amazed at is how many people lean on this guy and he doesn’t break. He’s always there.”

Donelan said Landeza has held private prayers with different officers, whether it’s to offer support after a traumatic scene they responded to on the job or because of an incident in their personal lives. Donelan recalled the time Landeza held a private Mass for him and his father after his aunt died to “try and smooth the pain for my dad.”

Oakland Fire Chaplain Jason Landeza near the scene of the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, Calif., on Dec. 7, 2016.

Michael Macor, Staff / The Chronicle

It’s not just Landeza helping the community. The community has helped him. When Landeza’s car was completely wrecked after it was stolen earlier this year, several Oakland officers chipped in and purchased him a new car.

“Who am I to deserve this?” Landeza said. But the city’s police and firefighters disagree.

“We’d be sunk” if Landeza wasn’t around, Donelan said.

Amid the tragedies, Landeza said he doesn’t allow himself to be overwhelmed by the pain or otherwise he “would be a mess.”

He sees a therapist who helps him process the trauma he witnesses and as a Catholic priest, he confides in another priest who helps him see where God is in all this. One source of comfort is live music. When he attends shows, he leaves the police scanner that’s usually attached to him at home and turns off his phone. That escape is crucial even if only for an hour.

Around the holidays, he revels in ministering to his congregations. At a mid-December holiday luncheon he hosted at St. Benedict Church, he ate enchiladas with his flock. James Brown’s “Go Power At Christmas Time” played on the radio near a Christmas tree, twinkling with colorful lights. Most of Landeza’s parishioners were unaware that the night before he had been called to the scene of a homicide. They didn’t talk about the suffering and pain, instead laughing as they drank cupfuls of eggnog.

As Landeza prepared to leave for confession, attendees pulled out their holiday-themed bingo cards. Clarence Boyd, an Oakland resident who has attended St. Benedict’s for 20 years, clasped his hand over Landeza’s and said goodbye.

“He actually is a godsend,” Boyd said as Landeza ran out the door.

Despite the suffering he’s witnessed over the past year, Landeza is hopeful the city can turn a corner.

“The hope is always that the new year will bring some kind of healing to the city,” he said.

Sarah Ravani (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani

As Applications Fall, Police Departments Lure Recruits With Bonuses and Attention

Wed, 28 Dec 2022 15:00:17 GMT

Many police chiefs say staffing levels have not rebounded from a wave of resignations that started with the pandemic and the 2020 unrest.

By Mitch Smith / Dec. 25, 2022

WASHINGTON — As American police departments seek to overcome an exodus of disgruntled officers and a sudden decline in applications, they are wooing recruits with some of the tactics a football coach might use to land a prized quarterback.

In Fairfax County, Va., in the suburbs of Washington, future officers are being treated to a “signing day” ceremony where they formally accept their job offers.

Out-of-state residents who want to join the police force in Louisville, Ky., are being flown in to take entrance tests, put up in a hotel and paired with an officer for a ride-along.

On the West Coast, some agencies are offering bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars to lure officers from other departments to transfer.

The economics of law enforcement were long tilted in favor of police departments, which often had far more qualified applicants than they did job openings. No longer. A steep drop in the number of people wanting to become police officers since the start of the pandemic and the unrest of 2020 have given extraordinary leverage to job seekers, forcing departments to market themselves in new ways.

“The game has clearly changed,” said Marcus Jones, the police chief in Montgomery County, Md., who said he discovered that another department was using location-based digital advertising to target the area around his police stations with job postings.

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Calls to radically revamp policing and divert resources to other agencies, heard in protests nationwide after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, have since cooled. But police chiefs say they are still contending with the fallout from those months.

At a recent conference in Washington held by the Police Executive Research Forum, a law enforcement policy organization, officials from departments across the country said they were struggling. They said they were not finding enough people willing and able to fight crime, staff unfilled shifts and build residents’ trust in the police.

“I need an officer that’s literally going to be the community outreach officer, but also can respond to that active shooter,” said Chief Adrian Diaz of the Seattle police. His department lost hundreds of officers after the unrest of 2020, which in his city included a so-called autonomous zone and a police station that the department vacated for weeks.

Chief Diaz said that many officers who left felt unappreciated by politicians and residents, especially at a time when “Defund the Police” became a staple of political discourse. Some of the departing officers accepted signing bonuses to join departments in the suburbs; others fled the profession entirely. Though Seattle now offers a $30,000 bonus of its own for officers serving elsewhere who transfer to the city, as well as a $7,500 signing bonus for new recruits, Chief Diaz said recruiting is still proving difficult. New police officers in Seattle earn about $83,000 annually once they graduate from the academy, while experienced officers transferring earn more than $90,000 a year to start.

The officer shortages are happening during a larger reordering of the American economy. Low unemployment rates, ample job openings and a proliferation of remote work have emboldened people in many fields to seek better pay, new career paths or more time off to spend with family. And within policing, many departments were already facing a crush of officers nearing retirement age.

But there is broad agreement among police chiefs that the dwindling of the law enforcement talent pool is directly, though not exclusively, linked to the murder of Mr. Floyd by the Minneapolis police and the widespread protests and unrest that followed.

“It wasn’t just what happened in Minneapolis — it was felt nationally in a way it never has been,” said Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. He added: “I think that’s taken its toll, either on prospective candidates or existing cops rethinking what it means to be a cop in America today.”

There is no comprehensive, real-time federal data on police employment. A survey of 184 police departments conducted this year by Mr. Wexler’s organization found that resignations were 43 percent higher in 2021 than in 2019, and that retirements were 24 percent higher. Hiring was down significantly in those departments over the same two-year span, though there were more new recruits in 2021 than in 2020. Many of those trends have continued this year, chiefs said in interviews.

Brandon Buskey, the director of the Criminal Law Reform Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, said cities searching for new officers should be considering using public safety programs that do not involve policing.

Mr. Buskey said he was disappointed with a “return to the status quo of relying on police” since the protests of 2020, as tough-on-crime rhetoric has drowned out some of protesters’ most sweeping calls to overhaul law enforcement, root out systemic racism and rethink spending on public safety.

“That’s exactly the conversation that we need to be having: Whether the difficulties in retention and recruitment mean that we should take a look at how we actually provide safety and what are the best use of public dollars,” Mr. Buskey said. “Is it rehiring those officers, or is it in thinking through a coherent housing program or thinking through an alternative mental health crisis response?”

Since the unrest, many cities have ramped up efforts to send social workers instead of armed officers to some mental health emergencies, or have introduced new community policing programs. But even in the places that saw some of the largest protests in 2020, and that considered the most ambitious plans to divert spending from or even disband police departments, agencies are now scrambling to recruit and retain officers.

In Minneapolis, where residents rejected a proposal last year to replace their police department, and where police staffing levels have plummeted, the City Council recently approved $7,000 retention payments for officers to stay on the force. In San Francisco, where job openings abound, police recruiters are finding more success with middle-age applicants looking for a career change. And in Baltimore, Commissioner Michael Harrison said a flight of officers to suburban departments had created a vicious cycle, with fewer city officers asked to do more work under already difficult conditions.

“We have to make up the difference of officers who are not there: We want response times to be good; we want to be able to patrol and be visible to deter as much crime as we can,” Mr. Harrison said. He added: “We have to sometimes make them do it, sometimes cancel their off days to make them do it. And that’s a morale buster.”

The widespread job openings and the intense competition for recruits have forced some hard conversations about how officers are hired and what requirements they must meet. Some departments have sought to streamline lengthy and opaque application processes that once dragged on for months. Others have revisited longstanding hiring policies that disqualified people for past marijuana use or low credit scores — policies that they said could disproportionately hurt nonwhite applicants. Some departments have revamped fitness requirements that weeded out otherwise-qualified women.

In Akron, Ohio, dozens of officer jobs remain open as the city copes with fallout from the fatal shooting of Jayland Walker, a 25-year-old Black man who was shot dozens of times by officers earlier this year. Protesters filled the streets of Akron for days over the summer, calling for changes to the department and criminal charges for the officers who fired the shots. The investigation is still open.

“It keeps the organization off balance,” Chief Stephen Mylett said of the long wait to learn whether those officers would be prosecuted. “And it’s something that we have to work through together. It’s just a difficult time period right now in Akron.”

Chief Mylett said staffing in his city had already reached crisis levels. He said the department was having success diversifying its candidate pool, with a higher proportion of nonwhite and women applicants seeking police jobs, but that the overall number of recruits remained too low. To help, he scrapped a longstanding ban on officers wearing beards, despite some personal reservations.

“I came in a generation of police officer where you just didn’t have a beard,” Chief Mylett said. He added: “The officers wanted it, and we were losing qualified applicants because we didn’t allow beards.”

Not every department is facing recruiting problems. John Clair, the police chief in Marion, Va., in the state’s rural southwest, said his agency had been successful recruiting officers in part because of strong support from residents and a focus on quality of life. In Clearwater, Fla., Chief Daniel Slaughter said an increase in resignations had been largely offset by an influx of officers from other states, many of whom were looking for a more pro-police political climate. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, has showered praise on law enforcement and signed a law offering $5,000 bonuses for police recruits.

Daniel Slaughter, chief of the Clearwater Police Department in Florida, said his department was drawing officers from outside the state looking for a more pro-police environment.

But elsewhere in the country, departments have continued to struggle. In New York City, resignations are as high as they have been in at least 20 years, with many officers leaving for better-paying patrol jobs in smaller cities. Kevin Davis, the chief in Fairfax County, Va., said the current job market has made departments think differently about how they recruit, unlike past eras when “there was a line out the door and around the corner” of applicants.

Fairfax County has eased rules on hairstyles and tattoos and pays bonuses to new officers.

But more than anything, Chief Davis said, recruiters are trying to develop personal connections with prospective applicants in the hope that they will choose to become officers, and will pick their department over other agencies that are also dangling signing bonuses and perks.

“Big picture, we have to find a way as a profession to inspire young people to put their hand in the air and want to do this tough, tough work,” he said. “It’s still the greatest job in the world.”

Mitch Smith covers the Midwest and the Great Plains. Since joining The Times in 2014, he has written extensively about gun violence, oil pipelines, state-level politics and the national debate over police tactics. He is based in Chicago. @mitchksmith

Before leaving office, Alameda D.A. tried to transfer $20M to projects she founded

Sat, 24 Dec 2022 16:21:06 GMT

Sophia Bollag

In her final days in office, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley tried to persuade county supervisors to transfer $20 million from her office’s budget to projects she started, county documents show.

O’Malley had requested that supervisors transfer the money from the District Attorney Consumer and Environmental Trust account into a general county fund to expand programs she created to help domestic violence survivors and people accused of low-level crimes who struggled with mental illness or drug addiction.

In an email Friday, incoming District Attorney Pamela Price wrote to O’Malley asking her to withdraw the request.

“I am very concerned about such a large transfer of resources from my office,” she wrote, according to a copy of the email obtained by The Chronicle.

Price will become district attorney in January.

In a statement, Price told The Chronicle that O’Malley didn’t alert her or consult her about the request, which would have represented about a fifth of the D.A. office budget.

In 2022, the district attorney’s office’s budget was about $94 million.

The board was to take up the request, which county staff recommended supervisors approve, but by Monday it had been withdrawn by the district attorney’s office, according to meeting agendas.

In a letter to county supervisors before the request was withdrawn, O’Malley said the money would fund a second office for the Alameda County Family Justice Center for three years, including the office’s lease and staff.

The Alameda County Family Justice Center provides resources for victims of sexual exploitation, domestic violence, child abuse, stalking and other crimes, including counseling, legal help and housing assistance.

The program has been overseen by the D.A.’s office, and also collects some funding through a nonprofit arm called the Alameda County Family Justice Center Inc. O’Malley is listed as an executive at the nonprofit in its financial filings.

O’Malley intends to continue being involved with the Family Justice Center after she leaves office and hopes to open a second office in the future, said Angela Ruggiero, a spokesperson for her office. She did not respond to questions about why she withdrew the request for the fund transfer or why she initially proposed transferring the funds.

The money also would have funded an expansion of the CARES Navigation Center, a program launched by the district attorney’s office that aims to divert people accused of low-level crimes into supportive services instead of jail.

O’Malley wanted to transfer the $20 million from a fund of settlement money obtained by the office through public interest cases over fraud, environmental regulations and unfair business practices.

“Those funds are from settlements of cases on behalf of Alameda residents,” Price said in her statement to The Chronicle. “They are meant to support the work around consumer and environmental protection of Alameda residents.”

With a potential recession looming, Price said she believes the funds will be needed to protect families from wage theft, unlawful evictions and price gouging. She said she still plans to fund services for people with mental illness and victims of domestic violence.

Price challenged O’Malley for the district attorney job in 2018, but lost. Last year, O’Malley announced her plans to retire and did not run for re-election. Alameda County voters elected Price to succeed her in last month’s election, where Price beat Chief Assistant District Attorney Terry Wiley.

Sophia Bollag is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophia.bollag@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophiaBollag

Maps show which Oakland neighborhoods helped elect Sheng Thao mayor

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 16:06:04 GMT

Sarah Ravani

Nami Sumida

Oakland Mayor-elect Sheng Thao secured defeated her biggest competitor, Loren Taylor, by just under 700 votes in the final round of ranked-choice voting in a nail-biting race. New data shows the city’s voting patterns mostly divided it into two distinct, contiguous areas: One that voted primarily for Taylor and the other for Thao, with a very small area near the border of San Leandro opting for a third candidate.

Thao secured most of her support from middle income households in downtown, West and North Oakland and some parts of East Oakland, including Fruitvale, according to precinct level data of first-choice votes. Taylor performed better with higher income neighborhoods. He received most of his support from the Oakland hills, a high propensity voter area, and parts of deep East Oakland.

The map below shows which mayoral candidate won the most first-choice votes in every Oakland precinct, and clearly shows the geographic divide in the city. Data on who won the final ranked-choice votes by precinct is not yet available.

Thao won despite receiving fewer first-choice votes than Taylor. In total, Taylor secured 41,510, or 33.1%, of first-choice votes and Thao won 39,909, or 31.8% of voted.

But after applying ranked-choice voting, Thao received 57,206 votes, or 50.3% to Taylor’s 56,529 votes, or 49.7%.

Oakland uses ranked-choice voting, which means if a candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, that candidate wins. If not, the last-place candidate in a given round is eliminated, and voters who selected that candidate have their votes counted for their next choice — a cycle that repeats until a candidate gets a majority. Voters in Oakland were able to rank up to five candidates.

The results of the race have spurred debate about how residents voted, where candidates secured support and whether the close race shows that Oakland voters are divided. And while the data shows a geographic divide, some political experts point to data showing many residents ranked both candidates on their ballots, proving that the divide isn’t as stark as the geographic data suggests.

“It’s probably a homeowner and renters split,” said Jim Ross, a political consultant in Oakland, said of how residents picked their first-choice candidate. “The city of Oakland has always had different neighborhoods with different issues and concerns, but I don’t necessarily think that you see a real city divided.”

“There were a lot of voters who voted for both Loren and Sheng,” Ross said. “There were a lot of people who liked them both and ranked them differently.”

Ross didn’t work on either mayoral campaign, but he supported Thao.

The most surprising aspect of the first-choice vote data is that while Thao secured pockets of support in her council district, which includes the Oakland Hills, she failed to get support from a majority of the district, Ross said. That support went to Taylor and that’s likely due to his endorsement from outgoing Mayor Libby Schaaf, who used to represent that district as a council member and currently lives there, Ross said.

Noah Finneburgh, a political strategist that worked on Thao’s campaign, said the campaign’s strategy included sending volunteers out to neighborhoods where they thought Thao’s message and endorsements would resonate most.

Finneburgh said Thao’s support from middle income households is likely due to her background.

“It’s that she came from poverty and really struggled and has gone through what a lot of folks are going through and she experienced homelessness, she experienced housing insecurity, she’s a renter,” Finneburgh said. “I think a lot of folks can relate to that.”

In addition, Ross said labor organizations rallied behind Thao, which likely resonated with working class families. Thao also pitched herself a consensus builder that brought labor groups, businesses and council members together to broker a deal so that only one business tax would be placed on the ballot, which voters ultimately supported. That was a tangible win she could point to when speaking with voters. Ross said Taylor lacked such a key win to campaign on.

In addition, residents tend to vote ideologically, Ross said. Thao is a progressive and Taylor is a moderate. Allyssa Victory, a progressive grassroots candidate, came in fourth place and most of her votes went to Thao — a clear sign of how residents ranked candidates ideologically on their ballot, Ross added.

While Taylor performed well in some parts of East Oakland, a portion of which he represents as a council member, his overall numbers were still lower due to two other competitors: Treva Reid, who he announced an alliance with, and Ignacio De La Fuente.

De La Fuente, who Ross said cost Taylor the election, secured a lot of support in precincts near the border of San Leandro, which have been heavily impacted by crime. De La Fuente’s tough-on-crime rhetoric resonated with those voters, but Taylor was unable to entice those same voters despite campaigning for more cops. Many of those voters only put De La Fuente on their ballot without ranking anyone as their second-choice, Ross said.

Despite the outcome of a race that saw a progressive and moderate battling it out, some political experts said it’s likely most residents supported both the candidates.

Sean Dugar is one of those voters. Dugar, the executive director of California Ranked Choice Voting Coalition, which advocates for ranked-choice voting, said he ranked both Thao and Taylor on his ballot, but neither as his first choice. Dugar ranked Greg Hodge, a former member of the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education, as his first place choice.

Dugar said FairVote, a similar organization that he works with, released an analysis that showed 22% of voters who chose Thao as their first place candidate on their ballots selected Taylor as their second place candidate. The analysis also showed that 24% of voters who chose Taylor as their first choice on their ballots also chose Thao as their second place candidate.

The analysis also showed that 44% of voters who selected Taylor as their first-place candidate ranked Thao somewhere on their ballot, and 45% of voters who chose Thao as their first place vote also ranked Taylor somewhere on their ballot.

Sarah Ravani and Nami Sumida are San Francisco Chronicle staff. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com, nami.sumida@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani, @namisumida

The Urban Criminal-Justice Disaster

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 01:42:15 GMT

John Updike famously defined the “true New Yorker” as someone harboring a “secret belief that people living anywhere else had to be, in some sense, kidding.” This hometown chauvinism once rang true in the hearts of Americans who resided in other great cities, from Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. to Seattle and Los Angeles.

But America’s great metropolises risk sliding into violence, disorder, and decline. The chief cause is the progressive belief that social-justice priorities can and should be addressed through the manipulation of law enforcement policies. Social-justice concerns are animated by an impulse to address undesirable outcomes in economics, politics, education, race, sex, and even health care. These matters are more properly understood as complex social processes. The criminal law’s purpose, however, is more straightforward: to prevent crime, preserve public order, and protect law-abiding citizens.

One killed, four wounded in East Oakland shootings

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 15:50:33 GMT

The fatal shooting is the 107th homicide investigated by police this year

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: October 29, 2022 at 8:13 a.m. | UPDATED: October 31, 2022 at 7:46 a.m.

OAKLAND — One person was killed and four others were wounded, two by catalytic converter thieves, in three shootings that happened within four hours Friday night in East Oakland, authorities said.

The fatal shooting happened about 8:41 p.m. Friday inside the Ali Baba Smoke Shop, 10220 International Boulevard, authorities said.

A 25-year-old man was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene. His name has not yet been released. A 27-year-old woman was also shot in the leg. She was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition.

Police have not yet said if the two knew each other or if either of them was connected to the business.

A motive for the shooting is under investigation and no arrests have been made.

The killing is the 107th homicide investigated by Oakland police this year. The California Highway Patrol has also investigated five homicides on Oakland freeways. Last year at this time Oakland police had investigated 117 homicides in the city.

A 32-year-old woman and a 39-year-old man were shot after they interrupted at least two suspects trying to steal a catalytic converter from one of their vehicles, authorities said.

The suspects fled before police arrived. The two victims were taken to a hospital and were in stable condition. Police have not yet said how the victims are related.

There have been numerous shootings in the East Bay involving catalytic converter thefts. In one, thieves fatally shot a 60-year-old man Oct. 4 in Oakland’s Glenview neighborhood. In another, a Castro Valley man was shot twice Oct. 12 when he confronted suspects.

The other Oakland shooting happened about midnight in the area of 103rd Avenue and International Boulevard. A 52-year-old man told police he was confronted by another man who said something to him before shooting him in the arm. The suspect fled and the man got his own ride to a hospital. A motive for the shooting is under investigation. It is not believed to be related to the earlier fatal shooting, authorities said.

Longtime partner of slain Oakland dentist dies in jail after arrest in murder-for-hire case

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 15:44:21 GMT

Rachel Swan & Joel Umanzor

Oct. 28, 2022

Oakland police said Friday that they arrested two people they believe were responsible for the death of Lili Xu, a 60-year-old dentist killed in August during what was described at the time as an attempted robbery.

The longtime partner of a 60-year-old dentist killed in Oakland’s Little Saigon in August was arrested in her slaying, but hours after he was locked up on Friday, he died by suicide at Santa Rita jail.

Oakland police said earlier in the day that the slaying of Lili Xu that they believed occurred during a street robbery was actually a murder-for-hire in which 73-year-old Nelson Chia of Oakland hired someone to carry out the killing.

Police arrested Chia and 33-year-old Hasheem Bason of Stockton in the case.

“I appreciated and loved her,” Chia had told ABC7 news reporter Dion Lim in an interview on Aug. 22, breaking down in sobs as he described how the couple was attacked a day earlier as they pulled over in Oakland’s Little Saigon neighborhood.

Surveillance video distributed by Oakland police showed the crime occurred with breathtaking speed on a bright Sunday afternoon. In a span of 9 seconds, a Lexus pulled up to the vehicle Xu was in, an assailant hopped out of the rear passenger side, ran around to where Xu had just exited, seemed to shove her on the sidewalk, shot her, jumped back in the Lexus and sped away.

Chia was expected to be arraigned on Nov. 1 at Oakland’s Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse. Records show Bason was arrested Thursday and booked into Santa Rita Jail at 1:44 a.m. Friday morning, also on charges of first degree murder involving a shooting and a vehicle.

Three law enforcement sources confirmed that Bason was allegedly hired to shoot Xu.

The daylight slaying on Oakland’s Fifth Avenue sparked outrage and redoubled the public’s calls to protect people of Asian descent.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Great-grandma uses cane to save elderly neighbor from violent purse snatching in Oakland

Thu, 27 Oct 2022 18:31:24 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A remarkable story is coming out of West Oakland Sunday after a cane-wielding great-grandmother saved another senior from getting robbed in broad daylight!

Ring video from 76-year-old Miss Faye's home shows her running out her front door on the afternoon of Oct. 12.

She had spotted a vehicle she thought was a rideshare driver, cruising down the street. That's when she says a young man came out of the sedan and attacked her elderly neighbor, who is also in her late 70s. She knew she had to jump into action.

In the video you can hear her yelling for her German Shepherd Troy to come out and help. Since Troy was in the backyard, Miss Faye ran out with her cane to stop the attacker who was grabbing her neighbor's purse. She even used her cane to hit the car several times, which led to the suspect dropping her neighbor's purse.

As Oakland mayor condemns violence, 2 women shot nearby

Fri, 21 Oct 2022 17:56:38 GMT

By Sarah Ravani

During her final state of the city address, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf decried how rising violent crime is devastating the city. As if to underscore her point, during her speech, two women were shot half a mile away while a police helicopter buzzed overhead.

“The news this year is tragic,” Schaaf said. “It’s disturbing.”

Schaaf’s speech Wednesday, in which she also hit on homelessness and the rising cost of living, comes as the city sees another violent year with a spike in homicides and as voters are increasingly concerned about gun violence. Oakland recorded more homicides in 2021 than in any year since 2012 and is on track for a similarly high number this year.

Schaaf’s comments came the same day as a poll from the Oakland Chamber of Commerce also found that respondents were overwhelmingly concerned with gun violence — 97% said it’s an extremely or very serious problem, and 88% said the same about crime.

In less than a month, voters will select a new mayor to lead the city as Schaaf terms out of office and as the poll shows that the percentage of voters who feel less safe in the city is at an all-time high. Ten candidates are vying for the position, with one poll showing Council Members Loren Taylor and Sheng Thao in the lead. Both candidates have said public safety is a major issue they’re focused on while touting slightly different plans to connect with voters. Their difference rests on the size of the police force, with Taylor committing to hiring more officers than Thao.

Their plans come as voters become increasingly critical of the police department, with the latest poll showing 42% of respondents say police are doing a poor job compared to 20% who say they’re doing a good job. But the majority — at 59% — agree that the department’s staff should increase.

In addition to gun violence, Oakland is grappling with skyrocketing homelessness. The city’s homeless population has increased by 24% over the past three years — from 4,071 in 2019 to 5,055 in 2022.

Schaaf said the toll of the pandemic is clear — on mental health, a “sense of lawlessness” and the “proliferation of guns.” But she said she believes the city can turn a corner when it comes to violence and that the city has already made strides in addressing homelessness.

“We all know that the greatest challenges in this year ... in Oakland and indeed in the entire country are crime, homelessness and the rising cost of living,” Schaaf said.

Schaaf made her remarks at Casa Arabella, an affordable housing development in the city’s Fruitvale district. No members of the City Council attended the event.

Her comments came just hours after the Oakland Chamber of Commerce released a poll showing voters are largely dissatisfied with the city — 64% of the poll’s respondents said they felt the city was headed in the wrong direction. That dissatisfaction also extended to the city’s leadership — 42% of the poll’s respondents rated Schaaf’s performance poorly.

Schaaf said she believes one of the main solutions in addressing public safety concerns is Ceasefire, the city’s flagship anti-violence program, which partners with law enforcement, local clergy and nonprofits. During the pandemic, the program largely went silent as much of its work became remote and the program lost staffing.

But earlier this year, officials said it was boosting its staffing and increasing efforts to combat violence.

On Wednesday, Schaaf said Oakland needs a comprehensive public safety approach that focuses on prevention, intervention and enforcement. She said the pastors, healers, social workers, police, prosecutors, investigators, life coaches and violence interrupters have “made a profound difference in Oakland.”

In addition to gun violence and crime, the chamber’s poll also found that 97% of respondents said homelessness is either an extremely or very serious problem.

Schaaf said when she entered office, there were no comprehensive strategies to combat homelessness. In the past eight years, Schaaf said she’s quadrupled the number of shelter beds in the city — Oakland has nearly 600 city-funded shelter beds, 313 community cabins and 147 RV safe parking spaces and 353 city-funded transitional shelter beds.

In addition, Schaaf said the city built more than 19,000 homes over the past eight years.

“This is the biggest housing building boom that Oakland has ever had since the 1906 earthquake,” Schaaf said. “That is impressive.”

She said the city is on track to build 4,700 more affordable homes by 2024.

Despite the building boom, Schaaf’s critics have lamented that the city has lagged on its affordable housing goals. In the city’s housing element from 2015 to 2023, which lays out how a city will plan for new homes, Oakland reached 174% of its goal for above-moderate-rate housing. But the city reached 43% of its very-low-income housing goals, 26% of its low-income housing and 3% of its moderate-income housing goals.

Schaaf acknowledged that the city must build more affordable housing.

“The only real solution to homelessness is housing,” she said as the audience clapped.

Schaaf declined to give details on what she will do next, but said she plans to remain in public service.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as your mayor, thank you,” Schaaf said to a standing ovation.

Sarah Ravani (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani

“This is the biggest housing building boom that Oakland has ever had since the 1906 earthquake. That is impressive.”

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf

How many cops does Oakland need? These mayoral candidates say they know the answer

Sun, 16 Oct 2022 21:25:34 GMT

By Sarah Ravani

Oct. 14, 2022

Two gunmen fire 30 rounds at an East Oakland school, injuring six. A 5-year-old girl is wounded when gunfire breaks out at a peewee football game. Two teenage brothers are shot and killed at a birthday party in North Oakland. The owner of a beloved Filipino restaurant is slain in front of his young son.

These are some of the tragedies that have broken the hearts of Oaklanders over the past year as gun violence grips the city.

The city’s next mayor will have to grapple with how to tackle the crisis — and Oakland’s 10 mayoral hopefuls say they know what to do.

Half of the 10 candidates want to grow the police force. Six candidates said they would expand a new city program that sends civilians to respond to some 911 non-violent calls, in theory freeing up police to focus on violent crime. Those same six also say they want to increase investments in the city’s Department of Violence Prevention.

Their proposals come as voters become increasingly concerned about gun violence in the wake of spiking homicides since the pandemic began. Oakland recorded more homicides in 2021 than in any year since 2012. The city is on pace for similar numbers this year with 101 homicides so far compared to 102 at this point last year.

The uptick in violence has many Oaklanders on edge. Earlier in the week, business leaders gathered outside of City Hall — where a victim was shot to death a month ago — to call for boosting the number of police officers to 900. Oakland has about 680 officers now. It’s budgeted for 752 officers but has struggled to attract and retain staff. The group also wants the city to start downtown foot patrols.

Zack Wasserman, chair of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, said at the event that crime is “out of control.”

Many voters seem to agree with Wasserman. A poll of voters last fall found that 78% are concerned about crime. Two-thirds of respondents said they feel less safe in Oakland than they did in 2017.

“Most people are just tired and want to see real change,” said Jim Ross, an Oakland-based political consultant.

Many of the mayoral candidates want to see the police force grow. Loren Taylor, a council member and third-generation Oaklander, supports growing the department to 800 cops.

Loren Taylor, a council member and third generation Oaklander, supports growing the department to 800 cops. Taylor speaks to the attendees during the Jewish Community Mayoral Candidate Forum at Temple Sinai on September 15, 2022.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez, Staff Photographer / The Chronicle

Taylor said he wants a police academy added next year to help increase staffing for violent crime investigations. Oakland’s homicide clearance rate was 35% last year and is at 43% so far this year, which critics say is too low.

Ignacio De La Fuente, a former council member who represented the Fruitvale from 1992 to 2013, wants up to 800 officers. He said he would give the department the political support to attract experienced officers. Seneca Scott, a neighborhood activist, said he wants to see the department grow to 900 officers and audit each city department to “identify waste” in their budgets to give to the police.

The police department has grappled with a rise in attrition over the years. Most recently, it’s reported about nine officers leaving per month all year, said Barry Donelan, the head of the city’s police union. Donelan said if the department assumed it had an average attrition of five officers per month, it would still take years to build the department up to 900.

Plus, it’s challenging to recruit officers in Oakland, Donelan said.

“This profession, folks don’t want to come into it,” he said.

In addition, Oakland’s police academies have had low graduation rates — this year, the department held five academies, three of which will graduate before 2023. The first academy started with 39 trainees, but only 26 graduated. A second academy started with 40 trainees and graduated 30.

The department’s third and fourth academies started with 26 trainees. One is in session and another will graduate next year.

Council Member Sheng Thao, who said she wants to hire the number of officers currently budgeted, wants to work with the chief to create a pipeline from Merritt College. Thao is seen at the Jewish Community Mayoral Candidate Forum at Temple Sinai on September 15, 2022.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez, Staff Photographer / The Chronicle

Council Member Sheng Thao said she wants to hire the number of officers currently budgeted and is hoping to work with the chief to create a pipeline from Merritt College.

Ross said voters have a strong desire for an in-person response following a 911 call. People are often asked to fill out a report online when they call 911 to report a stolen item.

Overall, the candidates supported expanding a new city program — called MACRO — that sends civilians to respond to some 911 non-violent calls. The pilot project, which began taking 911 calls in August, serves only East and West Oakland right now, but six candidates — Council Member Treva Reid, Gregory Hodge, Allyssa Victory, Tyron Jordan, Taylor and Thao — said they would like to expand it citywide.

The program, which is in an 18-month pilot phase, received $5 million in city funds for operation costs.

Officials are in the process of hiring 10 more people to join the staff of 26 so they can add a swing shift. Michael Hunt, a spokesman for the Fire Department, said there isn’t enough data yet to know how much it would cost to expand it citywide. It’s also not yet clear whether the program has freed up police.

In addition, six candidates — with the exception of De La Fuente, Scott, Peter Liu and John Reimann — said they would like to see more investment in the city’s Department of Violence Prevention, a small department tasked with addressing gun violence in Oakland that operates on a budget of about $25 million over two years.

Hodge said the police department should have 700 officers — fewer than currently budgeted but more than the positions currently filled — and focus on serious crime. He’d also like to double funding for the Department of Violence Prevention and he wants to create a program similar to Richmond’s Office of Neighborhood Safety, which was responsible for a 55% decrease in gun-related homicides and assaults between 2010 and 2016. The program is similar to the city’s Ceasefire program, but unlike Ceasefire it offers cash to its participants.

Ross said Oaklanders are fed up with the status quo and want to see change now.

“How are you going to improve public safety? How are you going to clean up the streets? That’ s the best message that would resonate with folks right now,” Ross said. “How are you different than now?”

Sarah Ravani (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani

Don’t roll down your window: police release tips for how to stay safe in Oakland

Sun, 16 Oct 2022 21:22:26 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — A flurry of homicides, a mass school shooting, and deadly car jackings have left some Oakland residents wondering what they can do to stay safe in their city.

Oakland family mourns father shot, killed trying to stop catalytic converter theft

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 21:31:22 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Oakland police are investigating the city's 101st homicide of the year on Tuesday. Police were reportedly responding to a catalytic converter theft in the 4000 block of Everett Ave. As they were responding, police were told of a reported shooting that happened in the same location.

The victim has been identified by family as 60-year-old Arturo Coronado.

2 teen brothers shot dead at Oakland house party leave behind 4 younger siblings

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 21:37:31 GMT

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- 17-year-old Jayz Sotelo Garcia and his 15-year-old brother Angel were both killed Saturday night just before 10 p.m. in Oakland.

"It's soul-crushing. I was speaking to my dad earlier and that was the first time in my 18 years of life I've heard him cry," said Melani Garcia.

Garcia is Jayz and Angel's cousin. She says the two teens went to Berkeley High School.

"The general consensus is, they went to a birthday party at an Airbnb. I think there was a verbal altercation or disagreement," Garcia said.

Oakland must confront surge in gun violence

Fri, 30 Sep 2022 14:41:40 GMT

Oakland’s gun violence is out of control.

It won’t end until city leaders stop politicizing the issue and start uniting behind an effort to

get guns off the streets and more cops on them, and to changing the culture that’s

triggering the killings.

This isn’t a question of whether the city needs violence-prevention programs or more

police. They need both. People are being shot throughout Oakland, even outside City Hall.

And now on a school campus. Residents live in fear as they’re forced to accept that in some

parts of the city the sound of gunshots is a daily part of life.

City residents in 2021 lived through the most homicides in a year since 2006 and the lowest

police staffing level since 2014. The rate of killings has continued at about the same rate

this year, and police staffing has barely changed. Cops, feeling unwelcome, are leaving as

fast as the city can hire new ones.

Make no mistake, there are external forces city leaders cannot control contributing to the

violence, starting with a national gun culture embraced by the National Rifle Association,

the Republican Party and the U.S. Supreme Court that enables the proliferation of weapons.

But those are the cards Oakland has been dealt, and it can either wallow in that and fight

among themselves, or it can unite behind a strategy to end the violence. As long as the City

Council majority keeps a stranglehold on the paltry size of the Police Department, those

with weapons will continue to feel free to use them.

Fortunately, the City Council majority never followed through on its 2020 threat to cut the

police budget by 50%. Instead, what we’re witnessing is a slow squeeze as crime soars.

Oakland residents’ ambivalence toward their cops is understandable. The city has a long

history of troubled officers who have abused their positions of power, which is why there

has been two decades of federal court oversight of the department — and why the city has

strengthened its police-oversight system.

Meanwhile, it’s time to stop demonizing the vast majority of the officers who are trying to do

their jobs professionally. It’s time to embrace them, show them that they’re valued and

bolster their numbers so that they can safely protect the people.

And, yes, the answer is also to supplement that with violence-prevention programs, mental

health workers who can assist the police, and non-sworn employees who can answer the

calls for blocked driveways, motorists’ fix-it tickets and other petty offenses.

But none of that can replace cops. Unless and until those alternative programs start showing

meaningful reduction in the gun violence, the priority needs to be more police on the

streets and tracking down those who think nothing of opening fire.

Unfortunately, finding enough cops is not easy. Fewer people want to be officers. And those

who do are choosing cities where they are welcome.

It’s time for Oakland leaders to start welcoming them, to signal that they want to bolster

their Police Department, not tear it down

Oakland school shooting: Six people injured, shooter at large

Thu, 29 Sep 2022 14:40:04 GMT

By ELIYAHU KAMISHER | ekamisher@bayareanewsgroup.com, GEORGE KELLY | gkelly@bayareanewsgroup.com and JAKOB RODGERS | jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

OAKLAND — In one of the Bay Area’s worst school shootings in recent memory, six people were wounded when multiple shots rang out near a group of East Oakland schools on Wednesday afternoon. Hundreds of students were sent into lockdown as police swarmed the grounds searching for a shooter who hours later had not been captured.

Some of the victims were found at one of the campuses, but it is not clear if they are school staff or adult students. No children were shot, authorities said.

“Everyone thought it was fireworks — it’s almost Halloween,” one 14-year-old ninth-grader said. He recalled hearing two shots, then a break, and then seven more in quick succession, almost as if they came from an automatic weapon. “The shots were loud,” the boy added.

Three people were taken by ambulance to Highland Hospital, a hospital administrator said, and another three victims were taken to Eden Medical Center, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

As of Wednesday evening, two victims remained hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, one had been released from a hospital, two others were awaiting release and one was receiving care for non-life-threatening injuries, Oakland police said.

The gunfire erupted shortly before 1 p.m. on the 8200 block of Fontaine Street at an Oakland Unified School District building housing three campuses.

Oakland Police Assistant Chief Darren Allison said authorities are “actively looking for at least one shooter,” but he added other individuals may be involved. He said the shooting occurred at a portion of the school complex called Rudsdale, with some victims located inside the high school.

“We have our Ceasefire teams, as well as our violent crime operations teams actively in this moment, following up on leads looking to bring to justice those responsible for this heinous act,” Allison said.

Jules Milstead, a coordinator of the school district’s school safety officers, known as “culture keepers,” said the shooting started during an altercation between students. “A student came to campus, and there was an altercation with other students, and shots went off,” he said. Milstead said the victims include a mix of students and staff, but Oakland police only confirmed that the victims are “affiliated” with Rudsdale.

As students and staff realized there was an active shooter in the area, they jumped into lockdown protocol, locking their doors, darkening the lights and staying quiet.

“You lock the doors and make sure you don’t answer for anyone,” said Antonio Ramirez, a school counselor who huddled in a classroom with worried high school students for around 40 minutes. “We just waited until cops were coming door to door making sure things were clear and walking us out.”

More than 600 students are enrolled in the schools, according to district records, and the campuses include students at risk of not graduating, who attend Rudsdale Continuation, recently arrived immigrants between the ages of 16 and 21 “who have fled their home countries because of violence and instability” and have come to Rudsdale Newcomer High School, and students at BayTech Charter, which has sixth through 12th grades.

A 10th-grade student at BayTech Charter thought the lockdown was “just a drill” until he heard a teacher “crying in fear.”

Multiple police officers carrying weapons later entered the student’s classroom and called out, “Everybody hands up,” he said. “We all walked out, and we saw dozens of cop cars,” he said.

The latest shooting comes amid a wave of gun violence in Oakland that on Wednesday touched hundreds of students who were deeply shaken by the day’s events. Last week four people were shot to death in separate incidents across the city occurring within 18 hours. The city has seen 96 homicides this year, according to a police tally.

At a press conference outside Highland Hospital, Alameda Health System CEO James Jackson was frank about the rising toll of gun violence. “We’ve seen almost a doubling of the violent-crime victims that we’re seeing here at our facility,” Jackson said. “So something has changed.”

Wednesday’s shooting also comes less than a day after a press conference where Oakland police Chief LeRonne Armstrong announced a plan to solve crimes faster and increase public safety by adding more officers to high-crime neighborhoods in East and West Oakland, beefing up OPD’s criminal investigations division and holding officers after their shifts end. Gang and group violence committed by a small percentage of Oakland’s population, police say, has been fueling the recent uptick in violence.

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 28: Oakland Police Assistant Chief Darren Allison speaks to the media as law enforcement officers from several agencies respond after at least six adults were shot at the Bay Area Technology School complex in East Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 28: Oakland Police Assistant Chief Darren Allison speaks to the media as law enforcement officers from several agencies respond after at least six adults were shot at the Bay Area Technology School complex in East Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

It is the second shooting on an Oakland school campus in nearly a month. On Aug. 29, a 13-year-old boy attending Madison Park Academy, a middle school, was injured in a shooting, and a 12-year-old boy was later arrested. The 12-year-old faces several felony charges in that incident, including discharge of a firearm.

Oakland politicians condemned the recent shooting deaths, saying more needs to be done in a city that has spent decades trying to tame gun violence. In recent years, the number of annual homicides had dramatically dropped but began to rise in 2020. Last year was the deadliest year in Oakland since 2006.

“We have a historic investment into violence-prevention intervention,” said Councilmember Treva Reid, whose district includes the cluster of schools hit by the shooting on Wednesday. “We need to double that.”

Oakland Councilman Loren Taylor, who arrived near the campus later Wednesday, called the level of recent gun violence “out of control.”

“The situations are risking our friends, our neighbors, our babies,” said Taylor, who represents an East Oakland council district. “This is spilling into our schools.”

In the hours after the shooting, teachers and school staff gathered nearby the school. One administrator, who declined to give her name, held back tears as she described announcing the lockdown over her school’s loudspeaker system.

Chris, a special education teacher who declined to give his last name, shuttled students to a staging area for their parents to pick them up. After officially clearing the campus around 5 p.m., police said all students were accounted for.

“It’s just a sad reality,“ Chris said. “I never want kids to endure this kind of thing.”

Lori Smith, the principal at BayTech Charter School, said she already is processing how to move her students and staff to a place of healing.

“Students may not show emotion right away,” said Smith. Her advice to parents of students struggling in the aftermath of the shooting: “Hug them and hold them tighter.”

In a statement Wednesday night, the school district said there will be no classes Thursday for schools at the district’s King Estate campus.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $30,000 for information leading to the arrest of any suspect. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950 or 510-238-3426 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

Staff photo editor Dylan Bouscher contributed to this report.

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan’s statement in response to today’s Oakland school shooting:

Thu, 29 Sep 2022 02:40:01 GMT

September 28, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan’s statement in response to today’s Oakland school shooting:

“Oakland’s finest are saddened by the violence on Oakland streets visiting upon a sanctuary of learning for our children. But amid today’s dynamic and tragic events, Oakland saw the courageous and selfless response of Oakland Police Officers racing to the shooting, rescuing the wounded, and coordinating a speedy clearing and evacuation of the school. Oakland cops yet again stood up for our resident. We should all be proud of them.”

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Oakland violence prevention efforts

Tue, 27 Sep 2022 18:13:29 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — The Oakland Police Officer’s Association is trying to bring attention to the city’s Department of Violence Prevention and the Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland, or MACRO.

The Department of Violence Prevention and MACRO are two separate non-police response programs. Both were established to reimagine public safety using non-police response models.

“The premise was to reduce funding to the police department to the tune of $18 million dollars and transition it over to these non-police responses. A laudable goal but unfortunately the money seems to have moved over but none of the calls have,” said Barry Donelan, President Oakland Police Officer’s Association.

1 Oakland Police Unit Responds to Dozens of 911 Calls, Reporting Sideshow and Injury. Here's why.

Tue, 27 Sep 2022 18:11:56 GMT

After a viewer called the Investigative Unit about the slow police response to a large Oakland sideshow, our team requested incident reports, 911 audio and an interview with the police chief to find out why it took a half hour for one police unit to arrive.

After Eight Homicides in a Week, Oakland Police Officers Struggle to Respond and Ask: Where are the Violence Interrupters?

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 17:47:37 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

September 26, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

After Eight Homicides in a Week, Oakland Police Officers Struggle to Respond and Ask: Where are the Violence Interrupters?

OAKLAND – Crime statistics published today illustrate the bloodshed on Oakland streets. Oakland police take on average 2,000 calls for a service a day, with only 680 sworn staff to respond. Oakland police officers are exhausted by the daily violence. Our residents are frustrated by epically long wait times for a police officer to respond when they call.

This election season's candidates tout the city’s investment in violence reduction programs. But the overstretched police officers on the ground, many working mandatory overtime, have yet to see the burden of response taken off their shoulders. Programs like the Fire Department’s MACRO program, a non-police response alternative to many police calls, are nowhere to be found in this crisis.

“Every week, thousands of 911 calls come into the Oakland Police Department. Yet, amid the calls of murder and mayhem, a skeleton staff of police officers is struggling to respond. The violence seems to escalate, with eight (8) homicides in the last week. As we struggle to respond, we hear those on the campaign trail lauding MACRO for taking police calls, but we do not see any calls diverted. City leaders should stop talking about MARCO and have MACRO step up and take the calls they promised they would,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

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1 dead, 3 hurt in shootout as pair try to rob Brink’s truck

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 15:12:19 GMT

Apparent assailant dies as wounded partner flees — guard, bystander hit

By Joel Umanzor and Jordan Parker

One person was killed and three were injured Friday afternoon in a shootout during the attempted robbery of a Brink’s security truck in East Oakland, police and witnesses said.

The attempted robbery occurred around 2 p.m. in the parking lot of a NAPA Auto Parts store on the 4400 block of International Boulevard and left one Brink’s employee injured at the scene and an apparent would-be robber dead, police and witnesses said. Two more people transported themselves to a hospital with injuries, including one whom police described as an innocent bystander.

Two people who said they witnessed the violence described the scene to The Chronicle. Robbers made their move on the Brink’s truck after one security guard entered the NAPA Auto Parts store, leaving one guard with the truck, said Rafael Barrazos, who sells used cars on International Boulevard and was walking across the bustling street near a taco truck when the shooting began.

“They waited till one of the guards was by himself,” Barrazos said. “The guns started going off right after. The way the bullets were flying I told everyone getting tacos to get down, and it felt like the bullets were going above our heads.”

When the gunfire ended, two people were lying on the ground — the person police said was killed was down besides the Brink’s truck, and the Brink’s guard went down in the roadway on International, just outside the parking lot where the truck was parked.

Barrazos said he saw an injured, shirtless man run from 44th Avenue toward the person lying next to the Brink’s truck, grab what appeared to be a gun from the victim, then jump into a white Toyota Rav-4 that fled the scene.

Oakland resident Elizabeth, who wished to be identified only by her first name, said the violence erupted as she was taking her daily walk down International between 44th and 45th avenues.

“I saw one man and then another — both with masks,” Elizabeth told The Chronicle, adding that the shooting renewed feelings of anxiety. “You can’t take your kids out when you like, you can’t put any jewelry on — it’s just gotten out of control here in our neighborhood.”

Before first responders arrived on the scene, a crowd of people tried to help the injured Brink’s worker, a scene captured on video posted on social media. A body could be seen lying next to the Brink’s truck.

Arriving officers pronounced the victim next to the truck dead at the scene, police said. The Brink’s worker was rushed to the hospital, police said. Two other men arrived to a local hospital separately, also with gunshot wounds, police added. One of those was an innocent bystander who had been struck by gunfire, police said.

At least 21 markers indicated bullet casings at the scene.

“We know that there was a white vehicle that was involved in this incident occupied by several individuals,” Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said at the scene in a video posted by KTVU. Armstrong said the department is looking for video of the people in an attempt to identify them.

A person who answered the phone at the NAPA Auto Parts store declined to discuss the shooting and hung up.

A spokesperson for Brink’s said the company is aware of the incident and working with law enforcement but couldn’t provide any additional information. The company is a worldwide security powerhouse with more than 16,000 security vehicles. Some employees are armed with weapons to guard money and valuables during transport.

“It’s been a tough week in the city of Oakland,” Armstrong said. “We have seen several homicides this week. We ask the community to continue to help get rid of the guns that plague our community.”

The shooting marked Oakland’s 92nd homicide of the year, he said.

The incident comes less than two days after a shooting on Interstate 580 in Oakland killed a man, a case being investigated by the California Highway Patrol. Friday’s attempted robbery marked the week’s sixth fatal shooting in Oakland. On Monday, three people were killed in two shootings within 24 hours. On Tuesday, a double shooting outside City Hall killed one person and injured another.

Joel Umanzor (he/him) and Jordan Parker (he/him) are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: joel.umanzor@sfchronicle.com, jordan.parker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jr_umanzor, @jparkerwrites

Once nicknamed ‘Murderapolis,’ the city that became the center of the ‘Defund the Police’ movement is grappling with heightened violent crime

Mon, 26 Sep 2022 15:08:38 GMT

By Rob Kuznia. Photographs by Andrea Ellen Reed for CNN

Updated 8:06 PM EDT, Sun September 25, 2022

CNN — Marnette Gordon was doing laundry at home in Minneapolis one summer morning last year when a call came from her 36-year-old son.

She figured her son, Telly Blair, was checking in to see if she wanted a soda from a gas station down the street, where he often went for fuel and snacks.

“Mom, I’ve been shot,” he said. “Call the police!”

Marnette, her other son Tamarcus and his 12-year-old daughter rushed to the gas station from their home in the city’s north side, a part of town long beset by violent crime.

Blair’s family came upon his blue 1986 Chevy Caprice at pump No. 5 — beating police and paramedics by a few minutes, they said — only to find him slumped in his car, bleeding from multiple bullet wounds in his chest. A 17-year-old male in an orange hoodie had fired nine rounds from a handgun into Blair’s car before running off.

Oakland Police Officers Association addresses spike in Oakland gun violence

Thu, 22 Sep 2022 14:26:05 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Police are investigating after two shootings claimed the lives of three people in a span of 45 minutes in Oakland Monday night.

Gunfire erupted in front of a grocery store at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and 31st street at 7:45 p.m.

Three people were wounded, and two of the victims died at the scene.

The third person was driven to a nearby hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

Just Another Night in Oakland - Three murders and two police officers were hospitalized.

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 14:27:45 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

September 20, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Just Another Night in Oakland - Three murders and two police officers were hospitalized.

OAKLAND – Last night, while many households tuned in to Monday Night Football, Oakland’s murder numbers jumped:

#88 & #89 – At around 7:45 pm, officers responded to a reported shooting in the 3100 block of Telegraph, where three people were found shot, and two died.

#90 – At around 8:30 pm at East 20th and 23rd Ave, officers responded to a reported shooting and found a victim deceased.

In addition, at the Telegraph Ave double murder scene, a drunk driver plowed into a parked Oakland police car, sending two Oakland Police Officers to the hospital.

“We are grateful, and Oakland was fortunate, that the two police officers injured last night were not more seriously hurt. Yet, at the same time, we are saddened that Oakland’s annual murder total jumped ever closer to becoming the third year in a row of more than a hundred homicides,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Oakland’s 681 Oakland Police Officers are struggling to respond to the daily toll of violence in our city. The violence continues despite Oakland Police Officers recovering 1,113 firearms, a 30% increase year over year, from Oakland streets.

Oakland averages 2,000 911 calls for police service a day. Yet, the stark reality for our residents is that the police department is overwhelmed in responding to violent crimes; non-violent or property crimes have no police officers available to respond.

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Police investigate after 3 killed in 2 separate shootings in Oakland in span of 45 minutes

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 10:23:23 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Police are investigating after two shootings claimed the lives of three people in a span of 45 minutes in Oakland Monday night.

Gunfire erupted in front of a grocery store at the corner of Telegraph Avenue and 31st street at 7:45 p.m.

Three people were wounded, and two of the victims died at the scene.

The third person was driven to a nearby hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

Signed bill ensures benefits for children of Fallen Officers

Mon, 05 Sep 2022 15:32:38 GMT

Unmarried partner, the offspring of slain deputy among those to be given coverage

BY JESSICA YORK

SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL

SANTA CRUZ >> New legislation signed into law will ensure that children in nontraditional families similar to those of fallen Santa Cruz County sheriff’s deputy Sgt. Damon Gutzwiller receive survivors’ benefits.

Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, introduced Senate Bill 850 in January, calling out the circumstances in which Gutzwiller’s children with longtime partner Favi Del Real were not eligible for benefits because their parents had not married. Passage of the bill, effective in the new year, will retroactively benefit t three families with a total of six children, Laird’s office said, citing California Public Employees’ Retirement System data. The bill looks backward to line-of-duty deaths in the state since 2013. Laird said the timeline was significant for Santa Cruz County.

On Feb. 26, 2013, Santa Cruz police detective Elizabeth Butler and detective Sgt. Loran “Butch” Baker were gunned down while conducting an investigation on North Branciforte Avenue. Butler left behind two young sons with partner Peter Wu, who was left facing the same shortcoming in survivor benefit coverage.

“This is a righteous bill,” Laird said in an interview.

Commending the bill’s passage, Sheriff Jim Hart in a statement described previous law as “antiquated” in not recognizing newer family structures. Until now, state law only ensured that surviving spouses of public safety officers killed in the line of duty would qualify for an additional benefit for the officer’s children.

However, without a formal surviving spouse designated, no benefits were available to the officer’s children. The new legislation that allows the benefit to be paid to the person in custody of the deceased individual’s children, should no surviving spouse exist.

“Families come in all forms and children of fallen first responders will now receive equal benefits regardless of their parents’ marital status,” Hart is quoted in a release. “I think about Sgt. Gutzwiller every day and I wish we lived in a world where we didn’t have to advocate for families of murdered peace officers. However, the reality is that law enforcement is an inherently dangerous profession, and we need to support, and hold closethose families whose loved one made the ultimate sacrifice.”

Laird said he expected the retroactive nature of the bill to be lost in committee revisions, and was happily surprised when it made it to the fi nal bill language. He added that he believed the circumstances outlined in the bill could apply to many peace officer and firefighter families, should they be struck with a similar tragedy.

“I was determined on this bill, just determined,” Laird said. “It’s one of those that, no matter what reservations people might have had, when they heard the story — they got out of the way and helped move the bill along.”

Gutzwiller was fatally shot June 6, 2020, during an ambush fi refight in Ben Lomond with Steven Carrillo, an anti-government militia member and former U.S. Air Force staff sergeant stationed at a base in Fairfield. Carrillo was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole, a punishment Carrillo agreed not to appeal as part of a plea deal.

Del Rio, Gutzwiller’s partner of more than a decade and mother to the couple’s then 2-year-old son, was pregnant with the family’s second child, a daughter born just weeks after her father was killed.

City leaders weigh in on lack of school resource officers in Oakland

Sun, 04 Sep 2022 01:26:46 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – The Oakland Unified School District removed school resource officers, but with this recent shooting of a 13-year-old at a middle school, should there be more security on campus? KRON4 News has part of the story.

“Babies shooting babies at a school campus, should be shocking. It should be troubling, and again, it should be an immediate call to action,” Mike Huthinson of the OUSD Board of Directors told KRON4.

Oakland shooting was ‘not a deliberate school shooting,’ police say

Sun, 04 Sep 2022 01:21:28 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. — A shooting at an Oakland school on Monday was “not a deliberate school shooting,” the Oakland Police Department said Tuesday. OPD said the victim did not appear to be the intended target.

“Update to the shooting in the 400 block of Capistrano Drive. Evidence shows the incident was not a deliberate school shooting. At this time, it does not appear that the victim was the intended target,” OPD said.

Oakland records 6 homicides in 4 days marking 'deadliest week this year'

Sun, 04 Sep 2022 01:16:52 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Six people have lost their lives to violence since Thursday in Oakland and a 13-year-old was shot at an Oakland school Monday afternoon, Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said at a news conference Monday.

The child was in stable condition at a hospital after the shooting at Madison Park Academy. Officers responded at 1:30 p.m. to the school at 400 Capistrano Drive where they say one student shot another.

'My plan is get the hell out of Oakland' -- Deadly street violence pushing residents to move

Sun, 04 Sep 2022 01:15:16 GMT

OAKLAND -- As Oakland police flooded the streets with extra officers after four people we re killed in two separate shootings just blocks apart, some residents were saying they've had enough.

Oakland leaders on city’s recent crime surge

Sun, 04 Sep 2022 01:13:32 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – Another violent weekend has occurred in the city of Oakland.

Since Friday afternoon there have been two deadly shootings in west Oakland and a man was shot on BART. “We’ve had so much bad news about all the shootings and killing in our city but unfortunately it’s not surprising,” said Carl Chan, President of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.

In less than 24 hours, four men were killed in west Oakland. Three men in a Friday night shooting and car crash on Martin Luther King Jr. Way and 27th Street.

Gov. Newsom vetoes bill to bring drug injection sites to Oakland, SF.

Sun, 04 Sep 2022 01:11:11 GMT

The move comes amid speculation he’s considering a presidential run

By MARISA KENDALL | mkendall@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: August 22, 2022 at 4:45 p.m. | UPDATED: August 23, 2022 at 9:39 a.m.

Dashing progressives’ hopes for a radical strategy to curb overdoses in the Bay Area, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday vetoed a bill that would have allowed experimental drug injection sites to open in Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Senate Bill 57 would have allowed the two Bay Area cities to become among the first in the country to open facilities where users could bring drugs and consume them in a safe, supervised setting. The bill passed the state legislature this month. But after rejecting the bill, Newsom expressed worry that the law could actually make the drug crisis worse in those three cities.

“The unlimited number of safe injection sites that this bill would authorize — facilities which could exist well into the later part of this decade — could induce a world of unintended consequences,” he wrote in a veto message. “It is possible that these sites would help improve the safety and health of our urban areas, but if done without a strong plan, they could work against this purpose.”

Newsom added that he is instructing the secretary of Health and Human Services to convene a group of city and county officials to discuss overdose prevention strategies and how to implement a more limited pilot program.

The move comes amid mounting speculation that Newsom might be eyeing a presidential run. And while it’s unclear whether those ambitions played into his decision, rejecting the bill likely will only help him on the national stage, where the majority of voters would likely balk at the idea of facilitating drug use, said Claremont McKenna College political science professor Jack Pitney.

“There’s a solid policy rationale for the veto,” Pitney said, “but politically, he’s dodged a potentially big problem.”

Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, called the veto “tragic,” as it comes at a time when San Francisco sees two overdose deaths every day. Multiple studies have proven that safe injection sites work, he said. There already are about 165 safe injection sites in 10 countries around the world, and New York City opened the first two in the U.S. last year. Rhode Island also has passed a law allowing the sites.

“Today, California lost a huge opportunity to address one of our most deadly problems: The dramatic escalation in drug overdose deaths,” Wiener, who introduced the bill, said in a statement. “By rejecting a proven and extensively studied strategy to save lives and get people into treatment, this veto sends a powerful negative message that California is not committed to harm reduction.”

Lt. Tracy McCray, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, applauded Newsom’s decision.

“These locations would have allowed sanctioned drug dens and attracted more drug dealers to these neighborhoods, creating misery and chaos for the residents and businesses forced to be next to these sites,” McCray said in a statement. “The focus and resources for addressing our drug epidemic should be on enforcement against drug pushers and expanded treatment for those suffering from addiction.”

SB 57 would have allowed drug users to consume drugs in a setting staffed by people trained to reverse an overdose. They would be provided with clean supplies, such as needles, and access to addiction treatment, medical care, mental health help and other social services.

The pilot program would have lasted until 2028.

Speculation has been flying recently that Newsom is laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign, and a new poll last week found the governor was the top pick among California voters to run for the White House if President Biden does not run. He bolstered his national presence with a trip to Washington, D.C., last month, and shortly after, launched attack ads in Texas criticizing Gov. Greg Abbott’s policies on guns and abortion.

Approving SB 57 would have handed ammunition to an opponent, Pitney said.

“This would be a freebee for a Republican opposition researcher,” he said. “It’s easy to write the script for the attack ad.”

Jeannette Zanipatin, California state director of the Drug Policy Alliance, also suggested Newsom’s presidential agenda played into Monday’s decision.

“We are incredibly disappointed and heartbroken that Governor Newsom has put his own political ambitions ahead of saving thousands of lives and vetoed this critical legislation,” she said in a statement. “We don’t need additional processes. What we need is action. Without action, people are going to die.”

West Oakland shooting, crash ends in three deaths

Sat, 27 Aug 2022 12:11:49 GMT

Two men died from gunshot wounds and a bicyclist was run over

OAKLAND — A shooting in West Oakland on Friday evening ended in three people dead, including a bicyclist who was run over by someone fleeing the scene, authorities said.

According to initial reports, it all started about 7:30 p.m. when a man was fatally shot in the 2800 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way. As the shooter fled, friends or acquaintances of the person who was just shot started shooting at the assailant.

As of 9 p.m., police had Martin Luther King Jr. shut down in both directions between 27th and 29th streets, where people were observed weeping and some hugging each other outside the police caution tape.

Oakland club owners concerned about business in wake of downtown shootings

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 02:05:29 GMT

OAKLAND -- Business owners who operate downtown Oakland clubs that barely survived the pandemic are dealing with an even bigger business killer: gun violence.

Two separate shootings in Oakland early Saturday morning killed one person and injured three others. Those shootings happened near clubs and restaurants downtown and in the Uptown neighborhood.

Gun battle erupts outside Oakland police officer’s car; no injuries, suspects arrested

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 20:24:14 GMT

The plainclothes officer was doing a surveillance on another person when the shooting erupted

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: August 4, 2022 at 9:20 a.m. | UPDATED: August 4, 2022 at 9:37 a.m.

OAKLAND — No one was injured after two men exchanged gunfire Wednesday afternoon in West Oakland outside an unmarked police car occupied by an undercover officer conducting an unrelated surveillance, authorities said.

Both suspects were later arrested and two guns were recovered, police said.

The shooting happened about 1:52 p.m. Wednesday in the 3600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

The plainclothes officer was in his unmarked police car, performing surveillance on an armed robbery suspect, when the two men not connected to the surveillance began shooting at each other outside the vehicle, police said.

The gunmen apparently had a personal dispute and did not realize it was a police vehicle, authorities said.

The officer quickly radioed for assistance and numerous officers sped to the scene.

The two shooters were arrested in the area within a matter of minutes. The police vehicle was riddled with bullets.

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Sgt. Barry Donelan said, “Thankfully no officers or residents were injured in this gun fight. Good fortune, officer composure and team-work lead to the arrest of both (suspects) and recovery of firearms.”

Oakland Police Officer’s Close Call Illustrates Gun Violence on Oakland Streets

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 20:22:27 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

August 4, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland Police Officer’s Close Call Illustrates Gun Violence on Oakland Streets

OAKLAND – Less than 24 hours after Oakland residents and police officers stood together at National Night Out, we came within inches of losing a police officer to the gun violence epidemic on the streets of Oakland.

Yesterday at about 2pm, a plain-clothes Oakland Police Officer was conducting surveillance on an armed robbery suspect. The officer was in an unmarked vehicle in the 3600 block of Martin Luther King Way. Without warning, two suspects, unconnected to the surveillance operation, got into a gun battle on both sides of the unmarked police vehicle with the police officer inside. These pictures reveal how the bullets riddled the unmarked car occupied by an Oakland Police Officer:

Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan said, “Thankfully no officers or residents were injured in this gun fight. Good fortune, officer composure and team-work lead to the arrest of both felons and recovery of firearms. Now we watch and see if the courts and district attorney return these gunmen to Oakland streets or keep them in jail where they belong?”

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Three shot at Oakland Tech during youth football game

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 18:15:15 GMT

Three people were shot and injured Sunday afternoon during a youth football game at Oakland Technical High School, a City Council member said, and Oakland police confirmed “multiple” victims had been shot, including a juvenile.

An Oakland police source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to disclose information about the matter, said that a man in his 30s, a 5-year-old girl and a woman in her 50s suffered gunshot wounds.

Increasing women police recruits to 30% could help change departments' culture

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 18:13:12 GMT

At the Police Training Academy in Madison, Wis., there are 46 recruits in two groups for the class of 2022. Nikki Acker, 36, is one of nine female trainees in the group who are new to policing.

Part of their training today is how to handcuff a person. Their shoes squeak on the blue floor mats as they practice.

Acker used to be a teller at a credit union and worked in property management. She's 5'4" and never imagined being a police officer until she got a job working as a clerk in the records department.

"I guess I had in my mind the stereotype of these big guys with military backgrounds," she laughs, "and once I started learning more and getting involved in reading reports and seeing the calls, I learned that they're so much more than that."

New police accountability laws up demands on state agencies

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 18:11:11 GMT

IN SUMMARY - New state laws on police accountability are testing the limits of several agencies, including the Department of Justice, which say they need more resources for these new duties.

1 man killed in Oakland triple shooting near Fox Theater; 2 women injured

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 14:08:46 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland police are investigating a early Wednesday morning shooting, where a man was killed and two women were injured near the Fox Theater.

The Oakland Police Department patrol desk told KTVU that officers were called to the area of 19th Street and Telegraph Avenue, just after 1:30 a.m.

East Bay man says daughter hit by full bullet, not 'fragment' at Oakland A's game

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 14:07:12 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- An East Bay woman is recovering after a full bullet was shot into her hand at the A's game at the Coliseum July Fourth. The shocking x-ray shows the injury as much more serious than "bullet fragments"- the term used by Oakland police and Mayor Libby Schaaf describe the "celebratory gunfire" that came from up to a mile away.

Kevin is requesting his last name be hidden as the trauma of what happened to his daughter is still painful. All she wanted on July Fourth, was to be at the Oakland A's game and watch the fireworks.

Justice Dept. Braces for Summer of Violent Crime

Mon, 04 Jul 2022 17:25:25 GMT

PHILADELPHIA — The motorcade carrying Lisa Monaco, the No. 2 law enforcement official in the United States, maneuvered between potholes and people on Kensington Avenue when her driver braked for a man wandering into traffic with a hypodermic needle dangling from his arm.

It was late June, and Monaco was in the city to address a particularly savage surge in drug abuse and violent crime here, shuttling to meetings with federal prosecutors, state and local police officials, and community members aimed at combating an annual spike in summer violence ushered in by the Fourth of July weekend.

“People are living in an environment they shouldn’t have to endure,” she said a few days later, recalling the drive from downtown to meet with beat cops in Northeast Philadelphia. “You actually have to step over needles to take your kid to the bus stop.”

Gov. Newsom Signs Off On Reversing Loitering Law Police Used To Crack Down On Human Trafficking And Prostitution

Mon, 04 Jul 2022 17:23:27 GMT

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Friday that reversed the loitering law police used to crack down on human trafficking and prostitution in the Golden State.

Authored by San Francisco’s Democrat Sen. Scott Wiener, SB 357 repeals a law that criminalized “loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution.” He says the law gave law enforcement a subjective perception of whether a person is “acting like” or “looks like” they engage in prostitution—especially transgender, black, and brown women. However, Weiner says revoking the law would not decriminalize soliciting or engaging in prostitution.

Oakland, San Francisco see disheartening difference in homicide clearance rates

Thu, 30 Jun 2022 14:50:21 GMT

Barely half of murder cases in the United States get solved. The national homicide clearance rate is at an all-time low, according to FBI data. Oakland and San Francisco are seeing a large difference on solved cases, as Wilson Walker reports.

In Philadelphia, and across U.S., police say "crushing volume" of killings outruns their ability to close cases

Thu, 30 Jun 2022 14:46:00 GMT

Just before dawn on a recent Thursday, a SWAT team and detectives from Philadelphia's homicide unit quietly snaked through the streets of the city's Mayfair neighborhood.

The overworked detectives were closing in on a possible murder suspect in the death of an immigrant Uber driver. Philadelphia saw 562 homicides in 2021 — more than ever before — and nearly half have gone unsolved. In this city, and across the country, the odds of getting away with murder are essentially a coin flip, the low point in a dramatic decline from the 1950s, when about 90% of murders led to arrests, according to FBI data analyzed by CBS News and an independent group, the Murder Accountability Project.

That's why Detective Joe Murray and his six-person squad were up at 4 a.m., moving toward the home where a person they believed was captured on surveillance camera shooting and killing the Uber driver before fleeing in a getaway car may have been holed up.

Man fatally shot in East Oakland

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 19:49:07 GMT

The killing is the 51st homicide investigated by police this year

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

OAKLAND — A 20-year-old man was fatally shot in East Oakland on Sunday morning, authorities said.

His name has not yet been released. Police said he was an Oakland resident.

The shooting happened about 4:10 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and East 19th Street, a primarily residential area of apartments and single-family houses. The man was found lying in the street. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Homicide investigators are trying to determine a motive for the shooting. No arrests have been made.

The killing is the 51st homicide investigated by Oakland police this year. The California Highway Patrol has investigated four homicides on Oakland freeways. Last year at this time police had investigated 57 homicides in the city.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $10,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the shooter. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

Oakland councilman says National Guard needed to counter gun crime

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 19:35:18 GMT

OAKLAND (KPIX) -- Neighbors in Oakland's Fruitvale District said they're seeing an uptick in gun violence near the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and 35th Avenue in recent months. They shared surveillance videos of shootings, including a murder, with KPIX.

Neighbors said there was a non-injury shooting there on April 29, a robbery that turned deadly on May 12 and drive-by shooting on June 5.

"I always make sure I have some kind of weapon like a pepper spray or a little baton -- something -- that's become our norm. It's feeling like you always have to be ready to fight, which is a horrible feeling," said Renee, who declined to provide her last name. She has lived in the Fruitvale District for 20 years.

"I used to walk. I didn't have a car. I rode my bike and I walked everywhere but not anymore," Renee said.

Renee shared the surveillance video of the May 12 robbery. It showed three gunmen trying to rob a vending cart at the intersection.

When the customers fought back, a gunman shot a man in the head at close range. Oakland police say he died at the hospital.

"It's so horrible this man died waiting to get food, to get fried chicken and French fries," Renee said.

Councilman Noel Gallo represents the Fruitvale District. He said police have not arrested anyone in those recent shootings.

Councilman Gallo said the police force is down by roughly 100 officers and allied agencies have staffing issues as well and can't help as much.

"For me, the only alternative I have left is to call out the National Guard. Have the governor send out the National Guard to help protect us," Gallo said. "I'm not joking."

Councilman Gallo said he recently urged the mayor to reach out to the governor since he said only the mayor's office can make that request.

He admits more police won't stop the crisis. He said the city needs to offer young people opportunities before they pick up a gun. Gallo also wants families to step up and provide a better family structure for young people.

As for Renee, she said they need help fast.

"Criminals just seem to think it's a free-for-all just to come out and there's no consequences and they won't get caught," Renee said.

Oakland neighborhood plagued by brazen crimes

Tue, 07 Jun 2022 17:38:16 GMT

Neighbors in an Oakland community plagued by brazen crimes say they feel helpless and abandoned by city officials. Da Lin reports. (6-3-22)

Oakland police release video of gunfire exchange that left officer wounded

Sun, 22 May 2022 18:19:31 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Oakland Police Department released video from officers' body cameras that recorded a shootout with an armed man last fall.

That exchange of gunfire left one officer and the armed suspect wounded.

Video Shows Officers Heroic Response

Sat, 21 May 2022 04:22:50 GMT

On May 20, 2022 the Oakland Police Department released video from an officer involved shooting on September 22, 2021. Click the link below to view the video. Thank you to PORAC for helping to highlight these Oakland Police Officers as the heroes they are:

Video Shows Officers Heroic Response

Sat, 21 May 2022 04:18:48 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

May 20, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Video Shows Officers Heroic Response

OAKLAND – Today the Oakland Police Department released the harrowing video of an ambush of two Oakland Police Officers in downtown Oakland that took place on September 22, 2021. The attack resulted in one officer being shot and the suspect being arrested after a gunfight.

The video depicts two uniformed police officers responding to a citizen’s 911 call reporting a suspicious person. When the officers arrived on scene the suspect was laying in wait to attack. Despite one of the two officers being shot, both officers remained in the fight. The ambush illustrates the dangers faced by Oakland Police Officers and the courage it takes to be an Oakland Police Officer. The video can be watched and download via the following link:

https://oaklandca.nextrequest.com/documents/13691441/download

After watching the video, Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan reacted by saying. “These Oakland Police Officers unflinchingly responded to an unprovoked attack, protecting each other and our community when faced with this deadly threat. They showed courage and bravery under fire. This video shows what Oakland Police Officers are made of.”

The wounded officer remains on leave recovering from his injuries. His partner returned to duty serving the residents of our city.

###

Abandoning Public Safety Impacts Real People

Mon, 16 May 2022 14:49:03 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

May 16, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Abandoning Public Safety Impacts Real People

OAKLAND – In a recent newspaper article , the collapse of Oakland’s 911 emergency response was laid bare. The story highlighted what every Oakland Police Officer sadly sees all too often: Oakland residents calling 911 in need of urgent help, and there is nobody to respond. This tragic circumstance results from the divestment in public safety by Oakland’s city leaders, who deploy a skeleton police department to respond to Oakland’s needs.

The article highlighted the dangerous state of affairs of our city’s 911 response. Although every Oakland Police Officer and many residents already knew that Oakland’s inadequately staffed police department regularly has nobody to respond to residents' calls for help, the article illustrated these real-world impacts.

In response to the article Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan said, “Unfortunately, this failure is brought to you by Oakland City Council Members who have decided to abandon the basic mission of city government, responding to residents' calls for help.”

Oakland drove away eighty-six (86) police officers last year, and thirty-seven (37) of them left for other police departments. A further forty-four (44) have left so far in 2022. The police department can not hire fast enough to keep pace with Oakland’s police officer exodus. Officers are leaving for communities whose leaders support public safety. Do not vilify police officers and strive to care for the residents who call 911.

###

Gun Homicides in 2020 Surged to Highest Level in 26 Years

Thu, 12 May 2022 15:22:34 GMT

CDC says U.S. rate rose nearly 35% in 2020 from a year earlier

By Zusha Elinson Follow

May. 10, 2022 1:00 pm ET

The U.S. firearm homicide rate in 2020 was its highest level since 1994, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate hit 6.1 homicides per 100,000 residents, rising 34.6 % during the first year of the pandemic compared with a year earlier, according to the report. Dr. Debra Houry, a deputy director at the CDC,

said the increase continued in 2021, based on preliminary data.

“This is the worst homicide rate in 20 years,” said Dr. Houry. “It’s significant and devastating; we

cannot turn away from it.”

The CDC report offers new details on one of the most violent eras in America in decades. Homicide

rates increased more in areas with higher poverty levels, it found.

Homicide rates had generally been on a long-term decline since the early 1990s with some small peaks

and valleys.

The economic stressors and social isolation in poor communities during the pandemic could be a

factor in the increase in killings, said Dr. Houry. Disruptions to mental-health services and other

social programs during the pandemic also played a role, she said.

About eight in ten homicides were carried out with guns in 2020, the CDC found. And while

Americans bought a record number of guns in 2020, Dr. Houry said that researchers haven't

established a connection between the rise in sales and the rise in shootings.

Several cities set new highs for murders in the past two years. Philadelphia, Portland, Ore., Louisville,

Ky., and Albuquerque, N.M., had their deadliest years on record in 2021, according to data compiled by

The Wall Street Journal. Criminologists and local law-enforcement officials don’t agree on the

reasons for the surge in violent crime. Some cite stress from the Covid-19 pandemic. Some point to

what they see as frayed relations between law enforcement and Black communities after a series of

police killings, such as that of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Also, the firearm suicide rate edged up slightly in 2020 compared with a year earlier, the CDC found.

Write to Zusha Elinson at zusha.elinson@wsj.com

‘I hope nobody is bleeding out’: They called 911 in Oakland. They were told they’d have to wait

Wed, 11 May 2022 21:48:03 GMT

Oakland - A loud crash shook Lena Ohta awake just after 11 p.m. on a rainy Thursday night in April. Startled out of bed, she peered through a window of her bungalow in Oakland’s Maxwell Park neighborhood, and saw that a giant SUV had rammed through her fence.

Police later said a driver had stolen the white Yukon XL vehicle and careened down Ohta’s street in a leafy enclave near Mills College, below Interstate 580. Barreling toward the side of Ohta’s house, the motorist side-swiped her car, slammed through a chainlink fence and toppled the posts of a wooden fence she had installed six months earlier.

The wreck was just one in a steady and unexceptional stream of crises in Oakland that night: harrowing, but low on the priority list for the city’s police officers.

When Ohta called 911, a dispatcher informed her she was number 70 in a swelling queue, Ohta said. Elsewhere in Oakland, a gunshot wound victim walked into a local hospital that evening, and within hours, officers would respond to a baby that abruptly stopped breathing, according to police notifications reviewed by The Chronicle.

Even on a relatively quiet weekday, enough people dialed 911 to overload the city’s fragile emergency-response system, creating backlogs for police and forcing residents to sit and wait. Ohta’s ordeal seemed to illustrate a larger, ongoing predicament: To conserve resources, the city’s dispatch center frequently stops sending officers to all but the most urgent calls for service.

“They weren’t going to send someone unless there was an immediate need,” she said. “I thought, OK, I hope nobody is bleeding out.”

Another six hours passed before two officers rolled up to Ohta’s house, determined the Yukon was stolen, and told her the driver “was long gone, so I shouldn’t worry about it,” Ohta said. They handed Ohta a slip of paper with a report number and left.

“The cops are always showing up at your house at 3 a.m. when you called hours ago,” said Paige Thomas, who lives in the San Antonio district and who described 911 in Oakland as a “quagmire:” long holds; overwhelmed dispatchers; police responses so slow that people eventually give up.

City officials acknowledge that Oakland’s 911 system has long been inadequate, though it’s reached a critical point in recent years. An Alameda County civil grand jury investigation published in 2020 found that Oakland’s “under-funded and understaffed 911 communications center can not manage the volume of emergency and non-emergency calls it receives, putting the public’s safety at risk.”

Among the grand jury’s findings were unsettling wait times to reach a 911 operator: In 2019, nearly 40% of callers could not reach an operator within the state standard time of 15 seconds, and more than 18,000 callers had to wait more than two minutes — a lag that likely contributed to 13,800 callers abandoning the line, the report said.

Records obtained by The Chronicle showed that from Jan. 1 through Nov. 23 last year, there were 115 instances in which Oakland’s communications center got so overburdened with 911 calls that dispatchers had to triage, sending officers only to emergencies that presented an imminent danger.

This practice appears to be routine: At 8 p.m. on a recent Friday night, signs in the department’s communications division in East Oakland instructed “No 950 citywide” — a police radio code signifying that officers should only respond to the most critical calls for crimes in progress.

Communications manager Eugenia Oliver stood before a set of screens resembling the frenetic monitors in a stock exchange: One showed all the backed-up calls, another the 41 priority calls for serious incidents, such as a death at 40th Avenue and International Boulevard that drew five officers and a lieutenant to the scene, or the car jacking in West Oakland, or the alleged kidnapping in Fruitvale.

Another screen showed activations of Oakland’s ShotSpotter gunfire detectors: At 8:16 p.m. someone shot 15 rounds from a high-capacity firearm on Coolidge Avenue. In East Oakland, residents began calling to report gunfire nine minutes later.

“All this, and there’s probably nobody to break,” Oliver said, shaking her head, fearing that at the moment she had no officers available to help the car jacking victim. The center is painfully understaffed, with 59 positions filled out of 77 budgeted, while the Police Department also grapples with what some officials have deemed a dire staffing shortage: As of May 4, the department had 669 officers, or 15 for every 10,000 people — commensurate with Richmond but significantly less than the 26 officers per capita in San Francisco.

Oliver said she’s trying to hire and train people as quickly as possible, but many people who apply quickly discover they cannot bear the grueling work and emotional intensity of the job, and some leave for cities with fewer emergencies.

This year, the center fielded 86,718 calls by the end of April — up from 68,471 over the same period last year. Oliver expected to surpass a million 911 calls at the end of the year.

“It’s clear that we’re responding to more shootings and more homicides, more serious calls, more violent calls, more calls where people are injured,” Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said in an interview. He noted that each homicide might require as many as nine officers to manage the scene and the investigation for several hours — essentially dedicating a third of the citywide patrols to one incident. Since onset of the pandemic, homicides have ticked up: by 20% at the end of 2020, and another 20% at the end of 2021.

As a result, Armstrong said, police scramble to manage other emergency calls. “You can see how calls could begin to stack,” Armstrong said.

“This department should be somewhere around 1,100 officers in order to meet the demand of calls for service, as well as violence in the community,” Armstrong said, suggesting he wants to nearly double the police force.

While the chief rallies for additional resources, Ohta said she wonders whether the department could use its budget more effectively. Others put the onus on elected officials. Heather Hawke, a former Redwood Heights resident, said that in December 2020 she tried to report a flurry of gunshots in her neighborhood, and waited on hold for nine minutes between two 911 calls before giving up. She criticized the city’s political leaders for not explaining “why this is happening.”

Anna Wong, another San Antonio resident, said she became disenchanted with Oakland’s police services after an incident in April 2020, in which a man drove up in a van while she was sitting at a bus stop, and shouted for Wong to get in. She recognized the van, which had been circling the blocks around her home for two months.

When Wong got on the bus and called the police, an officer told her she had to file a report in person. So she went to the downtown police station on her lunch break that day, only to be directed to a phone in the lobby, and told to call the non-emergency line. After waiting on hold for 45 minutes, Wong gave up.

“There were a bunch of people in line behind me waiting for the phone,” Wong said, adding that she returned to the station the next day to repeat the experience. Once she got home she called the non-emergency line again and requested that an officer take her report. Hours later, at 3 a.m., an officer knocked on her door.

As police continue to struggle, Oakland officials began testing an alternative to 911: a team of medical technicians run by the Fire Department, to handle non-emergency calls related to homelessness, disturbances or erratic behavior that may be symptomatic of a mental health crisis.

Launched last month, the team spent its first month getting oriented in the field, and hasn’t yet released a phone number to call for service. At this point, it is still unclear how many calls the team will divert from the Police Department.

Miya Muraki, who lives near Ohta, realized after a petrifying experience in March that law enforcement won’t always come when people need them. It took police roughly 40 minutes to respond to Muraki’s 911 call about an intruder at her back gate, who eventually hopped the fence in to the yard.

Although police ultimately confronted the man, and Muraki said she was impressed with the officers’ calm demeanor when they detained him, she still shudders at what could have happened while she waited for them to arrive.

“I call it the terrifying fire drill,” Muraki said. “I learned that there is no button to make help come right away.”

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Honoring Those Fallen While Serving the City

Wed, 04 May 2022 16:20:50 GMT

The OPOA / OPD Annual Memorial returned yesterday, 3 May 2022. We are all excited that his annual event has returned.

The Coalition for a Better Oakland posted it about it and they captured the spirit of the event.

Welcome Twenty-six (26) New Oakland Police Officers To a Skeleton Police Department

Fri, 29 Apr 2022 16:31:35 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

April 29, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Welcome Twenty-six (26) New Oakland Police Officers To a Skeleton Police Department

OAKLAND – Today, April 29, 2022, the Oakland Police Department welcomes twenty-six (26) new officers to its ranks. The Academy graduation ceremony will be held at the Oakland Scottish Rite Center at 10:00 am. Every Oakland Police Officer welcomes these new men and women into our law enforcement family.

However, they are joining the beleaguered Department, facing high crime with police staffing levels at their lowest in a decade. The Oakland Police Department is losing existing police officers to other police departments faster than it can hire new officers to replace them. In 2021, eighty-six (86) police officers left, and forty (40) officers have left so far in 2022. Officers are leaving to serve others in communities where they are valued as dedicated and well-trained public servants.

Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan said, “Oakland needs hundreds of additional police officers. Our dwindling ranks of police officers are struggling to address high levels of violent crime. Today’s addition of new police officers is truly welcome as the wait times for our residents who call 911 for a police officer continue to grow.”

The staffing crisis at the Oakland Police Department means no traffic enforcement, no walking officers, mandatory overtime for the few Oakland Police Officers that remain, and continued extended wait times for residents who need a police officer.

###

Federal oversight may soon be over for Oakland police

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 14:09:03 GMT

By Sarah Ravani

The Oakland Police Department came closer to exiting federal oversight after a judge said Wednesday that he plans to take the next step in ending control of the troubled agency.

Judge William H. Orrick said he expected to issue an order in the next week that will detail when the department can enter into its probationary one-year period to end oversight.

The judge’s decision Wednesday marks a victory for a department that has gone through multiple scandals and 11 police chiefs in nearly 20 years. The federal oversight has cost the city millions of dollars, and the road to ending it has been bumpy. The department has seemed tantalizingly close to ending the oversight in the past, but subsequent problems kept it under scrutiny.

A class-action lawsuit in 2000 resulted in the arrangement. Six men in West Oakland argued they were falsely arrested on drug charges and accused four officers, known as “the Riders,” of assaulting and conspiring to frame them. Three of the officers were tried on criminal charges and never convicted and a fourth officer fled and remains a fugitive, but the civil case resulted in a settlement that required the department to complete dozens of tasks to improve the way it tracks, trains and disciplines officers.

Many proponents said oversight was necessary to bring reform to a troubled department. The department’s former brass said the result is an agency that can be a model of progress nationwide, while others caution that the department can’t let up on repairing its relationship with residents who still mistrust it.

Orrick heaped praise on Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong and his “laser focus” on the reform goals — a stark difference in the judge’s statements from just two years ago when he criticized city leaders after police lost ground on complying with tasks.

But, Orrick said, “there is some work that needs to happen.”

Orrick said he expected the department would have reached total compliance by now, but it still has one task to complete: reducing disparities in discipline among officers. The judge said that task is “critical in ending the court’s oversight.” He also said he hoped that the department would have fully completed and adopted a social media and cell phone policy by now — the result of a racist and sexist Instagram account set up by a former officer. Nine Oakland officers were disciplined for engaging with the content.

Mayor Libby Schaaf said in court that the city and department are committed to continuing their work toward achieving reform.

“Oakland leaders are united in our deep commitment to this continual journey with and without court oversight,” Schaaf said.

“We intend to continue to hold ourselves to a higher standard,” she added.

Last week, the City Attorney’s Office and attorneys in the case filed a joint statement to Orrick saying that they are open to starting the one-year transition to a probationary period to end federal oversight. Their joint statement marked a major moment in which all the attorneys in the case agreed on the next steps.

Robert Warshaw, the court-appointed monitor, said in his report released Wednesday that the Police Department has reached “a significant milestone” by complying with all tasks but one.

He praised Armstrong’s tenacity and commitment.

Last year, when Armstrong was appointed to the role of top cop, he said bringing the department into compliance with the federal mandate would be a major priority.

On Wednesday, plaintiffs’ attorneys John Burris and Jim Chanin applauded Armstrong’s work.

“You are on the verge of succeeding in an effort which no one in the Oakland Police Department has accomplished in nearly 20 years,” Chanin said.

A judge appointed Warshaw as the department’s monitor in 2010. In 2014, he was given more power as the compliance director. The city has spent nearly $30 million on all monitor-related expenses, including for Warshaw and his team.

Warshaw’s critics argue that he was more interested in getting paid than helping the department achieve compliance. One of his biggest critics was former Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, whose 2020 termination was due in part to Warshaw’s critical reports on the department’s reform efforts.

Kirkpatrick told The Chronicle on Wednesday that she is “personally glad that Oakland is finally being able to make a case in front of the judge to say it’s time.”

Kirkpatrick said the department’s rank and file have “embraced reform” in their efforts to de-escalate and transform the culture of the department. Kirkpatrick said past scandals — including the Riders case and a sexual misconduct case involving a teenager — were “not reflective of who these men and women actually are and yet they carried the scars of that.”

In 2016, the attorneys in the case, the city and Warshaw were prepared to end the oversight, but changed their minds after allegations came to light that several officers were involved in the sex scandal.

Former Police Chief Howard Jordan said Wednesday’s decision is a positive step.

“It shows that the department has really embraced accountability, reforms, and that they are a model agency for the police profession,” he said.

Former interim Police Chief Susan Manheimer said the judge’s comments are a testament to the department’s “painstaking focus on achieving compliance.”

“The only way that OPD can move forwards is really working with the community,” Manheimer said.

Rashidah Grinage, a spokeswoman for Oakland’s Coalition on Police Accountability, said the department should keep in mind that there is a “new sheriff in town” with the hiring in December of the city’s first independent inspector general, who is meant to ensure the department complies with its policies.

The inspector general, hired by the city Police Commission, is tasked with “making sure that there is no backsliding,” Grinage said.

In a news conference after the hearing, Armstrong and Schaaf called the judge’s decision a milestone.

“I’m optimistic that we have proven to the public that we have reformed,” Armstrong said. “We have more work to do.”

Chronicle staff writers Megan Cassidy and Andres Picon contributed to this report.

Sarah Ravani (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani

“Oakland leaders are united in our deep commitment to this continual journey with and without court oversight.”

Mayor Libby Schaaf

Judge: 5 Oakland Police Officers Involved In Death Of Joshua Pawlik Were Wrongly Fired

Sat, 16 Apr 2022 15:23:17 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF/AP) — An Alameda County judge ruled Friday that five Oakland police officers were improperly fired by the city in 2020 and should be given their jobs back. They were involved with the shooting death of Joshua Pawlik.

Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch said in his ruling issued that Oakland city employees “improperly manipulated” an outside investigator’s report that initially concluded the officers were unjustly fired and should have kept their jobs.

Five Oakland cops were wrongly fired in fatal shooting of homeless man, judge rules

Fri, 15 Apr 2022 14:24:03 GMT

Michael Rains, an attorney who represented the officers, said the judge’s decision clears the path to allow them to either return to work for the Oakland Police Department or get retroactive pay.

Judge says Oakland improperly fired 5 officers following killing of unhoused man

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 15:16:42 GMT

Rachel Swan

An Alameda County Superior Court judge issued an order mandating that the city of Oakland adhere to the findings of an internal review last year, which concluded that five police officers appeared to be justified when they shot and killed an unhoused man in 2018, and recommended that the city hire them back.

The order, issued this month by Judge Frank Roesch, said the city “improperly manipulated” reports submitted by its hired attorney, Jeffrey Sloan, who concluded that Oakland lacked “just cause” to fire Officers William Berger, Craig Tanaka, Brandon Hraiz and Josef Phillips, and their supervisor, Sgt. Francisco Negrete.

In a report submitted Feb. 9, 2021 — the third step in a grievance process for police officers — Sloan “exonerated” Berger, Tanaka, Hraiz and Phillips in alleged violations of the Police Department’s use-of-force policies on the evening of March 11, 2018, when they found Joshua Pawlik, 31, lying between two houses in Oakland’s Longfellow neighborhood with a semiautomatic handgun in his right hand.

Police blocked traffic around Pawlik, who was armed but apparently unconscious on the 900 block of 40th Street. Negrete requested an armored vehicle from which he, Hraiz, Berger and Tanaka took position with AR-15-style rifles. Several officers shouted commands at Pawlik, and when he began to move, the sergeant and the three officers fired 22 shots from the armored truck.

After four separate internal investigations, the Police Department ruled that the five officers had not violated any policies related to excessive force. They were also cleared in criminal probes by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and by the investigative arm of the Oakland Police Commission.

However, two critical oversight bodies — a federal court-appointed compliance monitor and the Police Commission — rejected those decisions, concluding instead that the officers’ use of force was unreasonable. The reversal intensified a power struggle between the Police Department and the court officials who have held it under a microscope since 2003, the year the city settled a landmark civil rights case over four West Oakland officers known as the Riders, who were accused of beating residents and planting evidence on them.

Sloan’s report became a new flashpoint in that tense relationship, determining that the four officers were entitled to return to work with back pay, excluding any earnings they had made in the interim, and provided they follow the department’s procedures.

“Nobody will ever know why Pawlik did not drop the firearm,” Sloan wrote in his review. “Absent a known intent, it is inconceivable to replace it with a finding that he did not intend harm unless he pointed the weapon squarely at the officers and discharged it. A requirement that the officers wait until the gun was squarely pointed at them would wrongly place them in harm’s way.”

Rather than provide those findings to the officers, city employees directed Sloan to “recast” his determinations as “recommendations,” add a “draft” watermark to his reports, and leave them unsigned, the judge’s order said. Sloan complied and delivered amended reports to the city, with a separate one for Negrete that exonerated the sergeant of improper force but concluded Negrete had violated his supervisory duties, necessitating a 30-day suspension rather than termination.

The city then sent notices to the officers and their lawyers, saying it was “unable to resolve” their grievances. Roesch ordered the city to rescind that language and follow the process laid out in Oakland’s contract with its police union.

Mike Rains, lead attorney for the fired officers, criticized Oakland officials in a statement for repudiating “the well-reasoned and amply supported decision made by the person it paid” $160,000 to handle the duty, and for their “deceitful attempt to avoid the consequences of the decision.” He said the city’s conduct “demonstrates the hypocrisy of a municipal government which expects its employees to follow the law, but manages its own affairs with a total disregard of the law.”

Karen Boyd, a spokesperson for the city administration, said officials are disappointed by the court’s order, and contend they did nothing wrong.

“We believe we adhered to the letter and spirit of the labor agreement, and believe the Court erred in finding otherwise,” Boyd said in a statement. “We remain committed to ensuring our employees are afforded due process in all disciplinary processes.”

.Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Oakland Police Chief after violent weekend: 'Far too many people have been let out of custody'

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 15:13:46 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong on Tuesday addressed the widespread violence across the city and how ghost guns are playing a part in these crimes.

During the news conference, Chief Armstrong showed two videos that gave a glimpse at the violence the city is facing.

In the first video, a car could be seen crashing into a fence as a shooting broke out. A person gets out of the vehicle and is holding a rifle while trying to escape the gunfire.

In the second video, two people could be seen getting out of a car, turning around, and opening fire on an approaching vehicle. The driver of that car then smashes into the shooter's vehicle before coming to a stop in the middle of an intersection.

Oakland: Security guard killed at tiny home site for homeless residents

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 15:11:01 GMT

By MARISA KENDALL | mkendall@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

A man fatally shot in Oakland last week was a security guard who was working at a cabin community for unhoused residents when he was killed.

Barry Murphy, 37, was found Thursday night in the 3400 block of Mandela Parkway in West Oakland and pronounced dead at the scene, according to police, who identified him Tuesday. The security guard was in his car outside the cabin site when he was killed, according to Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association.

A spokeswoman for the city confirmed a security guard at the Mandela Community Cabins had been killed outside the property, and called the act “tragic and senseless.”

“We offer our heartfelt condolences to family and loved ones, the residents of the Mandela Community Cabins who experienced this traumatic event, and the contracted security service team who have lost a colleague,” spokeswoman Karen Boyd wrote in an emailed statement.

No arrests have been made.

Mandela Community Cabins are a cluster of rudimentary tiny homes that provide temporary shelter to dozens of unhoused people and give them an alternative to living in encampments. Oakland has set up several such sites over the past few years as a way to manage the city’s homelessness crisis. The idea is that occupants will stay in the cabins for a few months, while case managers help them get back on their feet and find long-term housing.

The Mandela Parkway site opened in 2019 to serve 76 people.

Dontashia Brooks, Murphy’s sister, said her brother was a good person who “didn’t bother anyone.” He was a great cook and a “sneakerhead” who had loved shoes ever since they were kids, she said. Family was important to him, and he took care of their grandmother at the end of her life.

Monday would have been Murphy’s 38th birthday.

“It is extremely difficult,” Brooks said.

Operation Dignity, an Oakland-based nonprofit that manages the Mandela cabin site, has made grief counselors available to residents and staff in the wake of Thursday’s homicide, according to Boyd. Marguerite Bachand, executive director of Operation Dignity, did not respond to a request for comment.

Murphy worked for Oakland-based security company ABC Security Services, which contracted with the Mandela cabin program, Donelan said. He was working as the overnight guard when he was shot.

ABC Security declined to comment.

Harold Ester Jr., who lives in one of the Mandela Parkway cabins with his girlfriend, said he was sleeping when the shooting happened. The next morning, he found out a guard had been killed.

He saw Murphy on duty all the time, but didn’t know his name. There are typically two or three security guards working at one time, he said.

“He was kind of quiet,” Ester said, “so it’s kind of shocking to me that that happened.”

The shooting marks the latest challenge faced by Oakland’s homeless housing programs. Last month, a fire broke out in a village of tiny homes for unhoused residents near Lake Merritt. Three of the tiny homes, which were made by a Washington-based company called Pallet, were destroyed. The city is investigating what happened.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $10,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of Murphy’s killer. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

Oakland: 5 people shot in separate incidents in 7-hour span

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 17:45:04 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Oakland police say 5 people were shot in separate incidents in 7 hours. The shootings took place Friday night into early Saturday morning.

Police say the people shot are at the hospital in stable condition.

The first incident was reported shortly before 7 p.m. Friday, when officers responded to the 7900 block of Hillside Street and found a victim suffering from a gunshot wound.

Loved ones mourn loss of man killed from Lake Merritt shooting in Oakland

Two other people were shot about 10 p.m. in separate incidents. Police found two people with gunshot injuries – one person in the 21900 block of Lakeshore Avenue and another in the area of 96th Avenue and Plymouth Street.

Police responded early Saturday to two reports of shootings: one at about 1 a.m. in the 2300 block of 92nd Avenue and the other about 2 a.m. in the 1200 block of International Boulevard.

One person in each incident was found with gunshot wounds and taken to local hospitals. Police said all of the incidents are ongoing investigations.

At a news conference last week, the police chief admits resources are stretched thin but have vowed to step up patrols.

“You’ll see officers driving through the area, you’ll see officers parking in the area, you’ll see some walking in the area and you will see some position vehicles where officers will be in the area,” said Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong.

“We have a skeleton crew of officers working diligently working with levels of violent crime we haven’t seen in more than a decade,” said President of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association Barry Donelan.

And it’s not just the violent crimes that are lacking resources.

Just last week, a touring band were victims of a smash and grab in downtown Oakland –setting them back more than $10,000. The band filed a police report, but they may never get their items back.

$12K worth of items stolen from band in Oakland

Police urge anyone who has information about any of these shootings to contact the Felony Assault Division at (510) 238-3426.

Bay City News contributed to this report.

A 15-Year-Old Girl Becomes Fourth Murder in Four Bloody Days in Oakland.

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 15:02:56 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

April 11, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A 15-Year-Old Girl Becomes Fourth Murder in Four Bloody Days in Oakland.

OAKLAND – Tally of just the homicides in Oakland over the weekend:

Homicide #31 – April 6th @ in the 1200 block of Lakeshore Ave, victim murdered during a robbery.
Homicide #32 – April 7th @ 10:08 pm in the 1800 block of East 12th, victim found murdered in a vehicle.
Homicide #33 – April 7th @ 10:11 pm in the 3400 block of Mandela Blvd, an on-duty security guard working for the City of Oakland “Tuff Shed” encampment was murdered.
Homicide #34 – April 9th @ 7:13 pm in the 2900 block of 68th Ave, a 15-year-old girl found shot in a house dies the following morning in the hospital from her wounds.

The list above is only the homicides; the litany of weekend shootings is not included.

“The tragedy of a 15-year-old girl’s life being extinguished in Oakland epitomizes the violence our city’s residents and police officers see daily. Oakland is the most dangerous city in California but has only 652 police officers - the lowest number in eight years to deal with decade-high violent crime. When are Oakland residents going to hold their elected officials accountable for their inability to provide basic levels of public safety?” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Last month Safewise.com published a list of California’s safest cities. Unfortunately, Oakland scored last (#230) of the 230 California cities ranked for its safety.

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This Oakland department was created to reduce violent crime. Five years later, has it?

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 19:42:30 GMT

Rachel Swan

April 6, 2022

From the beginning, the goal was as clear as it was formidable: Reduce homicides in Oakland by 80% in a span of three years and effect a major turnaround in a city that had long struggled to chip away at its murder rate.

But now, five years since its inception, Oakland’s Department of Violence Prevention has barely begun to build its staff and infrastructure, and its success appears increasingly difficult to assess as violent crime in the city becomes a more intractable problem.

The department, created in 2017 in an effort to apply public health practices to reduce violent crime in Oakland, has been mired in a mix of crises, distractions, sclerotic bureaucracy and impractical benchmarks that have hobbled the agency from the beginning, according to some city leaders.

Last week brought perhaps the most explosive development yet. Attorneys for Sarai Crain, who was fired after working at the department for a year and a half, sent a letter to the city accusing the department’s chief, Guillermo Cespedes, of sexual harrassment, gender discrimination and retaliation, and demanding that the city give Crain his job or pay her $268,104 to fend off a lawsuit. The letter also threatened to go to media if the city refused to settle.

Cespedes declined to discuss personnel issues.

Half of Oakland’s city councilmembers threw their support behind Crain, calling for an investigation and settlement. City Administrator Ed Reiskin said the city condemned discrimination “in any form,” but said he stood by the decision to fire Crain. Prohibitions on discussing personnel matters prevented him from explaining why, Reiskin said.

At a moment when the department’s methods, which seek to curb violence by means of social services and conflict resolution, are gaining broader acceptance, Cespedes is laboring to show that his agency can deliver on its aspirational promises, and grappling with how to measure its progress.

Homicides have risen each year since the department was created, from 67 in 2018, to 75 in 2019, to 102 in 2020, to 124 in 2021. As of April 3, Oakland had witnessed 28 killings this year, slightly down from last year’s tally of 30 by the same date. Meanwhile, the city is spending millions of dollars to expand violence prevention services — boosting the department’s budget to $24.9 million this fiscal year.

“When we prevent violence, it doesn’t appear in a ledger anywhere,” Cespedes told The Chronicle. “It doesn’t appear in data. Do we know how many homicides were prevented by people who are ... responding to homicides, meeting with families? Is that work in vain? I don’t believe so.”

Sitting in a third-floor office in City Hall a day after Crain went public, Cespedes wore a weary expression. Since taking the post, he’s been burdened with a vague mission, a pandemic that has fueled homicides and largely kept violence interruptors off the streets, and fights among the city’s nonprofits over who should receive the department awards.

Now, the spotlight on him is heating up. Cespedes said he faced a “spike in expectations” following the acceleration of homicides and the societal moment of reflection after the 2020 murder of George Floyd. Politicians were gravitating toward the idea that civilians should handle duties traditionally delegated to police officers, and looked to Cespedes to fill that role.

“It’s the perfect storm of COVID, reimagine, defund — ‘let’s restructure, let’s look at the underlying conditions that create violence,’” Cespedes said of stresses piled upon him. “I think almost overnight, the department went from a concept to something (where) the expectation was that it would produce results next week.”

The Department of Violence Prevention was supposed to embrace a public health approach to violence on a larger scale, with a department head who would wield as much power and influence as the chief of police. Still, nearly all of its work — from life coaching, to intervening in conflicts, to visiting shooting victims at their hospital beds, to providing emergency shelter for victims of sexual exploitation — has been delegated to nonprofit contractors.

Former Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney, who crusaded for years to create the department, said she pressed for the 80% homicide-reduction mandate to be included in the legislation that formed the agency. Yet the City Council left that language out of the final ordinance.

“Ultimately,” McElhaney said, “we adopted legislation that came with a do-nothing goal. That came to be a problem.”

Although Mayor Libby Schaaf and city administrators voiced doubts about adding a new, potentially costly city bureaucracy, they considered it a coup to hire Cespedes.

He’d begun his career as a nonprofit worker in Fruitvale and deeper East Oakland, where he served low-income families from 1981 to 1999. In 2000 he moved to Los Angeles and developed a citywide strategy to curb gang violence, before taking his expertise to Central America in 2007. There, Cespedes focused on Honduras and El Salvador, working in cities that had a high concentration of murders and a paucity of social programs.

Though he arrived with a lofty pedigree, it didn’t take long for critics to arise from all corners: community organizations wanting to protect their funding and relationships in City Hall; politicians desperate to tamp down shootings and killings; residents eyeing the crime statistics and growing impatient.

“We understand you need time to get the department off the ground,” West Oakland resident Carol Wyatt said Wednesday, “but we absolutely have to see outcomes.” Wyatt served on the city’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, which successfully pressed the city council last June to set aside $18 million for the Department of Violence Prevention, split over a two-year period.

Nearly a year since that infusion of money, residents are asking for an audit to see where it’s going, Wyatt said. She noted that residents are less concerned about the department’s leadership and its internal dramas than about getting tangible results.

“Whenever you’re putting in something new, you’re never going to have it perfect the first time it’s rolled out,” City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Loren Taylor said, arguing that the department had responded well to “unrealistic” demands.

With pressure mounting, Cespedes has begun trying to craft an organization to fit within the city’s complex anti-violence ecosystem, interacting with law enforcement, the Ceasefire gang mediation program run by Oakland Police Department, nonprofits that have traditionally managed social services and the policymakers in city government.

He more than doubled the number of violence interrupters to mediate conflicts between groups and gangs. He began holding “Town Nights” events at eight sites across the city, drawing crowds to parks and playgrounds in areas afflicted by shootings. He planned to invest 25% of the department’s budget in gender-based violence — including sexual assault and exploitation, as well as domestic violence incidents — with crisis responders at local clinics and hospitals. Crain, the fired official, originally led that effort.

Cespedes strained to quantify the impact of those efforts. During the specific hours that the department’s Town Nights events took place in 2021, shootings with injuries in Oakland went down 90% compared with the same days and hours in 2020, Cespedes wrote in an e-mail to The Chronicle.

“And though these reductions may not be causal, meaning we cannot say with scientific certainty that they are the direct result of Town Nights, we know that they represent an important shift that we hope to maintain when Town Nights summer series begins in June,” he wrote.

As Cespedes has laid out his vision and agenda, he has clashed with community groups.

“The department has a huge task — to address and reduce incidents of violence in Oakland,” said Jennifer Lyle, executive director of a nonprofit that works with survivors of sexual exploitation, which opted not to apply for city funds this year. “They have to have the wherewithal and the understanding to galvanize people and move forward.”

Instead, Lyle noted, “they have galvanized people in opposition.”

Teiahsha Bankhead, executive director of the the nonprofit Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth, remembered the excitement about “trying to reel in this expert who turned around cities internationally.” She later came to view Cespedes as vindictive, believing that he pulled funding from her organization after she raised questions about his spending plan in 2020.

Cespedes, Bankhead said, didn’t understand the sensibilities of the nonprofit community “and the values of collective input.” He denied punishing anyone for questioning a decision or plan.

His most recent controversy erupted after a Public Safety and Services Oversight Commission meeting Monday, when he presented a new organizational chart for his department that eliminated Crain’s deputy chief position. Cespedes wrote in a memo to Councilmember Treva Reid that he had reconfigured the department's structure to remove redundancies and “provide adequate supervision” to other staff.

Four councilmembers — Nikki Fortunato Bas, Carroll Fife, Rebecca Kaplan and Sheng Thao —released a joint statement that criticized the firing of Crain, who had said she was terminated after asking for pay equal to that of a male colleague. The councilmembers called for an investigation, and the council’s rules committee scheduled an agenda item for the May 3 council meeting.

A day before the councilmembers raised the dispute over Crain’s treatment, Cespedes sat with the department’s direct services coordinator, Kentrell Killens, reflecting on what they said was their biggest difficulty thus far: growing the department.

The department’s expansion efforts have caused tension, nonprofit directors say, because it has poached staff members from organizations it funds, offering them more money to work for the city. Some nonprofit workers expressed frustration that the department was starting to duplicate and micro-manage their work.

“We’re doing amazing work,” Cespedes countered, acknowledging that he’s sought people with credibility in the nonprofit sphere and brought them into city government, where they get better salaries and job stability. He assured that Oakland will continue to partner with community organizations.

“It’s the hardest-working team I’ve ever led,” the chief said. “An incredible staff. And yet, when we go to bed, we always feel like there’s something else we didn’t do.”

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

California’s 50 Safest Cities of 2022

Wed, 06 Apr 2022 03:28:27 GMT

Search for Oakland among the other interesting information in this article.

Peace Officers Research Association of California Supports President Biden's Call for Increased Law Enforcement Funding in His Budget Request to Congress

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 18:21:05 GMT

For Immediate Release:

March 28, 2022

Peace Officers Research Association of California Supports President Biden's Call for Increased Law Enforcement Funding in His Budget Request to Congress

Sacramento, CA – Today, President Biden submitted his Budget Request to Congress for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, calling for an increase of $1.7 billion in spending for federal law enforcement. PORAC has been calling for bi-partisan congressional action to increase funding for law enforcement and applauds the President for making good on his commitment to do just that in his March 1, 2022 State of the Union speech. PORAC urges Congress to include these funding increases in the final budget. The request lays out the Administration’s funding priorities for the coming year, and includes key investments in federal grant programs for the law enforcement community.

The Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2023 would devote more than $37 billion in discretionary resources for the Department of Justice, an increase of $2.63 billion over the previous year’s enacted level. It also includes key resources for several public safety initiatives, including:

$6.24 billion for the Office of Justice Programs to support critical longstanding Justice Department grant programs including Byrne JAG grants, Project Safe Neighborhoods, and programs that serve victims of crime, among others.
$2.83 billion for the Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS Office) to support the hiring of police and sworn law enforcement personnel nationwide and the implementation of community-based strategies to combat violent crime.
$1 billion to support Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) programs, including those that provide critical resources to all states and territories to fund police, prosecutors, courts, and victim services, as well as resources to provide legal assistance for victims, transitional housing, and homicide and domestic violence reduction initiatives.
$30 billion in new mandatory resources to support law enforcement, crime prevention, community violence intervention, and justice system reform. The Administration will be providing additional details on this mandatory funding in the coming weeks.

The Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), the largest statewide law enforcement association in the nation, offered the following statement from President Brian Marvel on the President’s Budget Request:

“We applaud the President’s call for Congress to significantly increase the budget for these federal programs that provide key resources to state and local law enforcement agencies across the nation. These programs are essential to local agencies and help to advance the practice of community policing to build trust and mutual respect between police and communities. Modernizing law enforcement is achievable, but it requires patience, collaboration, and the funding to see these policies through.”

“PORAC has called for increased grant funding for our nation’s law enforcement community for years, and it is especially needed now, as officers seek to protect our families and communities from a dramatic increase in crime and violence. Earlier this month, the President signed into law the Fiscal Year 2022 funding package, which included key increases for many of these programs. Additionally, lawmakers are hard at work introducing other meaningful initiatives, including Rep. Josh Gottheimer’s (NJ-5) Invest in Law Enforcement Act (H.R. 6448), which has been endorsed by PORAC and would authorize critical funding increases for smaller local departments throughout the country to ensure they have adequate resources to keep their communities safe. PORAC is committed to ensuring federal budgetary measures help to address the nation’s rising crime crisis and ensure our officers can do their jobs safely and effectively.”

###

About the Peace Officers Research Association of California:

The Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) was incorporated in 1953 as a professional federation of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. PORAC represents over 75,000 public safety members and over 940 associations, making it the largest law enforcement organization in California and the largest statewide association in the nation.

Biden's 2023 Budget Adds Billions in New Spending for Crime Fighting

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 00:06:23 GMT

President Joe Biden’s 2023 federal budget, released Monday, proposes billions of dollars in new spending for law enforcement.

The budget proposal includes more than $32 billion in spending to fight crime, including more than $20.6 billion at the Justice Department and another $3.2 billion for state and local law enforcement grants and for hiring police officers, CNBC reports.

In order to pay for the new spending for law enforcement and other initiatives, Biden is proposing to increase revenue through the following measures:

Raise the corporate tax rate from its current rate of 21% to 28%.

Raise the top individual tax bracket to 39.6%.

Impose a 20% minimum tax on the top 0.01% of earners and households worth more than $100 million, the so-called the Billionaire Minimum Tax.

Repeal several tax breaks for oil and gas producers and processors.

Tax carried interest as regular income, closing the so-called carried interest loophole.

End tax deferrals on the gains from like-kind exchanges.

Arrest made in massive Oakland gun battle between gangs that killed bystander who was dropping off food for sick friend

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 00:01:37 GMT

By NATE GARTRELL | ngartrell@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: March 28, 2022 at 4:48 p.m. | UPDATED: March 28, 2022 at 4:49 p.m.

OAKLAND — Police arrested a 23-year-old man in Fresno earlier this month, in connection with a January gun battle involving more than a dozen rival gang members, which killed a bystander who was dropping off food for a friend.

Billy Deon Williams was charged with murdering 38-year-old John Avalos, of San Lorenzo, in the Jan. 21 gunfight. He is in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on a no-bail hold and has not yet entered a plea but is scheduled to do so on March 30, records show.

Police have identified Williams as a suspected gang member, and say he was one of 14 people involved in the mass shooting between two rival Oakland gangs. William himself was struck by gunfire, along with two others.

An estimate 200 rounds were fired.

Police say Avalos was dropping off food for a friend who was quarantined with COVID-19 and lived on the 10700 block of Apricot Street. Avalos had no known connection to the parties involved in the shootout. He died from a gunshot wound to the head.

Williams was identified as a suspect from surveillance that showed him pulling a suspected firearm at the beginning of the conflict, according to a sworn statement written by an Oakland police investigator. He drove up in a car that appeared to be the same as one he was driving two months later, when police in Antioch arrested him on suspicion of possessing a firearm.

On March 4, police arrested Williams in Fresno, and attempted to interview him. He refused to talk and requested a lawyer, according to court records.

The criminal complaint charges William with the lone murder count, not in connection with any of the other people who were injured. He was on probation for a burglary conviction when the homicide took place, according to prosecutors.

Man Dies After Being Shot, Hit by Car at Oakland Sideshow

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 22:23:51 GMT

KPIX reportes from the scene of a violent Saturday.

Officers leaving Oakland Police Department in record numbers

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 15:32:02 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – Cops are leaving Oakland Police Department in record numbers.

The police union blames the lack of support from the Oakland City Council as one of the primary reasons. The city council president disputes the characterization of their support for OPD.

Oakland police officers are leaving the department at an extraordinary rate.

According to an Oakland Police Officers’ Association pie chart, 86-cops parted ways with the department in 2021, 22 left law enforcement altogether, 27-retired.

The majority left OPD to work for other police agencies.

“I am just pleading for the council president and her colleagues to turn the ship around because at some point we will get to a situation where there aren’t any Oakland cops at the speed that we are losing them,” Officer Barry Donelan said.

Head of Oakland police union blames staffing crisis on City Council’s ‘anti-police rhetoric’

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 15:29:39 GMT

The head of the Oakland police union sent a scathing letter Monday to the president of the City Council citing a police staffing crisis and calling on her to “stop the anti-police rhetoric” — to which the City Council president fired back to say she and others value the Police Department’s work.

In a letter addressed to City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas, Barry Donelan, the head of the police union, said the staffing crisis is “fueled by the anti-police rhetoric continually streaming from your City Council meetings, which is driving hardworking, dedicated Oakland police officers to leave in droves at a time when Oakland residents are facing decade-high levels of violent crime.”

In his letter, Donelan said that from 2010 to 2020, the city lost an average of 60 officers per year, mostly due to retirement. In 2021, the Oakland Police Department lost 86 officers — 37 transferred to different law enforcement agencies, 22 left law enforcement and 27 retired.

The letter was sent to the entire council, Mayor Libby Schaaf and Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong.

Bas responded with her own letter to Donelan on Monday night and said she and other council members have publicly stated they value the department’s work.

“For you to suggest otherwise using divisive, inflammatory rhetoric is dangerous and simply untrue,” Bas wrote. “All of us are working hard to reduce violent crime and achieve safer streets and neighborhoods — and for those solutions to be effective, we all need to unite as a City and work together.”

Oakland has been grappling with a police staffing crisis over the past year — reflecting a nationwide trend of officers leaving police departments in droves. Schaaf has urged the council to approve funding to hire more officers to help with the rise in violent crime seen in 2021. The City Council approves the city budget and the Police Department recruits officers. In early December, Schaaf said the police staffing levels “are at a crisis right now.” The council voted in December to add more police academies to boost the department’s staffing.

Oakland police have said in previous council meetings that department personnel have left for a number of reasons, including dissatisfaction with department leadership, workload and feeling a lack of support.

In her letter to Donelan, Bas wrote that she has called for adding more “community-based neighborhood policing approaches to reduce violent crime at the neighborhood level, with a focus on the neighborhoods most impacted by gun violence, human trafficking, and violent crime.”

Bas also noted that she has advocated for more resources to address the root causes of crime, including investments in homelessness solutions, mental health help and generating jobs.

“I will not allow my full-throated advocacy of a holistic, well-rounded approach to fighting crime to be distorted by you or anyone else,” Bas wrote.

In his letter, Donelan called on the city to “support your Oakland police officers” and engage with the department to stop people from leaving. He said he invited all the council members in 2020 to “thank your police officers,” but only one only council member, Treva Reid, took him up on the offer.

“The fact you and your colleagues are unwilling even to say thank you to the men and women who strive everyday to protect the residents of Oakland speaks volumes and is at the core of what is driving this exodus of police officers out of Oakland,” Donelan wrote.

He also called on the city to move mental health calls to the Fire Department’s Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland, known as MACRO. Donelan said moving mental health calls out of the Police Department will help the department’s workload. Last year, the city hired a program manager for MACRO and is currently in the process of hiring technicians.

MACRO is not yet off the ground, but is expected to launch early this year.

Bas called on Donelan to work with the council to address public safety.

“The stakes are too high to put politics over the community’s safety,” she wrote. “I, for one, am ready, willing and able to do that.”

Last year, the department’s staffing reached below the minimum 678 officers required by Measure Z, a 2014 voter-approved parcel tax that funds public safety and violence intervention programs.

Now the department’s ranks have dropped to 673. The city budget currently has funding for 737 sworn positions, but the department struggled to fill the vacant positions.

The City Council has passed a number of measures to address the staffing issues. In December, the council approved two more police academies, bringing the total to seven academies over two years, to help boost the department’s ranks and directed city staff to hire a professional recruiter to help lure experienced police officers.

At the December meeting, Armstrong said existing officers need more support because they face bigger workloads as employees retire or transfer departments at a higher rate than expected.

The mayor and Police Department had applauded the council’s move to add two police academies. Council Member Sheng Thao, who introduced the proposal, said at the time, “As a council member and a mom, I have heard the anger and the fear.”

However, Donelan told The Chronicle on Monday that the addition of new academies hasn’t kept up with the number of officers leaving the department.

“I am absolutely supportive of the academies,” Donelan said. “Even with as many academies as they’ve pushed through, they can’t keep up with the attrition.”

Thao, who is running for mayor, also introduced a proposal to offer $50,000 cash bonuses to attract officers to the department. But that proposal has not yet been voted on.

Council Member Loren Taylor has also advocated for more police resources and had wanted to front-load the number of academies in the first year of the city budget to help with the loss in staff, but his proposal was rejected.

Donelan said the department has lost 18 officers since the start of the year, including 13 who left in February.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani

Oakland’s Police Officer Numbers Fall Below the Voter Mandated Measure Z (Public Safety) Minimums - Yet the City Council Continues to Collect the Tax for Police Service not Provided.

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 21:06:17 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

March 1, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland’s Police Officer Numbers Fall Below the Voter Mandated Measure Z (Public Safety) Minimums - Yet the City Council Continues to Collect the Tax for Police Service not Provided.

Oakland Residents Deserve Better Than the Skelton Police Services this City Council Provides.

OAKLAND – In a letter to Oakland’s City Council President Nikki Bas yesterday the President of the Oakland Police Officers again sounded the alarm about dangerously shrinking police officer numbers. Oakland Police Officers are leaving the department in droves amid a crisis of confidence in Oakland’s leaders. Oakland lost eighty-six (86) police officers last year, thirty-seven (37) left for other police departments. A further eighteen (18) have left so far this year. Oakland is losing well-trained and experienced police officers at such a pace that the city may never make up the difference in officers with prospective police academies.

“Oakland’s City Council President and her colleagues continue to vilify hardworking, dedicated Oakland Police Officers, and then they are surprised when scores of well trained and experienced Oakland Police Officers leave to work elsewhere. Oakland police officers are the best, but this council has allowed the number of police officers to fall to dangerously low levels, where our residents don’t receive the quality police response they deserve and should expect,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

The letter to Council Member Bas and her colleagues is attached. The letter included suggested steps the Council President could take to help stem attrition.

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With violent crime rising, lawmakers need to step up

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 18:43:25 GMT

by BRIAN R. MARVEL [PORAC President]

Our nation is feeling the devastating impacts of rising crime and violence. The headlines are alarming: “Murders in U.S. Cities Were Near Record Highs in 2021,” “‘It’s just crazy’: 12 major cities hit all-time homicide records,” “Fueled by gun violence, cities across the US are breaking all-time homicide records this year“. We clearly have a serious problem to address.

So, how did we get here? How do we fix this problem?

In response to the 2008 recession, public safety budgets were among the first to be cut and departments across the country have yet to recover the funding they need to recruit, hire, train and retain the right officers for the job.

In 2020, murders in the U.S. rose nearly 30% from the prior year to 21,570 – the largest single-year increase ever recorded by the FBI.

These challenges were compounded by intense anti-police backlash following the death of George Floyd in 2020. This was a tipping point and should have been a wake-up call to increase recruitment and education standards, increase funding for law enforcement training, and increase the resources available to respond to critical situations.

Yet, the response was a movement to defund the police.

This rhetoric made its way into our communities, and now our neighbors, friends, and families are feeling the devastating impacts.

Twenty-three-month-old Jasper Wu was sleeping in his car seat when he was struck by a stray bullet from suspected gang fire on the interstate in Oakland. A 7-year-old girl was killed in a McDonald’s drive-through in Chicago after being shot multiple times by someone authorities said had been let out of jail on electronic monitoring.

In Portland, departments struggle to hire cops as people are reluctant to join the once celebrated and honored profession due to the increased cacophony of voices that delegitimize policing and harm those who wear the uniform. In 2020, murders in the U.S. rose nearly 30% from the prior year to 21,570 – the largest single-year increase ever recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

While elected officials have largely stopped short of defunding local police departments, the damage has been done. The mere adoption and widespread proliferation of defund rhetoric – especially when used by elected officials – is enough to alienate peace officers from those they serve.

This rhetoric has a devastating effect on our ability to recruit, hire, train, and retain the right officers for the job. Think about it – would you want to become a peace officer in the current environment? And the result?

At the expense of thousands of innocent lives and fear swelling within our communities, our nation and its lawmakers are finally realizing that defunding is not the answer and recognizing the value of increasing resources dedicated to public safety. Community safety is a shared responsibility.

The Justice Department recently awarded $1.6 billion in grants to support programs designed to reduce violent crime. California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a public safety plan to aggressively fight and prevent crime in the state. In Minneapolis, the birthplace of the defund movement, a proposal to replace police with a new department was soundly rejected, and Mayor Jacob Frey rolled out a plan to hire more peace officers and expand partnerships with local agencies. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff reversed course on cuts to police budgets and is working to recruit more officers to bring the city’s force back up to full staffing.

Community leaders, advocates, and constituents are calling on local, state, and federal leaders to address rising crime and it’s time to listen. Politicians who continue to capitalize on anti-police rhetoric for the sake of earning political points are only harming their communities by furthering a divide that can only lead to increased negative public safety outcomes.

Regardless of how anyone may feel about police, if you want to enjoy public life safely, that means ensuring police departments have the resources, staffing, and funding they need to operate effectively – and our lawmakers have a responsibility to ensure communities are safe. Increased presence of well-trained officers on the streets is a deterrent to crime.

We didn’t get here overnight, and it’s going to take several years of reinvestment before we can start seeing improved public safety outcomes in our communities.

It is time for our elected leaders to lead, and that means helping to shift the public narrative away from one that demonizes law enforcement to one focused on mutual respect and appreciation.

It is time to provide the necessary funding and resources to ensure there are officers to respond to and prevent violent crime. It is time to increase hours spent in the classroom to prepare officers for the inherent challenges of modern-day policing.

It is time to step up and it is time to address our nation’s rising crime crisis.

—

Editor’s Note: Brian R. Marvel is president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), which represents over 77,000 public safety members in over 930 associations.

2 arrested for suspected robbery, carjackings use car to ram Oakland police SUV

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 17:11:27 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Before officers arrested two suspects in connection to carjackings and robberies Thursday night, the two used a stolen car to ram into the department’s emergency rescue SUV, according to the Oakland Police Department.

The incident damaged the front right side of the vehicle with a photo showing a wheel and tire being removed.

The crash occurred on the 2700 block of San Pablo Avenue where authorities are calling the SUV’s damage “severe.”

Oakland's Democratic mayor Libby Schaaf admits defund the police went 'too far' just months after bloody Thanksgiving crime wave forced her to reverse course on budget cuts

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 16:43:52 GMT

Oakland's Democratic mayor Libby Schaaf admits defund the police went 'too far' just months after bloody Thanksgiving crime wave forced her to reverse course on budget cuts

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said Thursday efforts to defund her city's police department went 'too far,' after it saw crime surge to levels not seen in 15 years

Democrat Schaaf told Politico her city needs to address the 'root causes' of rising crime, after she scrapped the anti-cop campaign in December

'I think it was a correction to the 'defund' conversation... I personally think went too far and got convoluted,' Schaaf, who once championed the movement, said

Cops recorded 134 murders in 2021 - nearly double the 78 seen in 2019, before the 'defund' movement began - as well as nearly 7000 violent crimes

The increase alarmed Schaaf, she said, spurring the politician to implement a proposal in December that scrapped funding cuts to Oakland police

By ALEX HAMMER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The mayor of one of California's most crime-ridden cities said Thursday that efforts to defund her city's police department went 'too far' after it saw violent crime surge to levels not seen in 15 years following the movement's introduction in the summer of 2020.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf asserted to Politico in a sit-down interview that her city urgently needs to address the 'root causes' of rising crime, mere months after the Democrat pulled an abrupt about-face on the anti-cop campaign at the end of last year after seeing murders and violent crimes surge to concerning levels.

'I think it was a correction to the "defund" conversation, which I personally think went too far and got convoluted,' Schaaf, a Democrat who previously championed the movement, told Politico.

'I think everyone agrees we need to invest far more into prevention, into the root causes of crime, and particularly into our mental health system, which is completely failing us, both when you look at crime as well as homelessness,' Schaaf said.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said her city needs to address the 'root causes' of rising crime and homeless numbers, mere months after the Democrat pulled an about-face on the anti-cop campaign at the end of last year, after seeing murders and violent crimes surge in 2021

The city, located a stone's throw from San Francisco - which is struggling with its own surge in violent crime - recorded 134 murders in 2021, nearly double the 78 that came two years before in 2019. Oakland also recorded nearly 7000 violent crimes last year, with many coming in a bloody crime wave around Thanksgiving.

Among the dead were retired police officer and father of two Kevin Nishita, as well as a 1-year-old boy hit by a stray bullet as he sat in the back of his mother's car. Both killings occurred in broad daylight.

The concerning increase alarmed Schaaf, she said, spurring the city to implement a proposal in December to add two new police academies, unfreeze positions within the department and employ 60 new officers.

The move was an abrupt reversal to a decision by the city council last June that would have slashed $18.5 million from the Oakland Police Department's budget, a move criticized by Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, who said at the time that 'crime is out of control' in the city.

The city, located a stone's throw from similarly crime-ridden San Francisco, recorded 134 murders in 2021 - nearly double the 78 that came two years before in 2019, before the movement began

'There is a clear problem in this city,' Oakland police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said late last year, addressing the wave of violent crime and rising murder rates.

Bay Area homicides were up slightly in 2021, driven by Oakland

Sat, 26 Feb 2022 16:40:04 GMT

For the second year in a row, Oakland is the Bay Area’s epicenter of a pandemic-fueled spike in homicides.

Data requested by The Chronicle from the region’s 15 most populous cities showed the largest rise in Oakland, which logged 102 killings in 2020, and 124 last year (we include killings that meet the FBI definition of criminal homicides). Other cities remained relatively stable, though several have not recovered from a burst of violence that coincided with COVID-19 and the economic shutdown. The total number of killings in the 15 cities was 295 in 2021, up from 289 in 2020.

San Jose, a city so rattled by mass shootings that its leaders recently passed an ambitious law requiring insurance for gun owners, is now seeing a downward trend — from 44 homicides in 2020, to 31 in 2021. At the same time, small outer-ring cities such as Richmond and Vallejo are struggling to contain relatively high murder rates per capita.

San Francisco witnessed a moderate increase, from 48 homicides in 2020 to 56 in 2021, as residents loudly sparred over crime and policing, and the progressive district attorney stared down a recall election. Still, the city of nearly 900,000 people had a relatively low homicide rate of 6.4 deaths for every 100,000 people. This was slightly less than the combined homicide rate of 7.4 per 100,000 for the the 15 cities combined, and commensurate with Hayward and Fairfield.

But no other city has seen gun violence comparable to Oakland, where five years of progress swiftly unraveled starting in the summer of 2020.

“From May 30 to June 6, 2020, we saw just in that week seven murders,” Oakland Police Lt. Frederick Shavies told The Chronicle, recalling the moment that he and other law enforcement sensed a crisis afoot.

“And then we just continued to see it climb. Thirteen in June. Eleven in July. Sixteen in August. Fifteen in September. Thirteen in October.”

Shavies, who commands the homicide section of the Police Department, had no definitive theories to explain the homicide crisis, though he provided a few observations. Guns are proliferating in Oakland: Police said they seized 1,199 firearms last year, down slightly from 1,272 in 2020 but still up 37% from 875 in 2019. The lieutenant was also troubled to find that people accused of gun crimes appear to be cycling in and out of jail. In 2020, he said, officers arrested six people who had already been apprehended for a gun crime, and released from custody, within the previous week.

Others saw Oakland’s scourge of violence through a different prism. Anne Marks, executive director of the violence prevention nonprofit Youth Alive, pointed out that in prior years, Oakland had outpaced other cities in interventions to decrease violence. Once the pandemic took hold, those programs had to temporarily stop, or dramatically adapt — say, by meeting the city’s highest-risk populations over the phone instead of face-to-face.

“It’s so hard to build a relationship with a mask on, with someone who is paranoid, and traumatized, and can only see part of your face,” Marks said. She described how COVID-19 impeded key violence-prevention work, including hospital visits with gunshot victims or even the ability to take someone to lunch or drive them to a court hearing.

She saw the abrupt shift in Oakland’s trajectory as proof of how successful its violence prevention efforts had been, and how much the city suffered once they were handicapped. Marks hopes the city will turn around in the coming months, bolstered by an infusion of funds to social services and violence interrupters this summer — a plan the City Council approved last year.

Still, people who work in the field remain on edge, watching a ruthless cycle of retaliations.

“At one point I was getting at least three referrals a day,” said Andrea Piazza, an intervention specialist for Youth Alive’s Caught in the Crossfire Program, which works with victims of gunshots or assaults as they recover from injuries and try to get back to work or school. Most of Piazza’s referrals come directly from Highland Hospital, and the people she helps face daunting challenges — from psychological wounds, to severe disabilities that impede them from working.

When shootings reached a critical point, Piazza said she carried up to 19 clients at a time — and those were the ones who willingly accepted services.

Father Jayson Landeza, a chaplain for the Oakland police and fire departments who lives in a rectory at 82nd and Bancroft avenues, said he’s afraid to go outside after dark to take out his garbage.

“There’s this general sense of malaise or despair in the city,” Landeza said on the phone, as he headed to Lake Merritt on a recent Tuesday afternoon. A double shooting had occurred that morning outside the Kume spa on Grand Avenue, leaving one employee dead and another in critical condition. It was the same block where, two months earlier, a gunman shot and killed 27-year-old Eric Davis as he tried to disrupt a car burglary.

“There’s almost a feeling of hopelessness,” Landeza said, with a heavy sigh. “Like, how are we going to get out of this?”

Some criminologists view Oakland as a reflection of larger societal factors. Historically, intense violence is an aberration, not a norm, and it tends to occur when major social disturbances hit already-precarious social networks, UC Berkeley law Professor Jonathan Simon pointed out.

One tragic aftereffect of COVID is the death of elders, who serve as “influencers” in a community and often hold families or neighborhoods together, Simon said. People also had to grapple with closures of schools, recreation centers, and youth sports programs, a dramatic loss of service sector jobs and sudden demands to provide child care for kids who were stuck at home — all of which piles stress on families and may aggravate existing disputes.

The grief and rage associated with the pandemic becomes volcanic in places like Oakland. In some of the city’s neighborhoods, “a history of segregation and extreme economic marginalization have compounded to produce communities that are very vulnerable to violence,” Simon said.

Moreover, homicides are self-reinforcing. Each killing means another vendetta to play out. It also means additional strain on an already overtaxed police force. Last year in Oakland, investigators had 12 cases stacked on their desks on any given day, Shavies said — roughly three times the workload recommended by law enforcement reformers. As a result, it’s become more difficult for police to solve cases, take the most prolific perpetrators off the streets and prevent future retaliation.

“It almost becomes untenable,” Shavies said, attributing the heavy caseloads both to the homicide surge and to attrition from the department.

But the social conditions that contribute to rising violence in Oakland don’t stop at the city’s borders, and some experts argue that it’s not prudent to treat Bay Area cities as discrete territories. Several people arrested for killings in Oakland last year came in from out of town, Shavies said.

Even so, Landeza can sense pain and fear welling up in Oakland — feelings so widespread and powerful, they seem to have made the city more combustible than its neighbors.

“Just listening to the kinds of calls for service on the police radio,” Landeza said. “A lot of stuff going on in homes. Going on in neighborhoods. Road rage. You name it. Every bit of that seems to be part of the dynamic.”

Susie Neilson and Rachel Swan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: susie.neilson@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susieneilson, @rachelswan

Oakland mayor: Defund the police push went ‘too far’

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 03:41:50 GMT

But she noted that investments in housing, public health and behavioral health would drive down crime rates.

By MACKENZIE WILKES

02/24/2022 12:38 PM EST

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on Thursday called for more investment in addressing what she said are the root causes of violent crime that has spiked in big cities across the nation.

But Schaaf stopped short of echoing calls from activists to defund the police, arguing that the push “went too far and got convoluted.”

“It’s been particularly heart wrenching in Oakland because we had just made national headlines for cutting gun violence in half and sustaining those lower rates for five years,” Schaaf said in an interview with POLITICO for The Fifty: America’s Mayors summit. Schaaf added that “when we saw this surge come up during the pandemic, and let’s also be honest, after George Floyd, after this country just saw its faith in government justice compromised, we were just heartbroken.”

2021 was one of the deadliest years in Oakland in the past decade. Nationwide, the murder rate rose by 30 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, the biggest increase in the last century. Schaaf said Thursday that investments in housing, public health and behavioral health would drive down crime rates. And while she distanced herself from calls to defund the police, a movement to divest police funding into other crime prevention services that gained national momentum after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, she said conversations about reforming the criminal justice system are important.

“I think it was a correction to the defund conversation, which I personally think went too far and got convoluted,” Schaaf said. “I think everyone agrees we need to invest far more into prevention, into the root causes of crime and particularly into our mental health system which is completely failing us, both when you look at crime as well as homelessness.”

Schaaf said the shift in rhetoric and response around crime, such as the increase in the Los Angeles Police Department budget and San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s crackdown on the “reign of criminals,” is a response to the defund the police movement. But the Oakland mayor said her city has deep activist roots — the Black Panther Party was founded there — and that racial justice in Oakland goes beyond criminal justice but into other areas such as housing and income inequality.

“When we listen to the communities that have been most impacted and when you look at gun violence, the communities that are paying the highest price are the communities that are paying the highest price in all areas, whether it’s income inequality, food insecurity, housing insecurity, and so we are hearing loud and clear that justice is something that they want,” Schaaf said.

Oakland Businesses Outraged Over Stripped Vehicles Abandoned on Their Street

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 15:31:12 GMT

OAKLAND (KPIX) — Business owners in an Oakland neighborhood are fed up with the number of stripped cars being abandoned in their area, blocking access and sometimes being left right in the middle of the street.

Businesses complained to city offic ials that an illegal homeless encampment was being used as a chop shop. Thieves were reportedly abandoning the stripped-out cars in the middle of Alameda Avenue near High Street, blocking traffic.

Oakland: Two men shot to death within a four-hour span

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 15:29:10 GMT

Two men were shot to death in East Oakland within a four-hour period Thursday night and Friday morning, authorities said.

Neither man’s name has been released.

At about 12:26 a.m. Friday, police responding to a shot spotter alert in the 3400 block of 35th Avenue found a 26-year-old Oakland man dead from gunshot wounds. A motive for the shooting is under investigation and no arrests have been made.

At about 9:28 p.m. Thursday, a 29-year-old Richmond man was found shot in the 1400 block of 17th Avenue. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died. Police have not released a motive yet in the shooting and have not announced any arrests.

$97,000 for a RAV4!? Sky-high used car prices squeeze Bay Area buyers out of the market

The two killings bring to 14 the number of homicides investigated this year by Oakland police. The CHP has investigated two shooting deaths on highways in the city. Police had investigated 18 homicides at this time last year.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $10,000 in reward money in each shooting for information leading to an arrests of suspects. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

Most Voters Support Removing Soft-on-Crime Prosecutors

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 15:27:25 GMT

With violent crime surging out of control nationwide, a majority of voters support proposed new laws that would replace local district attorneys who fail to prosecute criminals.

A new national telephone and online survey by the National Police Association and Rasmussen Reports finds that 58% of Likely U.S. voters believe a law permitting an appointed state oversight committee with the ability to remove state attorneys from office if they won’t prosecute violent crimes would improve safety. Just 21% disagree, while another 20% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Fifty-four percent (54%) of voters believe safety would be improved by a law permitting state attorney generals to appoint a special prosecutor if the local district attorney refuses to carry out their responsibilities. Twenty-four percent (24%) disagree and another 22% are not sure.

What the Killing of Two N.Y.P.D. Officers Means for New York

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 15:25:09 GMT

For the second time in a decade, a new mayor of New York City is being tested by the killing of two police officers. In 2014, less than a year into Bill de Blasio’s first term, a Baltimore man who brought a gun to town shot two cops dead, in Brooklyn. The man had posted on social media about avenging the police killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. De Blasio had come into office vowing to put an end to racist policing practices at the N.Y.P.D. Many cops held him responsible for their colleagues’ deaths. At a funeral for one of them, officers in uniform turned their backs on the mayor. “There’s blood on many hands,” Patrick Lynch, the head of the city’s largest officers’ union, said. “That blood on the hands starts on the steps of City Hall, in the office of the mayor.”

Oakland Police Arrest Homicide Suspect Who Fatally Shot Male Victim, Fired at Firefighters

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 03:07:29 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Police in Oakland on Friday confirmed the arrest of a person who fatally shot a victim and also fired at Oakland firefighters Thursday evening, according to authorities.

The shooting happened Thursday evening on the 1400 block of Center Street. Officers responded at 8:41 p.m. to a residence following a report of a person shot.

Oakland’s Stark Year End Crime Figures Mean Nothing To Oakland’s Defund-the-Police Council President.

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 15:23:00 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

January 11, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland’s Stark Year End Crime Figures Mean Nothing To Oakland’s Defund-the-Police Council President.

OAKLAND – Today, Oakland’s City Council’s Public Safety Committee will meet amid a public safety crisis. The 2021 year-end crime data illustrates the bloodshed and violence. There were 733 people shot, including 134 homicides – a 15 year high – a 21% increase over 2020 and 52% higher than Oakland’s five-year average. At the same time, the number of Oakland Police Officers fell to 687, compared to 723 a year ago. In 2021, the City Council President’s budget defunded the police budget by 55 police officer positions, precipitating and accelerating this crisis.

“After record bloodshed in 2021, you would think that the Council President would change course, but the agenda at today’s first City Council Public Safety Committee of 2022 demonstrates defund-the-police remains in full effect, as the Council President seeks a report on ongoing efforts to defund-the-police. As leaders in cities across America abandon failed defund-the-police policies that have only caused violence and sorrow, Oakland and its leaders double down on the defund-the-police failure,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Oakland residents can tune into today’s online meeting and the inevitable vilification of Oakland’s hard-working police officers. Ironically, the meeting is the same week as National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. The Oakland City Council Public Safety meeting can be watched online today at 1:30 PM using the link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82108385002

###

Conflict Quickly Emerges Between Top Prosecutor and Police Commissioner

Sun, 09 Jan 2022 22:15:48 GMT

A memo by New York City’s new police leader sharply questioned Manhattan’s new district attorney over his strategy for prosecuting crime.

By Jonah E. Bromwich and William K. Rashbaum

Jan. 8, 2022

New York City’s new police commissioner has expressed severe dissatisfaction with the policies of the new Manhattan district attorney, sending an email to all officers late on Friday that suggests a potential rupture between City Hall and the prosecutor over their approaches to public safety.

The email from Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said she was deeply troubled by policies outlined by Alvin Bragg, the district attorney, in a 10-page memo that Mr. Bragg sent to his staff on Monday. The memo instructed prosecutors to avoid seeking jail or prison time for all but the most serious crimes, and to cease charging a number of lower-level crimes.

Commissioner Sewell, who, like Mr. Bragg, was just a week into her job, said in her email to about 36,000 members of the department that she had studied the policies and come away “very concerned about the implications to your safety as police officers, the safety of the public and justice for the victims.”

The email, which was first reported by WNBC-TV, suggests a looming conflict not just between them, but also between the new district attorney and the commissioner’s boss, Mayor Eric Adams.

The collision course between the mayor and the district attorney was sketched out during the Democratic primary in the spring of 2021. Mr. Adams made a crackdown on crime one of the main themes of his campaign; Mr. Bragg, following in the path carved by a handful of prosecutors in cities around the country, pledged to help reshape the legal system, to avoid disproportionate punishment for first-time offenders or those struggling with mental health issues or poverty.

In a statement on Saturday, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office said: “We share Commissioner Sewell’s call for frank and productive discussions to reach common ground on our shared mission to deliver safety and justice for all and look forward to the opportunity to clear up some misunderstandings.”

“For our office, safety is paramount,” the statement said. It added that contrary to the way that Commissioner Sewell and others had interpreted parts of the memo, the office intended to charge anyone who used guns to rob stores or who assaulted police officers with felonies. “All must be held accountable for their actions,” it said.

To some degree, the emerging tensions between the commissioner and Mr. Bragg reflect a broader political argument between centrist Democrats across the nation looking to soothe voters worried about crime and a movement of progressive prosecutors that has pushed for more lenient policies to make the justice system more fair and less biased.

Some of those tensions are likely to play out in Albany this year in a debate over whether to scale back changes in a state bail law that went into effect two years ago, and that provoked strong reactions almost immediately.

There is always an ingrained tension between the police and prosecutors that often centers on what charges to bring and, at times, whether there is sufficient evidence to make an arrest. For the police, in some measure, the job ends with handcuffs, while prosecutors are left with proving a case beyond a reasonable doubt or finding some other resolution. But such arguments do not often became public at all, let alone so early in a new administration.

Mr. Adams has been complimentary about Mr. Bragg when asked about him in recent interviews, calling him a “great prosecutor” and declining to criticize the memo. Asked about the commissioner’s email, the mayor’s office responded with a statement from Stefan Ringel, a senior adviser: “The mayor has deep respect for the district attorney and looks forward to working with him and the police commissioner to make sure the streets are safe, and to discussing any concerns directly.”

A police spokesman said the email “speaks for itself.”

Mr. Bragg and Mr. Adams, both Democrats, have significant histories in law enforcement, and both have pledged some measure of reform. Mr. Bragg, a former federal prosecutor, stood out in a competitive primary vowing to balance safety with justice. Mr. Adams, a former police captain, has spoken out against police brutality and, while serving, pushed for changes within the department.

Mr. Bragg is the first Black person to lead the district attorney’s office, Mr. Adams is the second Black mayor in the city’s history, and Commissioner Sewell is the first woman and third Black person to lead the Police Department.

In his memo, Mr. Bragg instructed his prosecutors that unless they were required by law to do otherwise, they should ask judges for jail or prison time only for those who had committed serious offenses, including murder, sexual assault and major economic crimes. Others, he has said, would be directed to programs better equipped to deal with the issues that had led them to commit the crimes.

The new district attorney also instructed his prosecutors not to charge a number of misdemeanors. Many of the crimes on his list already were not being prosecuted by his predecessor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. But Mr. Bragg directed his staff to avoid charging several misdemeanors which previously had been charged, including resisting arrest.

“These policy changes not only will, in and of themselves, make us safer; they also will free up prosecutorial resources to focus on violent crime,” Mr. Bragg said in his memo.

The directive on resisting arrest was among those that Commissioner Sewell expressed most concern about. She said that it would send a message to police officers and others that there was “an unwillingness to protect those who are carrying out their duties.”

“I strongly believe that this policy injects debate into decisions that would otherwise be uncontroversial, will invite violence against police officers and will have deleterious effects on our relationship with the communities we protect,” she wrote.

Police Commissioner: Keechant Sewell. The Nassau County chief of detectives will become New York City’s first female police commissioner, taking over the nation’s largest police force amid a crisis of trust in American policing and a troubling rise in violence.

Commissioner of Correction Department: Louis Molina. The former N.Y.P.D. officer who currently oversees a public safety department in Las Vegas will be tasked with leading the city’s embattled Correction Department and restoring order at the troubled Rikers Island jail complex.

Chief Counsel: Brendan McGuire. After a stint as a partner in a law firm’s white-collar practice, the former federal prosecutor will return to the public sector to advise the mayor on legal matters involving City Hall, the executive staff and administrative matters.

Transportation Commissioner: Ydanis Rodriguez. The Manhattan council member is a trusted ally of Mr. Adams’s. Mr. Rodriguez will face major challenges in his new role: In 2021 traffic deaths in the city soared to their highest level since 2013, partly due to speeding and reckless driving.

Health Commissioner: Dr. Ashwin Vasan. Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, the current commissioner, will stay in the role after Mr. Adams takes office to provide continuity to the city’s pandemic response. In mid-March, Dr. Vasan, the president of a mental health and public health charity, will take over.

Deputies. Lorraine Grillo will be the top deputy mayor, Meera Joshi will be deputy mayor for operations, Maria Torres-Springer deputy mayor for economic development, Anne Williams-Isom deputy mayor for health and human services and Sheena Wright deputy mayor for strategic operations.

Mr. Bragg has also instructed his prosecutors not to seek jail time for gun possession without an accompanying charge. The commissioner strongly objected to that policy, saying that it “affords people the opportunity to continually possess guns without consequence,” and calling it the issue that most directly affected officers’ safety.

Commissioner Sewell’s email, sent at about 8:30 p.m. on the Friday of Mr. Adams’s first week in office, capped a whirlwind day for the city’s top criminal justice officials. Earlier in the day, the new mayor announced a deputy mayor for public safety, Philip Banks III, only after Mr. Banks made the appointment public in an opinion piece in The Daily News.

Mr. Banks had faced significant scrutiny given his history as a subject of a federal corruption investigation that resulted in prosecutors naming him as an unindicted co-conspirator. Also on Friday, Mr. Adams’s brother, Bernard Adams, was named as a deputy police commissioner. Bernard Adams retired as a sergeant for the New York Police Department in 2006, and he has more recently worked as an operations manager and parking administrator at Virginia Commonwealth University, according to his LinkedIn profile.

It is unclear what Mayor Adams’s role in the commissioner’s memo might have been. Commissioner Sewell, an outsider to the N.Y.P.D. who had been the chief of detectives in the Nassau County Police Department, a far smaller agency, was his choice for police commissioner after a nationwide search, and she reports to him and to Mr. Banks. As mayor, Mr. Adams has the ability to dictate police policy and he has, throughout the campaign, maintained that he has every intention of using that power.

Commissioner Sewell’s email dissected Mr. Bragg’s policies at length and took issue with a number of them.

She expressed concern about his instruction that robberies of businesses be treated as misdemeanors if the offender does not create a genuine risk of physical harm, and with the downgrading of certain drug charges. She asked for clarification on several policies and said his policy of not prosecuting fare evasion — which Mr. Vance announced he would stop charging in most instances more than four years ago — was a potential issue.

Mr. Bragg’s memo included an important caveat: He said that all such requests must adhere to the law. That will significantly dilute some of the most far-reaching effects of his new policies. New York law requires those who have been convicted of a felony in the past to be imprisoned if found guilty of a second such crime, and many of the worst offenses carry mandatory minimum sentences that Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors will be compelled to heed.

Prosecutors around the country with policies similar to Mr. Bragg’s have faced vocal opposition, particularly from police unions, and in the days after the rollout of the new district attorney’s memo, several such unions objected strongly to his program.

On Saturday morning, Pat Lynch, the president of the Police Benevolent Association, said in a statement that the union supported the commissioner’s positions. And the often combative union leader added that he was looking forward to working with her and Mr. Bragg.

But the letter from Commissioner Sewell suggested that Mr. Bragg would face significant headwinds as he tried to carry out the vision that he campaigned on. However, several of his peers in cities around the country — including Larry Krasner in Philadelphia and Kim Foxx in Chicago — cruised to re-election after facing similar opposition.

In an interview on CNN on Friday morning, Mr. Bragg defended his policies. “This is what I was elected to do,” he said.

The commissioner and Mr. Bragg were in contact this week, and Mr. Bragg hopes to meet soon, his spokesman said. Commissioner Sewell said in her email that she hoped “to try and reach more common ground.”

Jonah E. Bromwich is a courts reporter for the Metro desk. @jonesieman

William K. Rashbaum is a senior writer on the Metro desk, where he covers political and municipal corruption, courts, terrorism and law enforcement. He was a part of the team awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. @WRashbaum • Facebook

'Jeopardy!' champ Amy Schneider reveals she was robbed in Oakland

Fri, 07 Jan 2022 21:51:35 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Reigning "Jeopardy!" champion Amy Schneider was robbed at gunpoint over New Year's weekend in Oakland, California.

Schneider, an Oakland resident, tweeted about the robbery to her 52,000 followers, saying she was shaken up but otherwise OK.

Man slain on New Year’s Day in Oakland’s first homicide of 2022

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 18:31:05 GMT

A 28-year-old man w as fatally shot Saturday night in Oakland, police said, marking the city’s first homicide of 2022.

The victim was standing outside a neighborhood market in the 1400 block of 34th Street at about 9 p.m. on New Year’s Day when he was shot, said Officer Kim Armstead, a spokesperson for the Oakland Police Department.

OAKLAND ENDS A DEADLY 2021

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 18:29:21 GMT

With gun violence on the rise, Oakland ends the year with 134 homicides

Shootings, assaults and carjackings also rose significantly in 2021

By JAKOB RODGERS | jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: January 2, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. | UPDATED: January 3, 2022 at 7:03 a.m.

OAKLAND — Chantal Azanga-Lennon still texts her son’s phone, though it remains stowed away in a dark police locker as evidence in his January 2021 slaying. She has yet to unpack his black Saturn Ion, which was shipped back to her home in Georgia and remains parked in the carport, stuffed with his clothes, shoes and unopened mail.

“When I want to do it, my heart just races and I just can’t stop the tears,” Azanga-Lennon said. “I felt like that would make it real.”

It’s been more than a decade since the ripples of violence on Oakland’s streets extended as far and touched as many households as they did in 2021, with a surge in homicides and shootings spreading across the city. Even as other crime rates have ebbed or dropped across Oakland and throughout the Bay Area, the rising tide of gun violence in this city has left a growing swell of grief, and further stoked a debate over how best to keep the streets safe.

Overall, 134 people died in killings investigated by Oakland police in 2021 the highest annual total since 2006, when 148 people died by homicide here. Another five people were shot dead last year on freeways within the city limits, and their deaths remain under investigation by the California Highway Patrol.

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The most recent freeway slaying involved a 29-year-old mother of two, who was shot dead Nov. 18, when a bullet flew into the SUV she was traveling in as it neared the Bay Bridge.

Residents watch as Oakland police investigate the scene of a fatal shooting on 28th Avenue near East 17th Street in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, April 18, 2021. It was the 46th homicide in Oakland this year, and the second fatal shooting on Sunday. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

That woman, Amani Morris, was on her way to pick up materials for her new gig at a local call center. Her small children sat just feet from their mother when the fatal bullet hit.

A California Highway Patrol officer opens up the roadway after investigate a fatal shooting on Interstate 80 westbound just before the Bay Bridge toll plaza in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, November 18, 2021. One person was pronounced dead on scene. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

The death left Morris’ mother, Alicia Benton, reeling. A couple of weeks after the shooting, those boys – ages 3 and 5 – still couldn’t grasp what happened, she said.

“We took them to counseling, but they can’t process it, you know?” Benton said. “It’s frustrating, it’s senseless, all of this stuff going on.”

Of the 134 homicides investigated by Oakland police, the victims were generally young and male — two-thirds of those killed last year were in their 30s or younger, including 15 children and teens. At least 79 of the people killed were Black, and about another 35 were Hispanic, according to Oakland police.

Among them was Azanga-Lennon’s son, Willie Lennon III, 30, who had been living in Oakland and was fatally shot Jan. 18 near MacArthur Boulevard and 103rd Avenue in deep East Oakland.

Nearly a year later, Lennon’s mother still routinely marches to a grassy gravesite and looks down at a headstone bearing her son’s name, along with the words “our beautiful.”

“I go there for my own sanity,” said Azanga-Lennon, who lives outside Atlanta, where her son is now buried. “And I just want to talk to him. And I say, ‘Well this time, I can talk to you and I know you aren’t going anywhere. You’re going to have to sit here and listen to me.’”

Among the homicides for which motives are known or suspected, disputes and arguments ranked as the most common factor, Oakland police said, playing a role in more than two dozen of this year’s homicides. Robbery was the known motive in at least 18. Motives have not been confirmed in 73 of the cases, police said.

The rise in murders — and related spikes in shootings and other firearm-related crimes — has caught police by surprise, and underscores a rise in gun violence that shows no signs of relenting. More than four out of every five homicides investigated by Oakland police involved gunfire, helping fuel a homicide count that rose 23% from last year and 64% compared to averages from 2015 through 2019, the five years immediately preceding the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, assaults with a firearm jumped about 95% compared to those pre-pandemic averages, while shootings at homes and vehicles rose at least 102%. And carjackings, which often involve the use of firearms, are up about 150% from pre-pandemic averages. Aggravated assaults rose about 35%, compared to pre-pandemic averages.

By comparison, the number of assaults that did not involve firearms increased at a much lower rate, rising a little more than 10% from before the pandemic.

It comes as cities across the nation have seen shootings and homicides climb steeply since the start of the pandemic, said Christopher Herrmann, assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. Researchers are still trying to understand the root causes of that violence, as well as why Oakland’s figures appear so stark compared to other cities, particularly in California and the Bay Area.

While other cities in the Bay Area have seen rises in violent crime, the trends have been less stark than in Oakland. In San Francisco, there were 55 homicides in 2021, up 9% from a pre-pandemic average of about 50. However, aggravated assaults last year were down 8% from the pre-pandemic average. In San Jose, 40 people were killed in homicides in 2021, a number that includes the nine people killed in the May 26 mass shooting at the VTA yard, but is in line with the pre-pandemic average of about 34 homicides. However, aggravated assaults in San Jose rose by 11% year-over-year in 2021 and were up 30% from the 2015-2019 average.

In Oakland, police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said the pandemic impacted violence prevention programs, such as Ceasefire. The need to social distance, for example, left the program understaffed and unable to conduct the type of face-to-face work shown to prevent shootings.

He also cited the rise in so-called “ghost guns” – firearms that people can purchase online and assemble at their homes with little expertise. They do not have serial numbers, and purchasers can circumvent typical retail screening processes by ordering each component separately.

“I’ve just seen a huge influx in firearms like I haven’t seen before,” Armstrong said. “That influx of ghost guns has been something that we were not prepared for.”

But larger, more systemic forces also appear to be at play, community activists and criminal justice experts said.

“There’s so many dimensions to the way the pandemic may be behind what we’re seeing” in Oakland, said Jonathan Simon, a UC Berkeley professor of criminal justice. “One is just the level of stress it’s putting on really everybody. And we’re seeing people respond to that stress with what you could say is risky behavior.”

Overall crime remained essentially flat compared to figures from 2015 through 2019. But while robberies last year dropped about 5% compared to pre-pandemic averages — and burglaries dropped more than 15% — there were 1,094 robberies involving firearms, as of Dec. 26. That’s the highest number seen since 2016, and up 41% from 2020, Oakland police data shows.

One such robbery left Trevor Lawrence, who has lived in Oakland for 35 years, so rattled that he later bought a gun himself, driven by the terror of seeing four masked men pull guns on him and take his wallet, watch, phone and a necklace before fleeing.

“I thought I was in a bad dream,” Lawrence said. “Four guns? That was a little too much.”

He acknowledges the irony of buying a gun himself while lamenting the overall rise of gun violence across his city. But right now, he said, he sees no alternative.

“When you’ve been through that level of trauma, I feel that’s the only sense of security I have.”

Staff reporters Harry Harris, Rick Hurd and Robert Salonga contributed to this report.

In Oakland’s San Antonio neighborhood, a spike in killings leaves community reeling, searching for answers

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 18:21:02 GMT

In just a 13-week period, eight people were murdered in the four-by-eight block area, illustrating complicated challenge Oakland faces in reversing its worst spike of homicides in 15 years.

By JAKOB RODGERS | jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

OAKLAND — The case seemed open-and-shut: Yet another motorist killed in a late-night crash, this time as a tow truck slammed into a brick storefront along East 12th Street on a balmy June night.

It wasn’t until investigators pulled Tim Nielsen from the wreckage and drove him to the county coroner’s office that they discovered the fatal bullet lodged in his torso.

His death marked the opening salvo of a bloody three-month stretch in a single Oakland neighborhood, an area encompassing just a tenth of a square mile between Lake Merritt and Fruitvale. Over nearly 13 weeks, eight people were killed there — a rash of deaths that stands out even for a city gripped by violence.

The events around San Antonio Park tested the mettle of a community where children routinely pass prostitutes on their walks home from school, priests at the local Catholic parish complain of muggings and the echoes of gunfire are routine.

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While other parts of Oakland have experienced a greater share of killings over the course of the year — 134 citywide as of Dec. 27 — the spate of slayings in San Antonio demonstrates the complicated challenge Oakland faces in reversing its worst spike of homicides in 15 years.

“It’s not unique to this area — it’s hood to hood,” said Andrew Park, executive director of the community nonprofit Trybe, which focuses on violence prevention efforts in the neighborhood. “It’s just, what this area is known for is you can make a lot of money on the three elements: drugs, gambling and sex.”

The killings began with Nielsen’s death in mid-June when two men allegedly tried robbing the 43-year old as he was working as a repossession agent near 20th Avenue and E. 12th Street. The encounter sent Nielsen speeding away in his tow truck. While it is not clear if he was shot during the attempted robbery or as he tried to escape, Nielsen only made it a couple of blocks before plowing into the side of a wholesale dried goods business.

His death left Nielsen’s partner, Jennifer Huff-Wensmann, in a state of shock. The two had been together for about a year, and she expected him to propose any day.

“We had already assumed we were going to spend the rest of our lives together,” Huff-Wensmann said. “And he kept his promise — he spent the rest of his life with me.”

In July, the violence intensified.

Within a 17-hour span on July 6, two men were gunned down about a half-mile from each other — one at a sprawling homeless encampment of dilapidated recreational vehicles and plywood huts along East 12th Street, and another while driving along East 19th Street.

The latter victim, Francisco Rosas-Rosales, 43, had just secured a job a week earlier driving trucks across the state — a pay bump that was meant to help him someday buy his family a house, said his sister, Maria Huerta.

“I wish there was a solution to all this,” Huerta said of the violence. “But I don’t see one to it unless people change and have a heart.”

By September, four more people were killed — two in unrelated shootings at almost the same spot along Foothill Boulevard near a local market and two more at opposite ends of San Antonio Park.

Crime is nothing new to the San Antonio neighborhood, often known by residents as Funktown.

But in recent years, illegal casinos operating out of back-alley doorways and dilapidated storefronts have grown more prevalent, as has the narcotics trade along Foothill Boulevard between 16th and 19th avenues, said Oakland Police Capt. James Beere, whose command includes the San Antonio neighborhood. Gang activity is helping fuel both underground industries. And prostitution — long a problem along International Boulevard — has spread closer to San Antonio Park and the rows of nearby houses.

“It’s like the nucleus of many problems, but situated in a very small, small area,” Beere said.

Beere said the department is committed to staffing the police beat surrounding San Antonio Park amid an officer shortage that has seen other police beats in the city go without regular patrols. And specialized units, including officers focused on human trafficking crimes, are focusing on the neighborhood.

In Nielsen’s murder, witnesses identified two 20-year-old men connected to the case, and they were arrested in late September, court records show. But for Huff-Wensmann, the arrests have only raised more questions about the broader social issues driving violence in Oakland.

“Being 20 years old, to take a life, they’re just kids. They haven’t even barely scratched the surface of life,” Huff-Wensmann said. “What did they grow up in, to lead them to the decision they made that night?”

Dagoberto Vasquez, whose son, Gener Vasquez-Orozco, was killed near the park in early August, is frustrated by the lack of arrests in the killings — so far, suspects have been arrested and charged in just two of the San Antonio murders — and said he plans to hire a private investigator in six months if there’s no movement in his son’s case.

“I’m kind of upset because they knew the crime is going, going, going, and nobody’s doing nothing about it,” said Vasquez. “Maybe it’s time to start doing something.”

The violent crime spike belies a community that, by day, can be vibrant and bustling with activity. Children routinely walk home from nearby Roosevelt Middle School in groups of two and three, sometimes accompanied by their parents. At the park, people play soccer on a refurbished field emblazoned with the words “Oaktown Proud.” Small children play around a local Head Start program, and Trybe’s youth mentors often settle in on sunny afternoons at a nearby pavilion, tutoring older students after school.

The park’s basketball courts stay lit and busy past sunset. And while the tennis courts are in disrepair, a local boxing club has turned one into a training area for people to work out outside.

By night, though, many residents stay indoors. Break-ins are common, including at the local Catholic parish, where $40,000 of equipment was stolen on Black Friday. So too are gunshots and armed robberies — one of which recently targeted a priest at that same parish.

In a city where the cost of living — and housing in particular — has skyrocketed, community leaders say the neighborhood’s relative affordability helps explain why many residents have stayed put, despite the rising violence.

“The families either do not have enough money to move out of the neighborhood to a different community, or they’re invested in the community because they’re hoping for a change someday,” said L.J. Jennings, pastor of Kingdom Builders Christian Fellowship, a church in the heart of the neighborhood.

Joseph Truehill, who works with Trybe on its violence prevention efforts in San Antonio, personally knows four people killed this year in Oakland and several others who were wounded by gunfire.

With gun violence on rise, Oakland ends the year with 134 homicides

On a recent Friday, Truehill helped organize an outdoor movie and game night on the San Antonio Park tennis courts. Scores of people gathered for free tacos, an outdoor movie and a chance to meet Santa at a place that, come dusk, people typically avoid.

As the sun set, sirens could be heard from a block away. Truehill motioned to the sound and wondered aloud if another person had been shot.

Then he made a plea: Don’t pay attention to those sirens.

“Turn around and look at this, and look at all the people coming together,” Truehill said. “We got all the people doing positive things. We’ve got people who have been to jail and turned their lives around out here volunteering.

“You got to hold onto the positive because the negative is always going to be around.”

Oakland police mark 186th Police Academy graduation

Thu, 23 Dec 2021 16:21:44 GMT

Chief Armstrong: ‘I really do appreciate their sacrifice’; Mayor Schaaf: ‘I thank them for their dedication to public service’

By GEORGE KELLY | gkelly@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

OAKLAND — The 186th Basic Recruit Academy graduated 25 officers in a ceremony Wednesday at the Scottish Rite Center.

Trainers, professional staff, instructors and recruiters joined other officers and family members to acknowledge the police department’s newest members, alongside Chief LeRonne Armstrong, who opened ceremonies with a formal inspection before later pinning badges.

“As someone born and raised in Oakland, I truly understand how important it is for the Oakland Police Department to strengthen our relationship with the community we serve,” Armstrong said. “When police departments under-invest in communities for many years, you must over-invest in the community in order to build trust.”

Chief LeRonne Armstrong presents Oakland Police Department’s 186th Basic Recruit Academy graduate Brandon Moss with his badge during a ceremony at the Scottish Rite Center in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021. Twenty-Five new Oakland Police Officers were sworn-in at the ceremony. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

In later remarks, before disclosing the arrest of two suspects sought in connection with last month’s fatal shooting of a security guard and former police officer, Armstrong expanded on the officers’ expected impacts within and beyond the department.

“We have been in great need of additional officers. And today, to be able to graduate 25 officers, will really be helpful to this department. Our current number was at 669. So, these 25 officers will take us to 694. Again, obviously with the level of crime that we’ve seen in the city, these additional officers, I really do appreciate their sacrifice,” he said.

“I appreciate them all stepping up in this moment, and I look forward to seeing them out there serving the community. We also thank our city council for authorizing additional funding for two additional academies.”

Members of the Oakland Police Department’s 186th Basic Recruit Academy graduates wave to family members in attendance during a ceremony at the Scottish Rite Center in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2021. Twenty-Five new Oakland Police Officers were sworn-in at the ceremony. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Although the police department is budgeted for 737 sworn positions, it has fallen far below that number, because officers have been resigning or retiring at a faster clip than expected, and fewer people have been enrolling in the academies. In an early October press conference, Armstrong said the department was then at 695 officers, but had received 10 resignation notices in that month’s first four days.

After an invocation by department chaplain Father Jayson Landeza, Armstrong joined Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, City Administrator Edward Reiskin and Police Commissioner Regina Jackson in congratulating the new officers.

“My heartfelt congratulations to the graduates of the 186th Oakland Police Academy. As officers, they will have the opportunity to make people feel safe, which is an incredible gift and an immense responsibility” Schaaf said in part. “These men and women have volunteered to join a department that’s nationally recognized for progressive, constitutional policing, and I thank them for their dedication to public service.”

According to a department spokesman, the graduate class has six women and 19 men, with four living in Oakland and several speaking multiple languages, including Cantonese, Spanish, Tagalog and Twi.

The new officers are as follows: Jorge Aguilar, Hakim Alaoui, Julia Alarcon, Isias Alcantar, Jacqueline Alvarez, Michael Armah, Irene Arzate, Cody Burman, Jordan Bustos, Harold Cajucom, Rafael Casares, Gregory Chen, Angelo Dentoni, Marlesha Everett, Jesse Hawes, Bryan Jimenez, John Kang, Bryce Lee, John Magana, Angel Marigny, Spencer Mikell, Brandon Moss (Valedictorian), Ruby Resendiz, Raul Rodriguez, and Alberto Vazquez.

Staff writers Annie Sciacca and Harry Harris contributed to this report. Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.

Oakland’s City Council Created This Public Safety Crisis A Diminishing Number of Police Officers and Soaring Violent Crime – Oakland Police Officers Look for Solutions to Better Serve our Hardest Hit

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 22:13:58 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

December 20, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland’s City Council Created This Public Safety Crisis

A Diminishing Number of Police Officers and Soaring Violent Crime – Oakland Police Officers Look for Solutions to Better Serve our Hardest Hit Residents.

OAKLAND – This weekend Oakland suffered homicide #133 - the highest number since 2006 - and the Oakland Police Department’s sworn staffing fell to 669 - the lowest number since 2014. This year 700 people have been shot in Oakland. That equates to an average two people shot per day in 2021, and a homicide just about every two days.

Despite dwindling numbers, Oakland Police Officers, continue to work hard for Oakland. Today, Oakland Police Officers embraced redeployment; putting more police officers in patrol - to answer 911 calls - and more officers in the neighborhoods hardest hit by violent crime.

“I am proud of the dedicated, determined and hardworking women and men of the Oakland Police Department that strive every day to serve our residents. While some Council members just talk about crime, Oakland Police Officers are on Oakland’s blood-soaked streets responding to the victims of the violent crime. The redeployment announced today is but a band-aid to stop the bleeding until the Oakland’s City Council embraces the reality that the city needs a minimum of 1,000* police officers.” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Oakland has more than double the violent crime rate of the other two large bay area cities. But the San Francisco Police Department is authorized 2,140 police officers and San Jose 1,157.

###

* The average statewide police staffing number is on average 235 police officers per 100,000 population. Oakland would need 1,048 sworn police officers (56% increase) just to attain statewide average, not accounting at all for Oakland’s high crime rate.

Defund-the-police doesn’t work — as mayors are finding out the hard way

Sat, 18 Dec 2021 19:14:46 GMT

The social experiment with people’s lives is over. The defund-the-police mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, just did a 180 on Lombard Street. I hope the New York City Council is paying attention, but I doubt it. There are lessons to learn and pitfalls to avoid.

San Francisco embarked down its disastrous defund-the-police, fund-other-agencies road last year, and it didn’t turn out well. Its police department shrank, and violence, thefts, open-air drug dealing and overdose deaths soared.

So now, the frustrated mayor announced — complete with expletives — her plan to reinvest in cops and get tough on criminals. What a novel idea.

The re-fund the police movement isn’t new. Cities like Oakland, Portland and (ready for it?) Minneapolis are now scrambling to retain cops and replace those that left.

Lesson learned: Cops matter; experiments with people’s lives are dangerous.

Unfortunately, the departments in those cities, and many like them, will be unable to recapture the combined experience that was lost. Hiring a bunch of new cops simply won’t produce an immediate change.

And Mayor Breed has another huge obstacle in her way in trying to turn things around: District Attorney Chesa Boudin. San Franciscans accuse Boudin of being soft on criminals, and he’s now facing a recall. Indeed, he’s become the poster child for soft-on-crime DAs and is often pointed to by let’s-get-tough politicians across the nation. Voting has consequences, and so do policies.

How Oakland homicides, police staffing reached grim milestones

Sat, 18 Dec 2021 19:02:05 GMT

Rather than defund, the City Council has allowed the number of sworn positions to languish at inadequate levels

By DANIEL BORENSTEIN | dborenstein@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

Oakland hit two grim milestones this week: the most homicides in a year since 2006 and the lowest police staffing level since 2014.

Getting to this tragic point has been years in the making as the city has allowed the number of sworn positions to languish at inadequate levels.

Then earlier this year the hard-left City Council majority exacerbated an already bad situation by flattening the department’s budget and rebuffing Mayor Libby Schaaf’s plea to train enough cops to stop further staffing erosion.

While the council majority eventually relented on the training academies, the damage was done as officers, seeing the lack of support at the top, left the department at rates much higher than anyone had anticipated.

The resulting staffing shortage will take years to recover from. Projections through June 2023 show no sign of the city being able to train and hire enough police fast enough to offset attrition and reach reasonable staffing levels. Oakland for years has needed more officers on the street. And it needs more — a lot more — today than ever before.

Fortunately, the City Council never followed through on last year’s absurd threat to cut the police budget by 50%. Instead, what we’re witnessing is a slow squeeze as crime soars.

Severe understaffing

Police reform advocates are correct that bad cops, of which Oakland has historically had more than its share, must be stripped of their authority, and funding for mental health and violence-prevention strategies must be part of any solution. But those should be supplements to, not substitutes for, keeping enough officers on the streets.

Oakland is like many cities statewide and nationally during the pandemic that have experienced rising violent-crime rates. And some other Bay Area cities, most notably San Jose, also struggle with substandard numbers of officers.

But Oakland, unlike most, has been struggling with both severe understaffing and exceptionally high crime rates for years. On a per-capita basis of cities with 100,000 or more people, violent crime in Oakland ranked between the ninth and 16th worst in the nation each year from 2015-19. During that same period, Oakland had the lowest ratio of sworn officers to violent crime in the nation.

To reach the statewide staffing average, measured by the Public Policy Institute of California, of 235 cops per 100,000 population, Oakland would need 1,048 sworn officers. That would be 56% more cops than they had Tuesday, when the level dropped to 671.

This staffing squeeze has been going on for a decade. The city’s sworn personnel, which had hit a peak of 830 in 2009, plummeted to 613 during the aftermath of the Great Recession and crawled back above 700 in 2016. But it never got back over 750 before the pandemic struck.

Homicides soaring

Meanwhile, the dead-body count in the city has been staggering. The city recorded its 132nd homicide Tuesday, surpassing the number from nine years ago. 2021 is now the worst year since Oakland logged 148 homicides in 2006.

That’s only part of the story of crime on the streets of Oakland. Assaults with firearms are up 25% over last year. Shootings into occupied homes are up 32%. Robberies with firearms are up 47%. Carjackings are up 80%.

While poorer neighborhoods are hardest hit, the crime is spread throughout the city. And, as Police Chief Leronne Armstrong explained earlier this year, if your car is stolen, your house is burgled or you’re robbed or assaulted in Oakland and the suspect is no longer on the scene, it often takes 8-10 hours or more, depending on the day, for a cop to show up.

Unexpected attrition rate

When Mayor Schaaf in the spring presented her budget for fiscal years 2021-23, she warned that the city needed to budget and plan for six training academies over the two-year period. But the council majority passed a budget with only four academies.

The pared-back budget was approved by council President Nikki Fortunato Bas and councilmembers Carroll Fife, Dan Kalb, Noel Gallo, Rebecca Kaplan and Sheng Thao. Councilmembers Treva Reid and Loren Taylor wisely voted against it.

Then things got worse than anyone had predicted. Staffing a police department involves forecasting attrition — the number of officers who quit, retire or are fired — and balancing it against the number of new officers that can be trained in the department’s academies.

The attrition rate has been growing faster than anticipated in part because of displeasure with City Council leadership and the fact that academies have produced fewer graduates than normal, partly because recruitment has been tough during the pandemic.

As crime rates increased and the police force continued to shrink, residents became more concerned about crime in their city. Two-thirds of them said they felt less safe in the city than they did two years ago, according to an October survey commissioned by the Oakland Chamber of Commerce.

In September, as Thao prepared to announce her campaign for mayor in next year’s election, she and other members of the council majority reversed some of the damage from their earlier budget decisions. The council approved adding another academy for the police department, and this month it approved adding two more.

That brought the total number of academies for the two-year budget cycle to seven. But since one of those academies was to make up for an earlier one that was under enrolled, the practical effect was the equivalent of six academies for the two-year period, which is what Schaaf had originally sought.

Misleading numbers

The council action this month was further driven by the threat of losing special funding for the police department. That’s because the Measure Z public safety tax approved by voters in 2014 conditioned the money on a minimum of 678 officers. It was a ridiculously low staffing level then, and it’s even more absurd now with seven more years of population growth.

Yet the city has fallen below even that. An academy class graduation on Dec. 23 should allow Oakland to climb above the Measure Z threshold by adding 26 officers to the count, even though they won’t complete field training until May 14. But if current attrition levels continue, even with the planned academies, the city will struggle to maintain 700 officers for at least the next year.

How does the council majority justify this? They repeatedly claim that they increased funding for the police department. In a press release in July, council President Fortunato Bas claimed the increase in the current 2021-23 budget was $38.5 million, or 6%, more than the prior two-year budget. That’s grossly misleading, but the number continues to be echoed in news reports.

To make her calculation, Fortunato Bas compared budgeted numbers for the new spending plan to the same for the prior. But everyone knew that past police department budgets were unrealistic because they repeatedly understated overtime for the short-staffed force.

At the urging of the city auditor, the new budget proposed by Schaaf and used as the starting point for the council-approved spending plan was an attempt to accurately include the overtime. So of course it reflected a significant increase when comparing budgeted amount to budgeted amount.

In fact, a comparison of actual police department spending in the 2019-21 budget to budgeted amount for 2021-23, including the changes made by the council this month, shows a $7.5 million, 1%, increase. Those are th e numbers that represent reality. Essentially, the city police budget is flat at a time when it’s grossly understaffed.

What we’re witnessing is not an immediate defunding of the department but rather a steady squeeze that has too often left residents to fend for themselves.

Oakland reaches grim milestone as city ties 2012 homicide mark

Sat, 18 Dec 2021 18:57:14 GMT

‘All over this city, there’s tons of them. It’s disheartening. It’s discouraging, because it’s so many.’

OAKLAND, CA – AUGUST 22: A picture of a 24-year-old man who was shot on July 18th is seen at a memorial after another fatal shooting there in the 1900 Block of Foothill Boulevard in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, August 22, 2021. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

By JAKOB RODGERS | jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

Veronica Ward still makes the drive over and over to Oakland’s Garfield Park, unable to keep away from the place where she saw her brother’s lifeless body lying on the pavement in July.

But as she makes the drive, she often sees new memorials dotting the roadsides, honoring other people killed in Oakland — three in the last week alone, she said.

“All over this city, there’s tons of them,” Ward said. “It’s disheartening. It’s discouraging, because it’s so many.”

That cycle of violence continued Monday when a 40-year-old man was found dead on 45th Street in the Temescal neighborhood. That marked the 131st death investigated as a homicide by Oakland police in 2021 — the city’s highest total in nearly a decade.

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Not since 2012 have so many homicides been investigated by Oakland police — part of a wave of violence that has seen the number of annual killings in the city climb almost 70 percent from just two years ago. The bloodshed has re-activated the debate about how best to keep Oaklanders safe and the role of police in doing so.

Mayor Libby Schaaf called Monday’s killing “a somber milestone to hit,” adding that it was “devastating to see all that progress erased since the pandemic.” Still, she said that the city was taking a “holistic” approach to once again cut down on the number of killings within city limits.

She hailed recent moves by the City Council to approve two new police academy classes and add 60 officers. She said the city is working to place more violence interrupters on the streets to prevent bloodshed before it starts.

“Not long ago, we were able to make dramatic reductions in that gun-violence rate by taking this comprehensive approach, and that is what we will do again,” Schaaf said.

Others feel the city isn’t doing enough. The ever-rising number of homicides is part of a national story tied to the economic woes wrought by the pandemic, said Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project. She said Oakland’s violence-prevention measures need more time and help to work.

“It hasn’t had a chance to get off the ground,” Brooks said.

Just a few years ago, homicides were declining in Oakland, reaching a low of 75 in 2018 before climbing slightly to 78 in 2019. But that number jumped to 109 last year as part of a national spike that roughly coincided with the coronavirus pandemic.

While the number of killings is starting to level off in some cities, Oakland’s continues to rise. This year’s total ties the most the city has seen since 148 homicides in 2006.

For those left behind, grief wields its terrible power.

Ward still weeps for her bother, Travis Ward, who was fatally shot July 24 near Garfield Park in East Oakland. For her, the holidays will likely include another trip to the spot where her brother died — as she’s done every week since she got the call that he was killed.

“There’s just something that keeps driving me over there,” Ward said. “It feels like yesterday. I don’t know where five months went, but it feels like yesterday.

“I just sometimes get angry, then I get sad, then (I’m) in disbelief about it,” she added. “So it’s denial and everything else wrapped in one.”

The 2021 toll means that on average, a person was killed in Oakland every two or three days. The year started with a spate of mass shootings — at least six in the first half of 2021 — and continued with a drumbeat of carjackings and robberies.

Most are still unsolved, no matter whether on the city’s streets or freeways.

As of Dec. 3, Oakland police had made arrests that led to charges in 44 percent of their homicide cases. Zero arrests have been announced in the five homicides being investigated by the California Highway Patrol because they took place on freeways and highways within Oakland city limits.

“I don’t wish this on my worst enemy, the pain I have to go through,” said Christina Hughes, 38. Her daughter, Zoey, was among two teenagers slain in May when their party bus was ripped apart by a hail of bullets.

Christmas will be difficult to celebrate, Hughes said. Zoey, who was 16 when she was killed, would normally decorate the tree. Hughes said she keeps thinking of her teen’s laugh and how she taught her little brother to sing songs by the rapper Rod Wave.

She wondered how seven months could pass without anyone being arrested for the killing.

“Do they get to live the rest of their life free, and we don’t get Zoey anymore?” Hughes said. “I can’t imagine that that’s the way this story’s going to go.”

After spending months mourning the loss of her brother, Ward said the report of yet another person slain in Oakland was too much to handle.

“It’s sad and scary all at the same time,” Ward said. “It’s like you don’t know if you’re going to walk out the door and make it home.”

Staff reporter Harry Harris contributed to this report.

Fueled by gun violence, cities across the US are breaking all-time homicide records this year

Sat, 18 Dec 2021 18:53:05 GMT

9 major cities set all-time homicide records 03:31

Austin, Texas (CNN)One of the fastest-growing cities in the country, the capital of Texas is nearing the end of its deadliest year on record in 2021 as cities nationwide are experiencing a rise in homicides and gun violence incidents that began last year when the pandemic tightened its grip on the US.

Fueled by what both authorities and community leaders say is the easy access to guns, Austin has recorded 88 homicides so far this year, shattering the previous high of 59 in 1984.

Chris Harris, a member of the Austin Justice Coalition, a community-led organization addressing criminal justice reform as well as economic and social justice, said most of the violent incidents that occur in the city involve people "who know each other."

Hiring New Cops is Good - But Let’s Try and Keep the Police Officers We Have.

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 03:30:27 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

December 6, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hiring New Cops is Good - But Let’s Try and Keep the Police Officers We Have.

Will Oakland City Council Members Finally Accept that Defund-the-Police Has Failed?

OAKLAND – The day before the Oakland City Council is scheduled to vote on a resolution to hire more police officers, amid rising violent crime, the Oakland Police Officers’ Association wrote to council members supporting efforts to hire more police officers but urged steps to retain dedicated police officers that are leaving in droves. The letter suggests council members start by thanking Oakland Police Officers for their service in person over the holidays. (See letter attached)

“The anti-police rhetoric by members of the city council that voted to defund the police, is driving scores of dedicated Oakland Police Officers to leave. Hiring new police officers is great, but we must work to keep the officers we have. A small step in the right direction would be for council members to say, “thank you” in person to the hardworking police officers who strive to serve Oakland’s residents. I challenge every council member to do just that,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Despite a dwindling number of police officers, and rising violent crime (129 homicides), Oakland’s finest solved ten (10) homicides in November and year to date have recovered 1,115 firearms from Oakland’s violent streets. Thank you for being America’s hardest-working police officers.

###

Letter to Council - December 6

Oakland City Council

1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, City Hall

Oakland, CA 94607

Re: Support for Item #9 - Budget Amendment for Police Academies

Dear Council Member(s)

I am writing on behalf of Oakland’s hardworking police officers in support of the item#9 on the council agenda tomorrow - resolution amending the budget for more police academies. Oakland’s police staffing crisis in the face of escalating violent crime is real. This resolution is one step toward addressing the problem. However, academies alone are not a panacea. Oakland Police Officers are leaving in droves. In the last five months scores of your trained and experienced police officers have left, four just this week, for the following law enforcement agencies:

Alameda County Sheriff’s Office *

Alameda County District Attorney’s Inspectors*

Alameda Police Department

Concord Police Department

Fremont Police Department*

Hayward Police Department*

Menifee Police Department

Pittsburg Police Department

Placer County Sheriffs’ Office*

Pleasanton Police Department

City of Orange Police Department

Manteca Police Department

Santa Rosa Police Department*

San Francisco District Attorney’s Office

Walnut Creek Police Department

Out of State Police Agencies*

After voting in favor of the resolution (item#9), I urge you to also examine your interactions with Oakland’s dedicated police officers. Maligning officers and blaming them for Oakland’s ills only adds to the stream of cops leaving for other agencies.

Consider trying to keep the police officers you have, in addition to hiring more. A small step toward that goal would be to thank Oakland Police Officers for their service. Attend a shift change (patrol “line-up”) over the holidays, there are ten each day. Once there, thank your police officers for their service and commit to work with them, rather than against them, in service of our residents. A simple act of thanks for those working hard to serve our city during challenging times.

Yours sincerely,

Barry Donelan

President

Oakland Police Officers’ Association

Her daughter was killed and now this mom is calling on Oakland to step up and help

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 03:23:34 GMT

"This one just came today. I don't know who's sending them or if someone's picking them from their yard," says Nina Hatcher of the fresh flowers that keep showing up along the fence line outsider her East Oakland home in the Fruitvale neighborhood.

The flowers are in memory of her 15-year-old granddaughter, Shamara, who was murdered in October not far from here. "Yeah those look like from a florist. Lovely."

For a family grasping for answers and solace, Hatcher says, the gesture from neighbors, friends or strangers helps a little. "They keep appearing," she says with a bittersweet smile, "which is really, you know, blessings. Shows just how, you know, loved Shamara was," Hatcher says.

Family and friends all say Shamara Young had a warm, infectious smile and a relentlessly positive spirit.

"She always smiled, you know, that smile light up my world, I always smile with her even though I was going through stuff," says Shamara's classmate and best friend Daisha Relerford. "She made my day."

Her life was cut short as she working hard to get better grades in hopes of playing basketball and going to college

Daisha says Shamara liked basketball, acting, dancing and rap. They enjoyed hanging out and would crank out TikTok posts. In keeping with the medium the videos were at times goofy, raunchy, silly and carefree.

"She always be like, 'Let's make a TikTok best friend.' And 'I'm like OK!' So, you know, that was her thing," Relerford says.

Young's life was cut down as she working hard to boost her grades at Oakland's Fremont High in hopes of playing basketball and going on to college.

"I never seen her work hard like that before to get those grades," her friend says, adding she wanted "to make her mom proud, you know, her grandma and her family proud." She had a boyfriend she adored, Relerford says, and wanted to do more acting and dance. "She had a whole future bright for herself."

"She was only 15, so she was just hitting the mark of falling into that teenage life," her mother Chalinda Hatcher says with a look of resignation and sadness. Hatcher is sitting on a bench in backyard of her East Oakland home.

Shamara liked being happy, "bringing your spirits up," her mom says. "If she thought you was sad, she would give you a hug because she didn't like sadness."

The family has set up a GoFundMe page in Shamara's honor and to help defray funeral and other costs.

2020 saw the largest one-year increase in murders since America started keeping nationwide records

The surge in killings is playing out across much of the country. 2020 saw a massive almost 30% spike in homicides nationally. While still below historic highs set in the early 1990s, it was largest one-year increase in murders since America started keeping nationwide records.

And this year in many cities, the uptick in killings has continued to match or even surpass last year's deadly surge.

Oakland, Calif., is among the hardest hit. The rise in gun violence and homicides there has left many residents here angry, fearful and calling on city leaders and law enforcement to do more. Oakland is on track to finish 2021 with its deadliest year in more than a decade. The city of just over 425,000 is fast closing in on 130 homicides so far – already more than last year's 109 murders. And that itself was 40 percent jump from 2019's numbers.

The city's mayor is now calling to reverse planned cuts to the police department.

Recent murders include a 28-year-old man gunned down near a popular park while trying to stop a car break-in; a security guard and former cop fatally shot during a robbery while protecting a local TV news crew that was out reporting on crime in the city; and a toddler just shy of his second birthday shot and killed by a stray bullet on a recent afternoon while as he slept in his car seat as his family drove on Interstate 880 in Oakland.

And Shamara, a teenager shot driving home after getting her hair braided. It'd been a long day for Shamara the night she was killed. She'd gone to school, had a dinner break and then went to get hair elaborately braided in singles before her sweet 16 birthday. "Something she had been wanting for the past couple of months, but we had been just having her do her natural stuff," her mother says.

She was happy to finally get hair done, her mom says, and her uncle picked her up to take her home. The uncle, Joshua Hatcher, was driving down International Boulevard when two men in a car raced up, driving erratically and cut them off.

The uncle went around them and turned on to Bancroft Avenue to try to get away.

They were less than a dozen blocks from home.

There was no exchange of words, no exchange of middle fingers, her uncle, says, but the strangers in the car gave chase.

"They just followed him down Bancroft and got back in front of them and as he tried to get back in front of them, they shot into his car," Chalinda Hatcher says. "And that's when they struck Shamara." A bullet hit Shamara in the head. Shocked and panicked, her uncle tried to hold her up while racing to the nearest hospital.

She was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

San Francisco's new rapid response teams race to save lives as ODs dramatically rise

NATIONAL

San Francisco's new rapid response teams race to save lives as ODs dramatically rise

Shamara Young was Oakland's 109th homicide of the year

"I'm still trying to figure out why would you shoot into a random car? And for what? For what?" Chalinda Hatcher says. "And the innocence couldn't get no worse. She wasn't affiliated with gangs. She didn't 'live by the gun' or none of that kind of stuff. She was just a teenager trying to graduate and live her life."

Family and friends say Shamara Young had a warm, infectious smile and a relentlessly positive spirit. She enjoyed basketball, acting, dancing and rap. The 15-year-old was shot and killed in October in Oakland, Calif.

Courtesy Chalinda Hatcher

"I'm angry, yeah sad. And upset," grandmother Nina Hatcher says. But she adds that Shamara wouldn't want her to stew in bitterness. "You know, anger is not something I want to carry around."

Chalinda Hatcher says she hasn't heard from the Oakland detective assigned to her daughter's case or anyone in the homicide unit since right after the killing. Back then the department asked for the public's help in solving Shamara's murder. "They haven't contacted me about anything," she says, "I haven't heard any updates or anything on the case."

The Oakland PD says it has "cleared" 44% of homicides this year. But that includes killings from other years solved in 2021. Like the majority of killings here, Shamara's death remains unsolved.

Her mom finds that painful and ironic because Shamara was kind of obsessed with TV crime shows. She would stay up late watching them, Hatcher says, and muse about wanting to become a forensic technician to help cops crack cases.

"I mean the girl loved solving crime shows. All the girl wanted to do was become one of those people who solve murders and stuff like that," she says.

Crime is not a new challenge for Oakland. But as in many other American cities, gun violence and death have escalated here during the pandemic. The rising gun violence comes as city leaders wrestle with competing calls for police to do more and from activists who want want officials to make good on pledges of wide-ranging police reforms.

The violence recently prompted Oakland's Mayor Libby Schaaf to reverse plans to divert funding from police to social services. While saying she still supports planned efforts to remove police from some nonviolent 911 calls and a violence intervention program called CeaseFire, Schaaf said she's asking city council to reverse funding cuts scheduled to take effect next year and for the city to move to hire more police.

"There is nothing progressive about unbridled gun violence," Schaaf said. "This is what Oaklanders want: a comprehensive and effective approach to safety. And that includes adequate police staffing."

Removing Cops From Behavioral Crisis Calls: 'We Need To Change The Model'

City leaders are urged to do more to help stem the wave of gun violence

Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong recently implored local leaders to do more to help stem the wave of gun violence he called "unacceptable."

"I'm asking council members to step up," chief Armstrong said. "Have a conversation about the loss of life in this city beyond the politics of whether you support the police or not. There is a clear problem in this city."

Police staffing levels have now fallen below a 2014 voter-approved measure that requires the department to have at least 678 sworn officers on staff to access funding from a parcel tax. About 70 officers have left over the last year including via retirements and resignations. "Although we've seen several people leave the Oakland Police Department, there are six hundred and seventy six officers that come here every day to make this city safe," chief Armstrong said, adding "this is a challenging moment for all of us."

Some social justice police reform activists blasted the mayor's call for more policing as a betrayal, underscoring how fraught the changes may be politically.

Oaklanders took to the streets by the thousands in 2020 in the wake of Floyd's murder "to demand the City of Oakland reinvest our tax dollars into programs that will actually keep us safe, not over-police Black and Brown communities," said Cat Brooks a co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project .

She said the additional $5.8 million the mayor wants to spend on policing should instead be invested in violence prevention, mental health services, jobs programs, and affordable housing. "We cannot throw more good money after failed policy solutions," Brooks said.

City Councilman Loren Taylor, who is running for mayor, says his East Oakland constituents are tired of the city's petty political infighting, posturing and PR messaging fights. "None of that matters to my residents on the ground when they are having bullets fly into their homes, when they are needing to duck for cover because of gun violence happening in the streets or when they hear about some of these, you know, truly tragic incidents," Taylor says. "They want to be able to walk outside of their front door, have their spouses and their kids be safe in front of their homes."

While arguing the city is not going to arrest its way out of the crisis, Taylor is backing efforts to hire more police officers. He says the Defund Movement mistakenly thinks systemic reform of police is zero-sum game, "that you have to take away from police in order to fund prevention and the other resources that are necessary. I don't believe that that's true. We have to be able to fund both," Taylor says.

Oakland joins other liberal cities backtracking on proposed police budget cuts and resource reallocation.

The May 2020 police murder of George Floyd helped spark a nationwide movement to shift or at least discuss shifting some funding toward new social service interventions and away from police budgets. Efforts to add nonpolice responses to some calls for service - including social workers, specially trained paramedics and mental health experts - gained traction in several cities.

But those cuts to policing – real and proposed – now face a serious backlash amid the pandemic-era spike in violent crime, mounting public and political pressure and police staffing shortages as more officers retire or leave the job.

Cities including New York City, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Seattle, Minneapolis and Portland, OR. have all moved to partially restore funding, or ended up making much smaller cuts than city councils had promised in 2020.

For example, in June 2020, the Portland City Council and the mayor cut millions from the police budget. Earlier this month, the council unanimously voted to boost the police budget by an extra $5.2 million.

And across the bay from Oakland, San Francisco's progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin is facing a massive backlash and a recall vote next June following a rise in homicides, assaults, larceny theft and arson. Critics, including several of his former employees, allege Boudin reflexively sides with criminal defendants and is tone deaf to victims. Boudin strongly denies that. He calls the recall effort a politically motivated attack on racial justice reforms aimed at rolling back mass incarceration.

In Oakland Shamara's mother strongly supports the call for additional police, but with caveats. More officers should come from and live in the city, she says, and they should improve screening and training.

"I do not think we need to take cops off the streets because these streets are absolutely nuts," Hatcher says. "But it needs to be more of the right policing. The wrong police out here can make it worse. So we need the right ones getting these guns off the streets, getting these bad people off the streets. Period." As Oakland's death toll continues to mount, Hatcher says the city and the wider community have to do more. Add resources, she says, and to citizens, take to the streets to demand action.

"Where's the anger? Where's the community watch? Where is the justice? There isn't any in her own community," she says her voice trembling.

To the people who shot her daughter, Hatcher says, "Turn yourself in."

But she knows that's highly unlikely. So her real plea is for someone who knows something, who saw something, to speak up to investigators.

"Give a little tip. It's anonymous. These people cannot be trusted on the streets. [They] shot a 15-year-old innocent child. And they are not going to stop until the community steps up," she says, adding "Shamara loved Oakland, but her city is not stepping up for her."

Oakland, she says, "needs to do a lot better" for Shamara and the nearly 130 others who've been murdered so far this year.

Oakland officials to propose growing police department ranks to address violent crime

Tue, 30 Nov 2021 04:07:36 GMT

Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle 2020

Oakland officials said Monday that they want to grow the city’s police force in an effort to confront a rising tide of violent crime that has gripped the city this year.

Mayor Libby Schaaf said her office was developing a proposal for the City Council to consider that includes boosting the number of active police officers and maintaining a larger overall police force.

Schaaf’s office also plans to recommend reversing budget cuts scheduled for next summer slated to freeze 50 police department positions. The hiring plan, which Schaaf said will be completed by Friday, will call for the creation of a new police academy class and will include a budget amendment to fund it.

The announcement, which Schaaf made with City Council Members Loren Taylor and Treva Reid, followed a fatal shooting in Oakland Sunday after a man confronted someone allegedly trying to steal his car. The incident was the latest in a string of recent violent incidents in the city.

On Wednesday, a security guard was shot while protecting a KRON reporter during a robbery attempt. He died from his injuries on Saturday. In a high-profile incident last month, retired Oakland Police Capt. Ersie Joyner was critically injured when he was shot during a robbery at a downtown gas station. He survived after fatally shooting one of his assailants.

The call for a more robust police force in Oakland also comes during a national debate over law enforcement reform in which Democratic mayors across the country, including Schaaf and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, attempt to walk a fine line between constituents who often disagree about whether cities should lean more on police or social services to confront crime and its root causes.

Schaaf said the city needs a multifaceted approach that includes both stronger police and enhanced social services to prevent violence and appropriately handle crime when it happens.

“We in Oakland believe in a comprehensive and effective approach to ending gun violence,” Schaaf said. “While we are not backing down whatsoever in our historic investments in prevention as well as a non-police response option called MACRO, we must address police staffing shortages and that is what we will do.”

The weekend’s spate of violent incidents, which resulted in the city’s 118th homicide of the year — not including nine killings that were deemed to be in self-defense, accidental or otherwise non-criminal — coincided with the police department’s ranks falling to 677 officers.

That’s the lowest police staffing level in Oakland in more than a decade and the first time that staffing levels dipped below the minimum 678 officers required by a 2014 tax measure that helps fund some of the city’s public safety programs, Schaaf said.

Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, said in a statement that the city’s loss of police officers has “helped fuel crime in Oakland,” and called the city’s failure to maintain the minimum number of officers required by Measure Z “yet another broken promise to Oakland residents.”

But Schaaf said the rise in violent crime is the result of “a perfect storm” of circumstances, including attrition within the police department that has been exacerbated by pandemic-induced hiring interruptions, a faulty bail system, and the pandemic’s effects on families and the criminal justice system. She said making Oakland safer will require reform in all of those spheres, as well as continued investment in violence prevention strategies.

“We must have the adequate resources and the staffing, as well as community safety officers, to deliver on keeping us protected in our city,” Reid said. “We must increase our efforts deeply to keep us safe, protected and at peace.”

The City Council voted this year to increase the police budget to $336 million and invest an additional $17 million in violence prevention and other social programs.

Oakland residents have been divided over how the city should fund the police department; some activists wanted the budget cut in half, while others insisted on a larger police presence on the city’s streets. Many residents felt conflicted, feeling wary of the police but increasingly reliant on them.

“We do have an attrition problem that we can’t ignore,” said Taylor, who dissented along with Reid when the City Council voted to increase the police budget. “We must continue to invest in the prevention, the deterrence, the immediate response and the investigations to keep our community safe.”

Oakland police officials held a news conference a week ago, to discuss a rash of violent incidents that occurred the previous weekend, including caravans of hundreds of cars with armed thieves who targeted dozens of businesses, as well as large sideshows. Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong told reporters that the police department needs help and urged city leaders, particularly members of the City Council, to “step up and start having a conversation about the loss of life in this city. Beyond the politics of whether you support police or not, there is a clear problem in this city.”

In October, Armstrong also appealed to Oakland residents, asking them to become more involved in helping to stem the surge in violent crime and insisting that making the city safer would need to involve the whole community.

“We can’t arrest our way out of this problem,” Armstrong said at the time. “We need family and friends and loved ones to grab their loved ones and give them the support that they need to to draw on city resources, community-based organizations’ resources ... so that they don’t have to engage in violence.”

The City Council has a special meeting scheduled for Dec. 7 to discuss the police department’s staffing issues.

Staff writer Mallory Moench contributed to this report.

Andres Picon is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: andy.picon@hearst.com Twitter: @andpicon

Colleagues Remember Slain Security Guard Kevin Nishita

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 18:51:49 GMT

The death of a security guard shot on the job in Oakland sent shock waves through Bay Area law enforcement departments and television news operations Saturday. Max Darrow reports. (11-27-21)

Oakland Homicides Climb Fueled by City Council Majority’s Defund the Police Policy and Broken Promise to Voters on Public Safety - Measure Z.

Mon, 29 Nov 2021 18:42:11 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

November 29, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland Homicides Climb Fueled by City Council Majority’s Defund the Police Policy and Broken Promise to Voters on Public Safety - Measure Z.

OAKLAND – Sadly, Oakland suffered three (3) more homicides over the holiday weekend:

#125 – Man shot November 2nd in East Oakland died in hospital Thanksgiving Day

#126 – Retired police officer shot by robbery suspects died in the hospital on November 27th

#127 – Lake Merritt yesterday, victim confronts auto burglary suspect and is shot and killed.

Oakland’s crime statistics published today show further increases in the violent crime rate. Three more homicides were added to the tally. This weekend not only marked more homicides and violence, but also the Oakland Police Department staffing fell below the voter-approved Measure Z floor of 678 sworn police officers at all ranks. Today the number stands at 677 as the department continues to lose ten police officers a month to other departments.

“Oakland’s dwindling ranks of police officers, falling below the voter-approved Measure Z minimum number of 678, is yet another broken promise to Oakland residents by the “defund-the-police” majority on city council that are determined to make Oakland less safe,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Oakland’s defunded police department’s sworn staffing is 677, the lowest since 2014 when 77% of Oakland voters passed the Measure Z property tax. Measure Z generates millions of dollars for Oakland to fund police officers, firefighters, and violence prevention programs. In 2014 to avoid past mistakes, the measure included a requirement for a minimum number of 678 Oakland police officers to collect the tax. In addition to breaking the Measure Z promise, the city council has also frozen fifty-five (55) police officer positions, increasing to one hundred frozen police officer positions in 2022. These decisions have helped fuel crime in Oakland as the “defund-the-police” council members remain silent about the daily bloodshed on Oakland streets.

###

Oakland Police Officers Leaving the Struggling Department for Others Across the Bay Area

Thu, 25 Nov 2021 16:13:11 GMT

The Oakland police union says officers – including rookie cops – are leaving the struggling police department for other departments across the Bay Area

By Melissa Colorado • Published November 24, 2021 • Updated on November 24, 2021 at 6:35 pm

The police union says officers – including rookie cops – are leaving the struggling police department for other departments across the Bay Area.

But now, the police union says the department’s staffing has dropped so low, that it’s putting millions of parcel tax funding in jeopardy -- and it couldn’t come at a worse time.

“We appreciate their sacrifice and their service so much,” said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.

“They’re leaving in numbers we’ve never seen before,” said Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland police Officers’ Association.

Officers were so inundated with 911 calls this weekend that the union says, police had to call in off-duty officers for backup.

“We were entirely overwhelmed with the staff that we had – even by bringing in those officers, it didn’t fully stem the violence,” said Donelan.

On Wednesday morning, Donelan wrote an op-ed in the East Bay Times, warning that too many officers were dropping out for the force because of low-morale. By the time NBC Bay Area caught up with him around noon, Donelan says OPD’s numbers had sunken even further.

“We have another senior officer retiring this weekend, we have hit 678 today,” he said.

Donelan added that this weekend alone, three rookie cops quit to work elsewhere. So where are they going? The top contenders – Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, Fremont, Hayward and the Santa Rosa Police Departments.

“We’re not able to hire as quickly as these young officers are leaving elsewhere,” said Donelan.

The mayor says she wants the council to come up with a hiring plan so that the city can keep millions of public safety funding that is tied to keeping police staffing levels at a minimum of 678 officers.

“Now I will be calling on the governor for more external resources as I have before,” said Schaaf. “I am furious that we are even in this position to begin with.”

A Perfect Storm in Oakland: A Violent Crime Wave Meets Rampant Police Officer Attrition

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 16:04:54 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

November 24, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A Perfect Storm in Oakland: A Violent Crime Wave Meets Rampant Police Officer Attrition

OAKLAND – This morning in an op-ed in the Eastbay Times, Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan details the real-world impacts of the reckless public safety policy decisions made by the six members of the Oakland City Council that passed the “defund the police” budget.

“The Council’s public safety policy decisions have helped accelerate violent crime rates and drive Oakland’s well trained and experienced police officers to leave in droves for cities that value their service and dedication” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Donelan expounds on his point in a newspaper op-ed (see link below & the following pages).

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/11/24/opinion-mayhem-on-oakland-streets-as-police-resources-dwindle/?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=social&utm_content=tw-EastBayTimes&utm_source=twitter.com

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Mayhem on Oakland streets as police resources dwindle

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 14:54:23 GMT

With homicides, shootings and carjackings soaring, and cops leaving, emergency calls go unanswered

There is mayhem on the streets of Oakland. Last weekend alone, we saw homicides, shootings, carjacking, lootings and robberies. Uniformed Oakland Police officers were shot at twice in three days.

Communities around us also saw crime. In San Francisco and Walnut Creek, caravans of marauding thieves looted high-end stores. However, in those cities, there was a different response: Elected officials condemned the theft and destruction and vowed to bring those responsible to justice. In Oakland, the six members of the City Council that voted to defund their police department responded with deafening silence.

Oakland has had historical challenges with violent crime. But this year, we are at crisis levels. Homicides are up to 124, with more than a month still left in the year, compared to 109 for all last year. Homicides and shootings combined have reached 675, compared to 604 for all last year.

Carjacking has reached epidemic levels, with 460 vehicles violently taken from drivers on Oakland streets so far this year — that’s more than one a day — compared to 296 for all of last year.

Each day, Oakland Police officers nervously await the next outburst of violence. During a typical 24-hour period, about 120 street cops and sergeants are assigned to patrol and endeavor to respond to an average 2,000 calls for service.

Last weekend, as officers struggled with the mayhem, our 911 communications center stopped accepting non-emergency calls and citizen requests for police reports. Even after taking this drastic measure, by Saturday afternoon, 229 emergency calls were awaiting a police response, and there were no officers to send. Police commanders resorted to calling in off-duty officers as reinforcements to try to stop the surging violence.

The response to the daily carnage by the Oakland council members whose defund the police votes helped precipitate this crisis is silence. Sometimes, to deflect blame, they point at the dwindling ranks of police officers and say we are the problem.

Nevertheless, as the Police Department shrinks, those who remain are dedicated and determined to serve Oakland’s crime-ravaged residents.

But they’re watching the steady shrinking of the department, which began more than a decade ago. In 2009, there were 830 sworn personnel. Before the City Council passed this fiscal year’s inadequate police budget in June, that had shrunk to 714 police officers. By Labor Day, we had fallen below 700. Today, there are 681.

In the past year, critical units such as Traffic Division and walking details have been disbanded. Crime reduction teams and community resource units have been reduced. Meanwhile, promised fire department backup for mental health calls and increases in violence prevention measures have not materialized.

The defunding of the police budget and council members’ constant anti-police rhetoric has taken a demonstrable toll on rank-and-file Oakland Police officers. Attrition has doubled to 10 per month.

Many officers and their families have had enough of mandatory overtime, the lack of support and the city’s unwillingness to stem the tide of violence or even condemn it. They leave for cities that value their service, experience and professionalism. Just this past weekend, three young officers resigned to go elsewhere.

Barry Donelan is a sergeant with the Oakland Police Department and president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association.

Gratuitous Violence on Oakland streets, including Carjacking, Robbery, Looting, and Shooting at the Police, is an Everyday Event.

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 01:13:10 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

Novmeber 22, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Gratuitous Violence on Oakland streets, including Carjacking, Robbery, Looting, and Shooting at the Police, is an Everyday Event.

Oakland’s Defund-the-Police City Council Members Respond to the Mayhem with Deafening Silence.

OAKLAND – There was carnage and bloodshed on the streets of Oakland over the weekend. Oakland Police Officers were shot at twice in the last three days, there were multiple shootings, a Sideshow of 500+ cars, and looting of stores and marijuana dispensaries across the city.

“Gratuitous violence is Oakland’s reality. Oakland residents faced carjackings, robberies, and mayhem on city streets. Oakland Police Officers struggled to protect our residents amid a severe lack of police staffing, 11 of 35 police beats had no police officer, and uniformed officers have been shot at twice in the last three days said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan. Donelan continued, “This mayhem was precipitated by Oakland’s defund-the-police city council members who voted to reduce police service and freeze police officer positions and remain silent as Oakland residents become victims of violent crime at high rates not seen in over a decade.”

Thank you to every Oakland police officer who responded to the weekend’s violence. Officers were stretched thin, prompting the department to call off-duty officers to return to work and serve as reinforcements to end the escalating violence. Thank you for being America’s hardest-working police officers.

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Oakland Residents Shaken By Latest Spurt of Gun Violence

Fri, 12 Nov 2021 15:51:33 GMT

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) — A concert at Oakland’s Fox Theater was scheduled to go on Thursday evening as planned after Wednesday’s concert was canceled when a concertgoer was shot in the arm by a stray bullet while standing outside. The shooting was one of a string of shootings in the city in the last 24 hours.

“I was terrified … I had to run for my life,” said one witness who went by the name of Prince Akeem and who was across the street from the theater. “It was several shots, about seven or eight shots.“

COVID Vaccine Now Required For All Alameda County First Responders, Medics

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 06:30:07 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Alameda County health officials issued an order Tuesday requiring all first responders and medical transport providers to be fully vaccinated against COVID by next month.

The order by Alameda County Health Officer Dr. Nicholas Moss applies to police officers, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs and other non-emergency medical transport personnel to be fully vaccinated by December 21 .

Oakland leaders demanding solutions after I-880 shooting that killed 23-month-old boy

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 17:32:30 GMT

REMONT, Calif. (KGO) -- In wake of the deadly shooting of a 23-month-old boy on a busy Oakland freeway Saturday, city leaders are demanding solutions as authorities continue to look for the suspects.

It was 2:10 p.m. Saturday when a Fremont family was driving home and a bullet hit and killed Jasper Wu. He was sleeping in his car seat.

"The level of violence on the streets of Oakland has crescendo to a point we haven't seen in over a decade," said President of the Oakland Police Officers Association Barry Donelan.

‘Oakland’s sad reality’ result of defunding police, POA union says

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 22:16:20 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — The Oakland police officers union said a toddler’s violent death and a mass shooting over the weekend were tragic consequences of defunding the police department.

“Oakland’s sad reality has become back-to-back violent tragedies. A mass shooting and murder Friday. An innocent toddler murdered on Saturday. Followed by another murder that evening,” the Oakland Police Officers’ Association wrote.

The toddler, who was just shy of his 2nd birthday, was identified by family members as Jasper Wu.

Investigators said there was a shootout between vehicles on I-880 in Oakland at 2:10 p.m. Saturday. The California Highway Patrol does not believe the gunmen were aiming for Jasper’s mother’s car, but the family was caught in the crossfire.

Jasper was shot and died soon after in a children’s hospital. The killers are still at-large and no arrests have been made.

Jasper’s senseless death sent shockwaves through the Bay Area.

Mayor Libby Schaaf tweeted Monday, “To lose a 23-month-old to gun violence is as heart-wrenching and as sickening as it gets. As a mother and as a mayor, I’m devastated by the totality of human loss and trauma caused by gun violence in our society.”

Jasper was his mother’s only child, and he never had the chance to meet his father, who lives in China, according to friends of the victim’s family. Jasper had recently celebrated Halloween by dressing up as Superman.

The toddler’s death was the 118th homicide in Oakland this year. Just hours after the I-880 shooting, another homicide in Oakland brought the death toll up to 119.

“This reality was created by the ‘Defund The Police” majority on the City Council, who have abandoned public safety in Oakland,” said POA President Barry Donelan.

Two-thirds of Oakland residents reported feeling “less safe” in their city compared to two years ago, according to a poll conducted by the city’s chamber of commerce. Fifty-one percent said they believe the city needs more police officers.

Eyes on Oakland police following deadly weekend crime

“Oakland’s strained police officers continue to work hard … and striving to stem the violence despite being vilified and provided no support,” the union wrote.

The Oakland Police Department currently has 681 sworn staff members — it’s lowest staffing since 2014.

The POA said it’s staffing crisis was magnified by the City Council voting to freeze 55 police officer positions, 100 police officer position for 2022, disbanding the Traffic Division, eliminating community foot patrol officers, and scaling back crime reduction teams.

Oakland’s Reality - Violence That Makes 2 out of 3 Oakland Voters Feel Unsafe. While Oakland’s “Defund the Police” City Council Majority Stay Silent Amid Mounting Homicide Toll.

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 19:02:18 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

November 8, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland’s Reality - Violence That Makes 2 out of 3 Oakland Voters Feel Unsafe. While Oakland’s “Defund the Police” City Council Majority Stay Silent Amid Mounting Homicide Toll.

OAKLAND – Crime statistics* published today illustrate Oakland's violent crime wave. This past weekend Oakland police officers responded to a mass shooting, where four were shot and one died, a toddler was murdered on the freeway, and another murder in East Oakland. Oakland has reached homicide #119 for the year, compared to 109 in all last year. Add homicides to shootings makes 653, along with an 85% increase in violent carjacking incidents. Oakland’s strained police officers continue to work hard, recovering firearm #1,000 for the year and striving to stem the violence despite being vilified and provided no support from Oakland's “defund the police” majority city council.

“Oakland’s sad reality has become back-to-back violent tragedies. First, a mass shooting and murder Friday, an innocent toddler murdered on Saturday, followed by another murder that evening. No wonder Oakland’s Chamber of Commerce poll found that more than 2 in 3 Oakland voters do not feel safe.* This reality was created by the “defund the police” majority on the city council, who have abandoned public safety in Oakland.” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Oakland’s defunded and shrinking police department’s sworn staffing is 681 - the

lowest since 2014. Oakland is losing about ten officers a month. The “defund the police” city council majority froze fifty-five (55) police officer positions, froze one hundred (100) police officer positions for 2022, disbanded the Traffic Division, eliminated community foot patrol officers, and scaled back Crime Reduction teams and Community Resources officers.

Click for Crime Stats

Click for Summary of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce Poll.

###

Child Dies Following Shooting on I-880 in Oakland

Sun, 07 Nov 2021 21:30:41 GMT

A 23-month-old boy has died after being shot on Interstate 880 in Oakland Saturday, family confirms to NBC Bay Area.

The California Highway Patrol's Golden Gate Division said they received a call of a freeway shooting on northbound I-880 just after 2 p.m.

According to CHP, the victims of the shooting were traveling in a white Lexus sedan on southbound I-880 near Filbert Street, when their vehicle was suddenly struck by gunfire.

‘We Need Policemen’: Even in Liberal Cities, Voters Reject Scaled-Back Policing

Sun, 07 Nov 2021 21:26:27 GMT

Around the country, local elections suggested that voters were rejecting the most sweeping calls to reinvent law enforcement.

By Mitch Smith and Tim Arango

Nov. 3, 2021

MINNEAPOLIS — After a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd last year, protesters marched across the country demanding sweeping change to law enforcement. But given the opportunity Tuesday to dismantle their city’s troubled Police Department and replace it with something new, Minneapolis voters said no.

The results in Minneapolis, an overwhelmingly Democratic city, as well as returns in local races from Long Island to Seattle, suggested that voters saw an enduring need for policing even as they supported some incremental changes. In an election season that played out amid a national rise in homicides, Americans across racial and geographic lines rejected the most far-reaching calls for reinventing law enforcement and, in many cases, elected candidates who backed the current policing structure.

“I do want to see some changes,” said Deborah Diggins, 60, a social worker in Minneapolis who said she supported having mental health workers respond to more emergency calls. “But most certainly I do not want to see them defund the Police Department — in no form or fashion. We need policemen.”

In Seattle, where a majority of the City Council had endorsed cutting the police budget by half, Bruce Harrell, a candidate who favors adding police officers, was far ahead in the city’s mayoral race with counting still underway. In New York City, Eric Adams, a former police captain who won the Democratic primary this year after rejecting the defund-the-police movement and emphasizing the role of the police in public safety, sailed to election. And in Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey, who oversaw the city when Mr. Floyd was killed and was heckled by demonstrators after bucking calls to abolish the Police Department, decisively won a second term. Some of his opponents ran on replacing the Police Department.

We need deep and structural change to policing in America. [crowd clapping and cheering] And at the same time, we need police officers to make sure that they are working directly with community to keep us safe. There will be many that will try to argue that this is a blow to reform — that is dead wrong. [crowd clapping and cheering] Reform — reform has begun, but it must continue with the necessary — with understanding the magnitude of this particular moment, and making sure that we’re all, each and every one of us, rallying around the cause of change.

“All of the work around safety and accountability is complex — none of it you can fix with a hashtag or a slogan,” said Mr. Frey, who pledged to improve the existing Police Department during his victory speech on Wednesday.

Republican candidates running on explicitly “Back the Blue” platforms won or were leading in some closely contested races, including for county executive and prosecutor posts on New York’s politically diverse Long Island. But the debate in many cities over how far to go in reimagining policing played out largely among different factions of Democrats.

In Atlanta, where homicides are up, policing defined much of this year’s mayoral election. Officials were still tallying the votes on Wednesday but named as the top vote-getter in a preliminary election Felicia Moore, who has promised to hire more police officers while also making the department more transparent and accountable. In Buffalo, Mayor Byron W. Brown, a moderate Democrat, appeared on track to win another term after waging a write-in campaign against a democratic socialist, India Walton, whom he accused of planning to cut police jobs.

Even as more moderate candidates prevailed, voters in many places expressed their continuing concerns about police conduct and the need for more accountability. In Cleveland, for instance, residents voted to expand civilian oversight of the police and elected a mayoral candidate, Justin Bibb, who positioned himself as a progressive committed to improving law enforcement. In Austin, Texas, voters rejected a ballot measure that would have required the city to hire hundreds more officers, despite a campaign by supporters that emphasized a sharp rise in homicides.

“I really thought people would buy into a lot of the fearmongering that came from the other side,” said Chas Moore, executive director of the Austin Justice Coalition, which opposed the measure.

But the results in Minneapolis, where a proposed amendment would have replaced the Police Department with a new agency focused on public health, showed how the strongly held views that policing needs to change clashed with concerns about rising gun violence and homicides. The proposed safety agency in Minneapolis would have almost certainly still employed police officers, but the measure would have dismantled the existing system and eliminated minimum staffing requirements.

“The undeniable factor in that victory in Minneapolis — and I think it shows through in elections nationwide at every level — is a growing concern on the part of the electorate over the rising violent crime rate in the United States,” said Jim Pasco, the executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police, a law enforcement union. “I believe, in terms of these draconian proposals to reduce or even eliminate police departments in this so-called defunding effort, that ship has sailed.”

F.B.I. statistics showed the steepest year-to-year homicide increase on record from 2019 to 2020, though killings remained below the levels seen in the 1990s and major crimes overall dropped about 5 percent last year.

Supporters of the Minneapolis amendment said that they were disappointed but that their campaign had succeeded in shifting the debate around policing, perhaps in a lasting way. That a large American city held an election on getting rid of its Police Department, and that more than 40 percent of voters supported it, they said, showed how much the discourse had broadened since only a few years ago, when far narrower changes, such as requiring body cameras or tightening use-of-force policies, were hotly debated.

“We’re doing the work and people are not ready yet,” said Rashad Robinson of the Color of Change PAC, which supported the Minneapolis amendment. “I fundamentally believe that we are on the right track. We would have not even been part of the conversation a couple of years ago.”

When protests spread following the murder of Mr. Floyd last year, “defund the police” became a progressive slogan. Across the country, many police department budgets were cut. A veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council vowed to dismantle the police force, though some members soon backtracked.

Given the opportunity to dismantle their city’s troubled Police Department and replace it with something new, Minneapolis voters said no.

The conversation has shifted again as homicides rose, with killings in Minneapolis reaching levels not seen since the 1990s. “Defund the police” has become a potent Republican attack line, and a slogan that all but the most liberal Democrats now avoid. Some of the cities that cut police budgets last year have now restored funding.

There have been some enduring changes to the current system, many with broad political support. Several cities, including Minneapolis, have invested more money in mental health services and in dispatching social workers to emergency calls. Officers in some places are no longer pulling people over for some minor offenses. And Minneapolis remains a place where liberal policies have found support: Even as voters chose not to get rid of their Police Department, they approved an amendment that would allow for rent control.

In Seattle, another liberal city that saw large, sometimes destructive protests in 2020, the Republican candidate for city attorney, Ann Davison, was leading in the vote over an opponent who had posted messages about her hatred of the police and sought to abolish the criminal justice system as it exists.

In the mayor’s race, Mr. Harrell, a Democrat who had criticized the defund effort and was leading, said on Wednesday that voters wanted improvements in policing but also wanted a police force that could respond to crimes quickly and conduct thorough investigations. His push for more officers, he said, had clearly resonated.

“I think it was a major issue, perhaps a determinative factor,” Mr. Harrell said.

Still, Mr. Harrell said he was committed to changes to policing. He said he would seek, for instance, to have every sworn officer watch video of Mr. Floyd’s murder and sign a letter stating that the inhumane treatment of people would not be tolerated in Seattle.

In Minneapolis, the city where the defund movement gained national prominence after Mr. Floyd’s murder and where many still speak with disgust about how their neighborhoods are patrolled, residents said they saw the election results as a reflection of their daily concerns. The ballot language contained few specifics about the proposed public safety agency, and residents said getting rid of the Police Department without a clearer alternative was a risk they could not take at a time when homicides have risen.

“For Black residents of Minneapolis, it’s not about politics,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer who has long protested police violence, but who opposed the amendment to replace the department. “It’s about our day-to-day realities of too often feeling unsafe with the things that are unfolding. Hearing the stories of children being shot and killed, and meeting the families of those children.”

Reporting was contributed by Jay Senter in Minneapolis, Jesse McKinley in Buffalo and Mike Baker in Seattle. Richard Fausset, Shaila Dewan and Luis Ferré-Sadurní also contributed reporting.

Growing share of Americans say they want more spending on police in their area

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 16:32:15 GMT

Amid mounting public concern about violent crime in the United States, Americans’ attitudes about police funding in their own community have shifted significantly.

The share of adults who say spending on policing in their area should be increased now stands at 47%, up from 31% in June 2020. That includes 21% who say funding for their local police should be increased a lot, up from 11% who said this last summer.

Support for reducing spending on police has fallen significantly: 15% of adults now say spending should be decreased, down from 25% in 2020. And only 6% now advocate decreasing spending a lot, down from 12% who said this last year. At the same time, 37% of adults now say spending on police should stay about the same, down from 42% in 2020.

Views on police funding continue to differ widely by race and ethnicity, age and political party. White (49%) and Hispanic (46%) adults are more likely than Black (38%) or Asian (37%) adults to say spending on police in their area should be increased. Black adults (23%) are more likely to say that police funding should be decreased than those who are White (13%) or Hispanic (16%). Some 22% of Asian adults say spending should be reduced, which is statistically higher than the share among White adults but not higher than the share among Hispanic adults.

Majorities among those ages 50 and older favor increased spending on police, including 63% of those 65 and older. Young adults remain the biggest proponents of decreased police funding: Roughly a third (32%) of those ages 18 to 29 say there should be less spending on police in their area. This compares with 18% of those ages 30 to 49 and fewer than one-in-ten of those 50 and older.

Partisanship is strongly linked with views of police funding. A majority of Republicans and independents who lean to the Republican Party (61%) say spending on police should be increased, with 29% saying it should be increased a lot; 5% of Republicans say spending should be decreased, and 33% say it should stay about the same.

By contrast, 34% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say police funding should be increased, 25% say it should be decreased and 40% would like to see it stay about the same.

Since 2020, the views of Black Americans and Democrats have changed more than the views of White and Hispanic adults and Republicans when it comes to decreasing funding for local police. The share of Black adults who say police spending in their area should be decreased has fallen 19 percentage points since last year (from 42% to 23%), including a 13-point decline in the share who say funding should be decreased a lot (from 22% to 9%). The share of White and Hispanic adults who say funding for local police should be decreased also declined over this period, but not as much.

Similarly, the share of Democrats who say funding for local police should be decreased has fallen markedly – from 41% in 2020 to 25% today. By comparison, the share of Republicans who prefer less spending – which was already quite low – has moved incrementally lower. Growing shares of Republicans and Democrats alike now say police funding should be increased in their area.

Among Democrats, Black (38%) and Hispanic (39%) adults are more likely than White adults (32%) to say spending on police in their area should be increased. There is no significant difference across these racial and ethnic groups in the share of adults who say spending should be decreased.

Within the GOP, White and Hispanic adults differ in their views on this question: 64% of White Republicans say police spending in their area should be increased, compared with 53% of Hispanic Republicans. Relatively small shares in each group – 4% of White Republicans and 9% of Hispanic Republicans – would like to see spending go down. (There were too few Black Republicans in the sample to break out separately.)

The age gap in views about police funding has widened since 2020, mainly because views have shifted more dramatically among those ages 50 and older. The share of adults in this age group who say police spending should be increased has jumped 22 percentage points since 2020 (from 37% to 59%), while the increase has been more modest among those younger than 50 (from 26% to 36%). Both age groups have seen a drop-off in support for reduced spending on local police. These age patterns are similar among White and Black adults, as well as across parties.

A line graph showing that about six-in-ten Americans now say violent crime is a very big problem

Americans’ changing attitudes about police spending in their area have occurred amid rising public concern about violent crime. In July 2021, 61% of adults said violent crime was a very big problem in the country today, up from 48% in April 2021 and 41% in June 2020 (though concern over crime has fluctuated in recent years). In the July survey, Americans expressed more concern about violent crime than they did about the federal budget deficit (50% said this was a very big problem), climate change (47%), racism (45%), economic inequality (44%) and illegal immigration (43%).

Note: Here are the questions used for the September survey and its methodology. Here are the questions used for the July survey and its methodology.

In a setback for Black Lives Matter, mayoral campaigns shift to ‘law and order’

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 16:20:35 GMT

Across the country, local candidates are pitching themselves as advocates on safety and supporters of the police

By Tim Craig

October 30, 2021 at 4:02 p.m. EDT

Mayoral candidates across the country are closing out their campaigns pledging to restore law and order, a major setback for racial justice protesters who only a year ago thought they had permanently reshaped the debate on policing in American cities.

As voters head to the polls Tuesday, local elections are dominated by discussions about safety and law enforcement amid a surge in violent crime. The tone of the debate, even in many liberal urban communities, highlights how major policing reforms have stalled.

From Buffalo to Seattle, Democratic politicians who once championed significant reductions or reallocations of police department budgets are backtracking. In other cities, including Cleveland, liberal candidates are being hammered over their stances on public safety.

Even in cities without a competitive mayor’s race, the question of how to get tough on crime and bolster public safety has emerged as a defining issue. In Miami Beach, for example, Mayor Dan Gelber (D) is campaigning for a controversial referendum that would ban the sale of alcohol at bars and nightclubs after 2 a.m., which the mayor says is needed to regain control of the city after a tumultuous year of unruly behavior and gun violence. Gelber is also exploring how Miami Beach can hire more police officers.

“My residents are saying ‘we need to crackdown’, or ‘we need to have zero tolerance,’ ” said Gelber, adding that his party has been hampered by public perceptions that it is soft on crime.

United States House of Representatives Passes Several Public Safety Bills

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 14:31:12 GMT

For Immediate Distribution:

October 28, 2021

Contact:

Ian Anderson

(818) 268-6488

IAnderson@fionahuttonassoc.com

United States House of Representatives Passes Several Public Safety Bills

On Wednesday, October 27th, the United States House of Representatives passed three public safety bills with broad bipartisan support, including S. 921, the Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Officers and Employees Protection Act; S. 1502, the COPS Counseling Act; and S. 1511, the Protecting America's First Responders Act of 2021. The three bills are now headed to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

S. 921, the Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila Federal Officers and Employees Protection Act ensures that individuals who harm or attempt to harm federal law enforcement officers can be prosecuted in the United States by granting extraterritorial jurisdiction over this criminal conduct. The bill is named after two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agents who were attacked by Mexican drug cartels in San Luis Potosi, Mexico in 2011. Special Agent Zapata died from his injuries, and although his murderers were apprehended, a federal appeals court dismissed the murder convictions because the district court did not have jurisdiction over the crimes committed on non-U.S. soil.
S. 1502, the COPS Counseling Act establishes new requirements for peer counseling programs for law enforcement officers, including that any information shared by law enforcement officers remains confidential, and that the Department of Justice publicly release best practices and training resources for those looking to become peer support mentors.
S. 1511, the Protecting America’s First Responders Act of 2021 corrects several administrative issues with Public Safety Officer Benefits (PSOB), which currently only benefit first responders disabled in the line of duty if they can never again return to work. Because this standard leaves behind many disabled officers who would benefit from the program, S. 1511 ensures that disabled first responders whose work is for therapeutic purposes, involves simple tasks, or provides special accommodations, can still receive benefits.

“Despite the announcement that federal police reform negotiations had come to a halt earlier this year, it is encouraging to see that Congress continues working in a bipartisan manner to enact common sense legislation that will have a significant impact on officers nationwide,” said Brian Marvel, President of the Peace Officers Research Association of California. “PORAC is encouraged by these three bills and remains committed to working with our legislators in Washington to develop and champion new policies that will place officers in a better position to serve our communities.”

About the Peace Officers Research Association of California:

The Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) was incorporated in 1953 as a professional federation of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. PORAC represents over 77,000 public safety members and over 920 associations, making it the largest law enforcement organization in California and the largest statewide association in the nation.

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Oakland crime fighter becomes crime victim

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 21:36:08 GMT

Two impulses seemed to tug at Ersie Joyner across the trajectory of his career in the Oakland Police Department: a determination to hunt down perpetrators, and an altruistic quest to help his community.

The retired police captain, 52, was critically injured in a shootout with three assailants who robbed him Thursday, in the heart of a city where he grew up wary of the police, only to become a decorated law enforcement officer who would steer youth away from violence.

He remained hospitalized at Highland Hospital on Saturday as police continued investigating the incident at a Chevron Station just off Interstate 980 near downtown Oakland. Surveillance video captured a harrowing scene: Three assailants ambushed and robbed Joyner as he pumped gas into his Porsche; Joyner pulled out a gun and shot two of the attackers — one fatally — before he was shot as the two jumped in their car and fled.

Police have not made arrests in this case or identified the assailants.

In a city jolted by gun violence, the incident stunned those who knew Joyner as a cop who had been so instrumental in fighting crime and counseling youth. Suddenly he had become a crime victim himself.

Born and raised in East Oakland, Joyner joined the police force in 1991 with notions that he would change the corrosive relationship between officers and the communities they served, said Regina Jackson, CEO of the East Oakland Youth Development Center and president of the city’s Police Commission.

“He told me the reason he became a police officer was because he didn’t like police officers,” Jackson said. “He wanted to be the one who was more engaged and made people not dislike police officers.”

Joyner had a mission to set youth “on the right track,” Jackson said, and helped mentor teenagers at the East Oakland center and similar organizations. But he was also known for being aggressive and ambitious.

After starting out as an undercover narcotics officer, Joyner eventually switched to the SWAT team. He cannily worked sources for information, including the location of parolee and rape suspect Lovelle Mixon, who killed four Oakland police officers and then died in a shootout with police in 2009.

“He’s from Oakland, he’s well known in Oakland — that brought a lot of credibility,” said David Muhammad, a former Alameda County chief probation officer and criminal justice reform consultant who has worked closely with Joyner for a decade.

At the same time, Muhammad recalls Joyner voicing regrets about his actions as a beat cop in the early 1990s. Mostly, Muhammad said, he had misgivings about the number of arrests he made as part of the so-called war on drugs.

He rose up the ranks, becoming a lieutenant in 2006 and overseeing the homicide unit, where, according to a biography on his booking website for public speaking gigs, he supervised 373 homicide investigations and 30 shootings by police officers.

From there, Joyner continued his ascent, promoted to commander in the Bureau of Field Operations in 2009 and then to captain in 2010. He came under scrutiny the next year, after he and another officer fatally shot two men they believed were headed to commit a murder. Prosecutors cleared the officers of potential charges, and the families sued Oakland for wrongful death, leading the city to pay a $75,000 settlement in 2016.

Several law enforcement and city sources have said Joyner had a fraught relationship with court monitor Robert Warshaw, who for years has overseen mandatory reforms in the city’s Police Department, stemming from a landmark civil rights settlement in 2003.

Joyner himself had harsh words for the monitor in a 2020 interview with The Chronicle.

“Warshaw, for whatever reason, has treated the city of Oakland as his personal annuity,” he said. “There’s a saying, that if you’re teaching a class and five people fail, they didn’t study. If 20 people fail, you didn’t teach.”

Even as he held a high position in the Police Department, he maintained ties in his community.

Reygan Cunningham, who worked with Joyner for years, remembers marching with him through East Oakland, after the murder of 3-year-old Carlos Nava in 2011.

“I had never been out in the community with a cop where people came out of their houses to acknowledge him and say ‘What up E,’ ‘How you doing, Ersie?’ ” Cunningham recalled.

In 2013, the department tapped him to head Ceasefire, Oakland’s flagship violence prevention program that had limped along since its inception in 2007, viewed during that period as a low priority. Joyner steered it through a phase of expansion, in which the city beefed up staff and began its targeted interventions with suspected gang members. Joyner and other officers began doing “custom notifications,” in which they would visit potential recruits to the program as soon as they were released from jail, usually accompanied by a pastor.

“He was never afraid,” said Cunningham, who served as Ceasefire’s civilian program director until 2018, a position that required her to go with Joyner to visit the homes of people who had recently been shot.

“He was always like, ‘No, these are my brothers, these are my people,’ ” Cunningham said. “He would say, ‘Folks got major issues with the Oakland Police Department. ... I got issues with them, too. And I understand that because I’m a Black man who grew up in Oakland.’ ”

Oakland’s investment in Ceasefire appeared successful. A 2019 study by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence found the city had cut its annual number of shootings and homicides nearly in half since 2012.

That progress began to unravel after Joyner retired from the department in 2019, around the same time that other top leaders left — creating instability in the program. As the city reeled from increased violence, abetted by the pandemic and economic shutdown in 2020, Joyner shifted to a new career in the cannabis industry.

He described himself in interviews as a business owner and consultant, devoting the same fervor to cannabis that he once did to busting gangs and cracking homicide cases.

“I’m a cannabis king, now,” Joyner recently told The Chronicle. He complained about heavy taxes levied on the industry, calling it “taxation without representation.”

Days ago, Muhammad spent a night hanging out with Joyner in Dallas after an airline canceled their connecting flight from Indianapolis. They had visited the city to discuss the model of violence prevention they had employed in Oakland, which the Indianapolis mayor is now seeking to replicate.

“We talked a lot about violence in Oakland, lamenting about the work we did there together for years,” Muhammad said.

By Saturday night, Oakland police were grappling with 115 homicides — the last of which was the individual Joyner shot and killed.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Oakland shootout stirs crime debate

Mon, 25 Oct 2021 21:32:56 GMT

Tensions deepen over police’s role amid homicide surge

By Sarah Ravani and Jill Tucker

A day after a brazen robbery turned into a deadly shootout involving a former Oakland police captain, residents and officials tried to make sense Friday of what happened and what it means for a city experiencing a wave of violent crime and debating the role of law enforcement.

Police continued their manhunt for two suspects while worrying over one of their own: retired police Capt. Ersie Joyner, who was still in the hospital in critical condition after he was shot by at least one of the robbers. Experts, meanwhile, offered differing views on Joyner’s decision to shoot at the assailants.

Local activists on Friday mourned the young man who Joyner fatally shot during the incident, another statistic in a city that has faltered badly this year in its long-standing effort to reduce crime and stem bloodshed.

The incident feeds into the debate over how to prevent and address violent crime and the trauma that comes with it, and funding of the police force — key issues that the city is grappling with and will likely dominate the upcoming mayor’s race.

“Every shooting, every death in this city is a tragedy,” said outgoing Mayor Libby Schaaf. “We take each one incredibly seriously and recognize the absolute harm and trauma that it has on our entire community.”

Joyner is well known in the city for his past role in overseeing the city’s Ceasefire program, a plan to reduce violence through community partnerships. Those targeted by Ceasefire are told that violence must stop, and they are offered support and services. But they are also put on notice that further violence will lead to a sustained police crackdown.

Joyner has more recently turned to operating cannabis businesses.

A surveillance video obtained by The Chronicle shows three suspects approach Joyner as he pumps gas into his car at a Chevron station adjacent to Interstate 980 near downtown Oakland.

The three suspects surround him and appear to go through his pockets before moving away from him. Joyner then pulls a gun and fires multiple times. One of the young men falls next to the gas pump while at least one of the two others return fire before escaping in their vehicle.

Joyner was shot several times. One suspect died at the scene.

“I rarely find myself defending an officer in a fatal shooting, but this time I am doing that,” said Suzanne Luban, a Stanford University law professor and associate director of the college’s Criminal Defense Clinic. “I watched that video and don’t think any legal scholar, defense attorney or prosecutor could argue this is not valid self-defense.”

Yet UC Berkeley law professor Andrea Roth said it’s more complicated.

The use of deadly force is generally not allowed as self-defense unless it’s necessary to repel an immediate deadly threat, she said. The video shows one suspect had gotten in the car to leave, while another appeared to be going through Joyner’s car through the passenger seat and the third was facing sideways.

There are a lot of questions, said Roth, an expert in criminal law. Was Joyner under immediate deadly threat? Did the robbers brandish a weapon? Did he believe he was under immediate threat?

“Of course a jury is the one who would decide all of this,” she said, adding that first prosecutors would have to charge him. “He wasn’t actually being subject to an assault of some kind at the time he brandished the weapon.”

The identity of the man Joyner killed was not immediately known, but social media posts identified him as a rapper from Vallejo.

The two other robbery suspects were being pursued, and it wasn’t clear whether authorities had identified them. An Oakland police spokesman said no additional information on the investigation was available.

There have been 115 homicides to date this year in Oakland, compared with 102 in all of 2020. It’s unclear how much the pandemic played a role in the increasing violence, but the Ceasefire program, for example, could no longer do in-person counseling or provide rides to court hearings, or go to hospitals to comfort and counsel victims of violence to prevent retaliation.

Barry Donelan, the president of the police officers’ union, said Thursday’s robbery and shooting illustrates “the level of violence we are seeing on our streets.”

“The fact that it’s one of our own is shocking,” Donelan said. “Is this what we want Oakland to be?”

Some city leaders said the brazenness of the crime in broad daylight was horrifying — and showed that more needs to be done to curb escalating violent crime.

Council Member Treva Reid, who represents part of East Oakland, said the robbery was tragic and a “lot to process.” Reid, whose district has disproportionately been impacted by violent crime this year, said gun violence in the community is traumatic for those who have experienced it.

Her 21-year-old son was shot and killed in Ohio in 2013.

“It resonates deeply and personally for me,” she said. “It’s real. It’s raw and I regret that it is what we have to live everyday.”

Reid said mentors, life coaches, job training programs, home ownership programs and rental assistance would all help with preventing violence — an approach pushed by some of her colleagues, including Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas and Council Member Carroll Fife.

Bas and Fife were unavailable for comment.

Council Member Loren Taylor said part of the problem is the lack of accountability for perpetrators of crime. He said he wants to beef up the investigative units of the Police Department and add video surveillance throughout the city in hopes of improving solve rates.

This month, Frederick Shavies, the homicide section commander, said the Oakland Police Department had a solve rate above 40% for homicides — a figure criticized by some council members.

Taylor, who announced last month that he’s running for mayor, has taken a stance of supporting more police presence on city streets.

“People aren’t going to do this type of thing if they know there is a much higher likelihood that they will be held accountable for their actions,” he said.

Anti-police activists, though, disagree that the city needs more cops on the street.

For Antoine Towers, the tragedy was first and foremost in his mind. A violence interrupter, he was at the scene Thursday to see if there was anything he could do.

“It was a robbery that went bad, but it was a young life that was lost,” he said, adding that it was yet another example of society failing to teach young people what they could be and what they should be. “It’s more of us getting to our kids and teaching them the outcomes that come from the decisions we make.”

He wondered whether any of these young men were raised to be a doctor. Was that instilled in their childhood?

“The community is not teaching us to be what we’re supposed to be,” said Towers, who said he was a “jackboy” too, carjacking and stealing in his youth. “We feel we can’t have certain jobs that can make us have the lifestyles we want.”

Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, said the incident is the “type of consistent violence we’ve been experiencing as Oaklanders,” but she said more police are not the answer.

“To stop violence, we must lead with peace, investments in prevention, provision of basic human needs like housing, clothes and shelter and healing of trauma,” Brooks said in a statement.

Attorney John Burris, who often represents the families of victims of police shootings and is friends with Joyner, said he’d been to the gas station many times. The two have shopped for Mother’s Day cards together and teased each other over the fancy cars they drive.

“I’ve known Ersie for many years and I know he’s a man who bleeds Oakland,” Burris said. “It’s ironic. He’s fighting against violence and becomes a victim of it.

“It’s symbolic, unfortunately, of what’s going on.”

Sarah Ravani and Jill Tucker are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com, sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sarravani, @jilltucker

Retired Oakland police captain injured in fatal West Oakland shooting

Fri, 22 Oct 2021 15:24:23 GMT

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com and GEORGE KELLY | gkelly@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: October 21, 2021 at 2:13 p.m. | UPDATED: October 21, 2021 at 9:55 p.m.

OAKLAND — One man was killed and the former head of Oakland police’s Ceasefire anti-violence initiative was wounded in a shooting Thursday afternoon at a West Oakland gas station, authorities said.

The shooting happened just after 1 p.m. near one of the gas pumps at a Chevron station at 1700 Castro St., with officers initially responding to a ShotSpotter activation, according to a police statement Thursday night.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His identity was withheld pending confirmation of next-of-kin notification. The other man who was shot suffered gunshot wounds and was taken to a hospital, police said.

Law enforcement sources who spoke to this news organization confirmed the wounded victim was Ersie Joyner III, who led the police department’s Ceasefire anti-violence initiative from 2013 until his retirement as a captain in 2019. That initiative worked to contact residents vulnerable to crime and violence and provide services.

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Oakland Police Captain Ersie Joyner is seen with then-Chief Sean Whent, left, and Mayor Libby Schaaf, right, during a 2015 news conference in Oakland.(Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

At a press conference Thursday evening outside Highland Hospital, Oakland police Chief LeRonne Armstrong described the wounded victim as a retired former police officer “lawfully able to carry a firearm” who was in stable but serious condition after the shooting. Armstrong declined to confirm that that person was Joyner, citing a family request.

Armstrong did confirm that the person was pumping gas at the station when “he was approached by several individuals that began to rob him of his belongings. During the robbery at some point, shots were fired, and both victims sustained gunshot wounds.” Investigators were seeking a black four-door sedan seen leaving the scene, but Armstrong declined to identify a make or model. No arrests were announced.

Of surveillance video taken at the scene and shared publicly by at least one other news outlet, Armstrong said “when it’s appropriate to release that surveillance video, we will release that video, not at this time but we are obviously looking for those responsible for this and that video is key to our investigation.

“The video is very clear, high-quality video. We clearly see this incident unfold. We obviously see the unfortunate incident that occurred. We also see the things that happened prior to the actual robbery, so we know that they intended to focus on the victim in this case. I think the video was being very clear and very helpful.”

Numerous city streets as well as on- and off-ramps to Interstate 980 remained blocked off into Thursday evening while the investigation was being conducted.

Joyner, who currently works as a consultant in the marijuana industry, drawing on experience combating narcotics, fraud and human trafficking, took pains to differentiate between Ceasefire’s focus and other more punitive approaches after a May 2019 warrant search: “Understand that accepting services doesn’t dictate whether people do investigations. Some contacted don’t engage in violence, but those who continue to engage? As promised, we hold them accountable.”

The death is the 115th this year that Oakland police are investigating as a homicide, following a separate fatal shooting Wednesday night in West Oakland. Last year the city finished with 109 total homicides, well below its 1992 peak of 175 homicides.

Suspect who killed DEA agent in Tucson had criminal history in Calfornia

Fri, 22 Oct 2021 14:43:29 GMT

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The man who died in a gunfight in Tucson with law enforcement officers this month after fatally shooting a federal agent inside an Amtrak train faced multiple criminal charges in California, according to the Associated Press.

Darrion Taylor, 26, had been released on bond from a jail in California’s Alameda County, sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Raymond Kelly told the Arizona Daily Star and the Arizona Republic.

Taylor had been charged with assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest in Alameda County, where he was arrested in 2020 on a warrant from Sacramento County on charges that included robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, the newspapers reported.

Authorities said Taylor was a passenger on Amtrak’s Sunset Limited when the train stopped at the Tucson station en route to New Orleans from Los Angeles.

Authorities said Taylor fatally shot DEA Special Agent Michael Garbo while Garbo and other members of a regional task force of DEA agents and local police officers searched passengers’ luggage for contraband, authorities said.

A second DEA agent and a Tucson police officer were wounded in the gunfire.

Oakland homicides surpass 2020 totals - leaving victims’ families in stunned grief

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 02:33:22 GMT

By JAKOB RODGERS | jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: October 16, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. | UPDATED: October 16, 2021 at 3:10 p.m.

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 13: Chalinda Hatcher, mother of Shamara Young, 15, poses for a photograph in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. Young was fatally shot during a ‘road rage’ incident on Bancroft Avenue becoming the city’s 109th homicide of the year. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

Three gunshots echoed around Joshua Hatcher. The window of his car shattered next to him.

Then Hatcher looked right at his niece, Shamara Young. She wasn’t ducking, or trying to dodge the bullets flying into his passenger’s seat. The 15-year-old was just sitting there with a gunshot wound in her head as Hatcher struggled to keep driving.

“That’s when I kind of went hysterical — everything came to my mind at once,” Hatcher said. Cradling her body with his free hand, he hit the gas and drove straight to a hospital, where doctors confirmed what he already suspected.

Shamara’s death, on Oct. 6 — after a road rage encounter that stretched for nearly two miles across East Oakland — marked the city’s 109th homicide, a grim milestone that equaled last year’s number of killings, with nearly three months remaining in 2021. Like most of the homicides in Oakland, Shamara’s death remains unsolved.

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“It’s a lot to be able to accept, someone with such a reckless state of mind,” Hatcher said. “None of those bullets had my niece’s name on it.”

With homicides in Oakland up about 40% from 2019, the drumbeat of death across Oakland has left community leaders grasping for ways to end the bloodshed, while further stoking debate on the role of policing in the city. While last year’s spike in violence has leveled off in many other major cities, Oakland has become an outlier, with a homicide rate that continues to rise.

“We are at a boiling point, and it has completely spilled over in the midst of this pandemic,” said City Council person Treva Reid, whose district encompasses deep east Oakland.

The majority of murders this year have been on the east side, with about 60% occurring in the two police divisions that include the areas east of 35th Avenue and the Elmhurst and Eastmont neighborhoods, according to the Oakland Police Department. Last year, the nation’s homicide rate jumped nearly 30%, according to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In Oakland, the increase was about 40%.

That toll includes Shamara, who was shot near Bancroft and 50th avenues.

Outside her house, dozens of candles and flowers filled the sidewalk, resting below pictures of the girl flashing a “peace” sign and smiling at the camera.

Like many teenagers, Shamara was constantly on TikTok, always making dance videos, sometimes even while standing in line to check out at Costco, her mother, Chalinda Hatcher, said. She had more eclectic interests too: This past summer, she took a class on how to juggle while walking on stilts. And she was working on improving her grades at nearby Fremont High School, so that she could join the basketball team.

“If you were her friend, you weren’t her friend, you were her family,” Chalinda Hatcher said. “Everybody knew that when you were friends with her, you weren’t going to let her go. Because she loved with everything.”

Two weeks ago, Shamara’s mother had been planning her Sweet 16 birthday party at Dave & Buster’s, where the girl could enjoy arcade games with her friends.

Instead, Chalinda Hatcher spent Wednesday morning picking out a purple, unicorn-encrusted urn to hold her daughter’s ashes.

“When is enough, enough?” she said. “I try to wrap my head around it, but can’t imagine why someone would do this.”

Shamara had planned on becoming a forensic scientist, Chalinda Hatcher said, voraciously watching shows like “Criminal Minds,” “911,” and “Law & Order.”

“That’s why I know that her soul is not going to rest until we find out who did this,” Chalinda Hatcher said. “Because she would want us to find out. She doesn’t want to be another unsolved murder.”

So far, just 31% of Oakland homicides this year have resulted in arrests, according to police spokesperson Paul Chambers.

Such low homicide arrest rates are typical here — particularly in cases involving Black or Latinx victims, said Roxanna Altholz, a law professor and co-director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at UC Berkeley. Oakland police made arrests in just 40% of homicide cases from 2000 to 2018, said Altholz, who authored a report on the issue in early 2020. That’s compared to a clearance rate of 58% in California and 63% across the U.S. in that same time period.

When so few people are arrested, the families of those slain can feel like victims themselves, Altholz said.

“It’s not just an issue about policing — it’s about supporting families that have experienced the worst tragedy that a person can experience,” Altholz said. “It impacts every facet of a life: family life, your ability to work and provide for your family and yourself, your spiritual outlook, your emotional wellbeing, every aspect.”

The fast-rising homicide rate comes as Oakland juggles calls among community activists for city leaders to enact more wide-ranging police reforms.

Oakland police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said the continued rise in violence is due, in part, to the pandemic disrupting violence prevention programs such as Ceasefire, which largely stopped operations last year amid the pandemic. Armstrong also pointed to the fact that more than 50 officers have left the department over the last five months — leaving fewer people to patrol the streets.

The department’s staffing levels have dipped so low that it could imperil revenues from the Measure Z parcel tax, which requires the city to employ 678 sworn officers before spending that money, aimed at preventing violence. As of Wednesday, the department had 684 officers.

Oakland have asked for the public’s help in solving Shamara’s murder, releasing footage of a car suspected of being involved in the shooting.

“This is not like what you see on TV — we really rely on the community’s help,” said Armstrong, imploring residents to share video and tips with detectives. “I do believe there is hope, though. The hope rests in the fact that we all want a safer Oakland. But that means that we all have to come together collectively.”

Shamara’s uncle, Joshua Hatcher, wishes more officers had been patrolling during the road rage encounter that left his niece dead. How, he wonders, did no officers see what was happening as the ordeal stretched for nearly 20 blocks?

In the week-and-a-half since those shots echoed in his car, Hatcher has second-guessed himself countless times. Being Shamara’s uncle, he always viewed himself as her “protector.”

“I’m trying to really figure out what I did to cause them to want to do this,” Hatcher said. “It wasn’t anything that I did.

“I feel so responsible, man. That’s what hurts me the most — is the fact that I wasn’t able to be there for her.”

Inside the massive surge in sideshows across the Bay Area - and why no city has figured out what to do about it

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 02:25:17 GMT

Rachel Swan

On a crisp night in February, a caravan of cars and trucks tore through San Jose, following a cryptic set of directions posted on Instagram, police said.

The participants stopped at the corner of Hamilton and Leigh avenues and formed a circle around the intersection. In the center — an area that police call “the pit” — drivers took turns spinning doughnuts and figure eights, tires squealing on the asphalt.

Spectators fired guns as smoke from burnt rubber fogged the air, the cars careening in every direction. When police swept the area the next morning — Feb. 14 — they picked up 100 shell casings.

It was one of five sideshows that took place in San Jose that night, all corresponding to addresses posted by a single Instagram handle. In San Jose and cities across the Bay Area, the trend had such volcanic intensity that authorities were confounded, unsure whether to hand out citations, or put barriers in roads, or muzzle the organizers on social media.

“During the pandemic it really became a much bigger issue,” San Jose Council Member Dev Davis said of these improvised car stunt demonstrations, a longstanding Bay Area tradition that grew out of old-school cruising culture, but has been remolded by the internet.

These spectacles may have been cathartic for teenagers cooped up during the pandemic, Davis ventured, but for neighborhoods and law enforcement, they are a burden. Most police departments lack the resources to contain sideshows, let alone track down license plates and link them to drivers, making prosecutions both rare and challenging.

While Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law this month allowing a six-month driver’s license suspension for people convicted of street racing, cities are enacting a dizzying array of policies and ordinances of their own.

As sideshows exploded, political leaders struggled to balance demands from angry residents, police weary of playing cat-and-mouse with crowds that scatter quickly and advocates who object to heavy enforcement, or who view sideshows as a noteworthy cultural scene.

Overwhelmingly, cities are taking a hard line.

“The message has been ‘Stay out of San Jose,’” City Council Member Maya Esparza said. She has sponsored two ordinances, in 2019 and this year, to discourage sideshows and street racing.

Richmond police Officer Ben Therriault investigates tire tracks behind a new barrier placed at an industrial park frequented by sideshow participants. The city reported 122 sideshows last year and 82 so far this year.

From May 2020 through February this year, San Jose police fielded about 460 calls for service related to these events, according to police statistics compiled Esparza’s office. This year, Oakland’s police dispatch received 960 such calls.

Richmond police reported 122 sideshows last year and 82 so far this year, while the San Francisco Police Department’s stunt-driving response unit logged 41 vehicle citations, 37 towed cars and 16 30-day holds through the end of last month, with 21 active cases pending more information or a judge’s signature. All but three of those motorists hailed from outside the city.

“It’s large groups of individuals from outside coming here,” said San Francisco’s acting deputy police chief, Daniel Perea, noting that cars swarm in from as far away as Los Angeles and bounce from city to city, forcing leaders to treat sideshows as a regional issue. Perea said he doesn’t know what is fueling this year’s increase but that the persistent warm weather could be a factor.

In Oakland, residents and politicians urged Newsom to send in the California Highway Patrol, largely to help manage sideshows and other dangerous driving.

Kathleen Heafey, a resident of the Sequoyah Hills neighborhood above Interstate 580, described convoys of 30 to 40 cars that would blast up from the freeway, blowing through stop signs until they reached the intersection of Skyline Boulevard and Keller Avenue. From January through the end of September, police reported 31 sideshows on that patch of road.

“You could hear the gun activity,” Heafey said. “There were always (shell) casings in the intersection.”

During the summer, the city came up with a deterrent: posts and bumps to narrow the road. Since they went up, the nights have been quieter, Heafey said.

San Jose began ratcheting up its sideshow enforcement in 2019, with an ordinance that made it illegal to watch a sideshow. Spectators could face misdemeanor charges with fines of up to $1,000 or six months in jail, an idea that Fairfield replicated this month, and that some city leaders are contemplating in Richmond. In June, San Jose began targeting sideshow organizers, with a new ordinance that made it illegal to promote them online.

The law passed its first test on Sept. 30, when a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge granted the city’s request for a preliminary injunction against four defendants accused of advertising sideshows on Instagram.

An attorney for one of the defendants viewed the injunctions as trampling on free speech and the right to association.

“It’s overbroad,” attorney Timothy Burke said, contending that the city had scant evidence against his client, Luis Felipe Garcia, whom police said posted at least one promotional video for a gathering on West Capitol Expressway, under the Instagram handle “SJBoss.”

When officers arrived, they found at least 100 cars and Garcia wearing an “SJBoss” T-shirt. He admitted the shirt referred to his Instagram account, Sgt. Brian Winco wrote in a court affidavit.

Some cities are supplementing enforcement with softer forms of prevention, largely in the form of road redesign: traffic circles, bumps and bollards that can be put up or taken down quickly. In the Evergreen neighborhood of San Jose, some residents got so desperate that they built their own roundabout in a popular location for street racing. City crews recently tore it down and erected a new one.

Businesses are installing their own barriers. On a recent Saturday night, Richmond officer and police union president Benjamin Therriault drove his patrol vehicle to the end of Canal Boulevard and found a new padlocked gate blocking the waterfront parking lot.

Shining his flashlight, Therriault saw big, looping tire marks on the pavement, a telltale sign that stunt drivers had been there.

But if a new road impediment slows down these drivers, it’s not enough to stop them altogether. So, some people are pressing a bold idea that officials have contemplated for decades, but never seriously pursued: putting sideshows in legal venues.

Sideshow enthusiast Sean Kennedy said he tried to pitch that concept several years ago, as a member of Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Commission, but that he met resistance from political leaders. Richmond City Council Member Eduardo Martinez discussed the possibility of legalizing sideshows during a Council meeting in July, but the concept has apparently not advanced.

Kennedy and another sideshow aficionado, Oakland filmmaker Yakpasua Zazaboi, view sanctioned sideshow events as a potential outlet for drivers with near-acrobatic skills at the wheel, or self-taught mechanics who can build their own high-powered engines.

Both men also remember an era during the 1980s and ’90s in Oakland, when sideshows were more of a performance art, than made-for-YouTube extreme sport. People came to flaunt their old-school Mustangs, Cougars, Cutlasses, or Oakland’s beloved icon, the 1980s box Chevrolet Caprice.

Legitimizing these gatherings could do what the X Games did for skateboarding, Zazaboi said.

“There’s some drivers, it looks like they’re sliding around on ice, and they have total control of the car,” Kennedy said, arguing that if cities were more creative, they could cultivate these drivers’ skills. Instead, he said, “they criminalize it.”

Others doubt that sideshow participants would willingly switch to a legal arena.

“Anything that’s too convenient — I just don’t think it would have the same attractiveness as stopping traffic and seeing people get angry,” Sequoyah Hills Homeowners Association President Sandra Bethune said. “That’s part of the thrill, I think.”

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Law enforcement crisis hotline in Sacramento trains retired officers to be listeners

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 02:20:31 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

Officers are there when we’re in crisis, and their daily work lives are filled with supporting us in some of our darkest moments. But when it all starts to become too much, who do they call?

"They deal with issues, anything from a bad day to a full-blown mental health crisis,” said Copline founder Stephanie Samuels, the clinician of the growing law enforcement crisis hotline.

Suspect went through unlocked window in Oakland home invasion, sexual assault

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 13:24:39 GMT

Lauren Hernández

One person was sexually assaulted during a home invasion in Oakland’s Redwood Heights neighborhood early Thursday morning in what police say appears to be a “random act of violence,” authorities said.

Just before 4 a.m., Oakland police said a man went through an unlocked window of a home, demanded money from two victims who had been asleep and sexually assaulted one victim before leaving the home.

Police said in a statement Thursday that they need the help of the public to solve this case. Authorities described the suspect as a 5’10” man with a thin build in his 20s who was wearing a black mask, dark-colored hooded sweatshirt and dark pants.

Anyone with information or video related to this incident should call Oakland police’s Special Victims Section at 510-238-3641.

Police are urging residents to reduce the risk of a home invasion by keeping their doors and windows locked at all times, install an alarm or video surveillance system, ensure porches and driveways are well lit, trim bushes and trees to “increase visibility from inside of your house and to avoid hiding spots,” and install signs that alert passersby to their home’s alarm system, surveillance system or dog on the property.

Lauren Hernández is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByLHernandez

‘Everybody In This City Should Be Hurt;’ Emotional Oakland Police Chief Reveals Teen Girl Died In Road Rage Shooting

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 13:21:24 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — An emotional Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong went again before cameras Thursday to condemn the latest shooting which left a teenage girl dead, imploring members of the community to work together with police to help stop the scourge of gun violence.

At a press conference at Oakland police headquarters, Armstrong provided additional details of the shooting late Wednesday night along the 5000 block of Bancroft Ave. in the city’s Fairfax neighborhood, saying it appeared to be the result of road rage.

Officers were called to Highland Hospital at around 11:30 p.m. where a 15-year-old girl had been taken with severe gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Armstrong said the girl had been riding in a vehicle with her uncle when he began arguing with another driver. A person or persons from the other vehicle then opened fire with a fusillade of bullets, hitting the girl with multiple rounds.

“Everybody in this city should be hurt,” said Armstrong. “I hope that everybody in this city wakes up and understands, finally, how much do we have to bring before the public, how many times do we have to cry out for help? How many times do we have to say to you that we are in a moment of crisis? Our children are in danger.”

A 15-Year-Old Girl Becomes Oakland’s Homicide #109 - Equaling the Total for all of 2020.

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 16:02:50 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

October 7, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A 15-Year-Old Girl Becomes Oakland’s Homicide #109 - Equaling the Total for all of 2020.

OAKLAND – Tragically overnight, a child was murdered, bringing the homicide total to 109 for the year:

#109 – In the early hours of October 7th, a 15-year-old girl was riding in the passenger seat of a vehicle driving in the 5000 block of Bancroft Ave. An unknown suspect fired shots into the vehicle, striking and killing the 15-year-old.

“The tragedy of a 15-year-old’s life being extinguished on an Oakland street, epitomizes the violence our city’s residents and police officers are seeing daily. Oakland’s hardworking but dwindling ranks of police officers are striving to bring justice to the families of those impacted by homicide, have responded to over 575 shootings so far this year, and recovered almost 1,000 firearms. All despite the lack of support from the majority of Oakland’s city council that voted to defund the police and remain silent in the face of these violent tragedies. When are Oakland residents going to hold their elected officials accountable for the violence on our streets?” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

There are 86 days left in 2021, and Oakland has already equaled the total number of homicides for 2020, 109. In 2019, Oakland had 75 homicides. Oakland’s city council must stand up, decry the violence, and make the safety of Oakland citizens its top priority. Oakland Police officers look forward to joining the community they serve to prevent any more senseless murders.

###

Oakland police chief urges community support in preventing crime following two weekend homicides

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 01:57:00 GMT

By Andres Picon - San Francisco Chronicle

Oakland officials and community members issued an urgent plea Monday for the city’s residents to become more involved in helping to stem a surge in violent crime amid the police department’s ongoing staffing issues.

The call for increased support from community members came after a weekend marred by two homicides, including the killing of Dirk Tillotson, an Oakland education equity activist who police said was the victim of a violent and apparently targeted home invasion Friday night.

“We need family and friends and loved ones to grab their loved ones and give them the support that they need to to draw on city resources, community-based organizations’ resources ... so that they don’t have to engage in violence,” Armstrong said at a news conference, surrounded by city residents who have been affected by gun violence.

“We can’t arrest our way out of this problem,” Armstrong said. “It is a collaborative partnership that it’s going to take to address gun violence in the city of Oakland and we are a part of that partnership.”

Armstrong’s appeal for a more preventative approach to Oakland’s rising crime levels comes as the police department becomes increasingly hamstrung by staffing shortages. In the first four days of October, 10 police officers resigned, shrinking the police force to a total of about 695 officers, Armstrong said.

“These numbers are dwindling fast,” he said, declining to say why the officers had quit. “This is very concerning for us.”

Meanwhile, Oakland is experiencing a level of violent crime that has not been seen in years. In September, police investigated 17 homicides — the most of any month this year. There have been 106 homicides in Oakland in 2021 compared with 80 at this point last year, Armstrong said.

Loren Taylor, councilmember for District 6, said the importance of addressing violent crime and stopping it before it happens was highlighted by the death of Tillotson, an Oakland community member who for years led efforts to make education more equitable for students of color.

“As Dirk’s councilmember, I feel a responsibility to get to the bottom of this and ensure that we are able to not just hold the perpetrator of this crime accountable, but fulfill the legacy and the mission that Dirk stood for,” Taylor said.

Tillotson was killed, and his wife, Amina Assefa, 44, was injured when an intruder broke into their home in the 2600 block of Monticello Avenue and shot the couple after being confronted by Tillotson. Armstrong said police believe the intruder targeted their home specifically.

Police did not have suspects as of Monday and asked that anyone with information on the shooting call the departments’ homicide unit at 510-238-3821.

“I stand here committed to furthering our work of reimagining public safety, of implementing real violence prevention programs, pulling our community together, partnering with our law enforcement officers, our violence prevention professionals, our community members, our faith organizations and others,” Taylor said. “It will take all of us to continue to address the crime and the violence that’s happening in our community, both in responding to it as well as addressing the root causes that allow it to occur in the first place.”

Brenda Grisham, executive director of the Christpher LaVell Jones Foundation — a local community organization — called for Oakland’s residents to intervene when loved ones show signs of distress, and to connect them to support networks that can help them before they resort to gun violence.

“It’s a whole community that needs to come together to make a difference,” said Grisham, whose son was killed on New Year’s Eve in 2010. “The police can’t do it alone. We need to step in where we can and make a difference so that we can see tomorrow.”

The Oakland Police Department will hold a community meeting next week where community members and police officials will discuss the wave of violent crime and efforts to stop it, Armstrong said.

Andy Picon is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: andy.picon@hearst.com Twitter: @andpicon

As coronavirus cases mount and vaccine mandates spread, holdouts plague police and fire departments

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 01:52:56 GMT

By Mark Berman, The Washington Post

When the coronavirus vaccines were first rolled out, the national Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) went to the federal government, pleading for law enforcement officers to have “expedited access” to the shots. Police, the group wrote, needed the vaccine “to keep them, and the public with whom they interact, safe from infection.”

But to the group’s surprise, officers did not rush to get the shot. And months later, with the vaccine widely available across the country, scores remain unvaccinated.

“We worked very hard, along with others, to ensure that police officers had early availability on a premise that they’d all want it,” said James Pasco, FOP executive director.

Nearly a quarter of Americans age 18 and older remain unvaccinated, according to a Washington Post analysis of federal data, frustrating officials and fueling bitter debates. Yet the continued resistance among the first responders included in those tens of millions is particularly troubling and creates a different kind of threat, experts say.

Due to the nature of their jobs, first responders regularly have close contact with the public, which increases their risk of contracting and spreading the coronavirus among themselves, their families and the people they are sworn to protect, experts in public health and policing said.

“They’re going to get infected, because they have more contact with people than most,” said Vincent Racaniello, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University. “It doesn’t work any other way.”

The resistance to vaccination is surprising, some said, given how the virus has battered law enforcement’s ranks since the beginning of the pandemic, and continued to do so as the delta variant has taken hold.

Covid was the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths last year, killing at least 182 officers, according to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, which tracks such deaths. That’s nearly double the number killed by gun violence and vehicle crashes combined. At least 133 officers have died of covid so far this year, according to the organization.

But despite the toll the pandemic has taken, tensions over vaccinations have only increased as unions and individual officers and firefighters have railed against mandates, filing lawsuits and threatening to quit if the shots are required.

When Chicago Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced that all city employees would have to be vaccinated by Oct. 15, the head of the city’s largest police union compared it to the Holocaust.

“We’re in America, G------n it. We don’t want to be forced to do anything. Period,” FOP President John Catanzara told the Chicago Sun-Times. “This ain’t Nazi f---ing Germany, [where they say], ‘Step into the f---ing showers. The pills won’t hurt you.’” he said.

Catanzara later posted a video apologizing for the comments, which were condemned by the mayor and Jewish leaders.

The Los Angeles County Health Department identified hundreds of coronavirus outbreaks at police and fire agencies across the county, according to records obtained by the Los Angeles Times. The outbreaks accounted for more than 2,500 cases - more than half of which were in the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Fire Department, the paper reported. The fire department said recently that more than half its sworn members have been fully vaccinated, while police chief Michel Moore reported this week that more than 60 percent of his agency’s 12,000 employees - sworn officers and civilians - were fully vaccinated.

Yet employees of both departments have been fierce critics of vaccine requirements and have filed lawsuits in response to a mandate that all municipal employees be vaccinated by Oct. 5, unless they have a medical or religious exemption. Thousands of police employees have indicated they will seek such exemptions.

While there has been much national debate over vaccine mandates in the workplace, experts say first responders are a special case because of the unique position they hold in American life.

Officers wield significant authority, and many of the public’s interactions with police are initiated by officers or by 911 calls summoning them, with people having no choice about whether to engage.

“Somebody gets stopped at a traffic light for a traffic violation, window goes down, officer leans toward the person . . . if they go to a house where there’s been a complaint, they go into the house,” said Jack Greene, professor emeritus of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University. “They’re always going into public spaces.”

When police knock on someone’s door, “more often than not, people accede to that request,” said Greene, who has consulted for police departments. “And if they don’t, the door might get broken down. It really boggles the imagination” that any first responder could respond to a call and potentially expose someone else to the virus, he said.

“At the risk of sounding a little bit snide, maybe we should take protect and serve off the sides of patrol cars and put down show up and infect,” he said.

Experts were split about the reasons behind so many officers remaining resistant to vaccination. Some point to the same misinformation and fear impacting the decisions of other Americans.

“Police officers are no different than other people in their community,” said Pasco of the FOP. He said his initial surprise that police did not flock to the vaccine in larger numbers faded as he saw how fractured the general public was on the topic.

“I’m better informed today as to the depths of divisions on this issue than I was when vaccines first became available,” Pasco said. “The country has not embraced vaccines to the degree that most people anticipated.”

In a recent policy statement, Pasco’s group reiterated its support for vaccinations and said “whether or not to accept the vaccine is a personal decision” up to individual members.

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, who frequently speaks to police chiefs, said it appeared to be “predominantly younger officers who do not want to get vaccinated.”

Wexler called the trend “puzzling,” saying he couldn’t explain it.

Charleston police Lt. Robert Gamard reported that some of his department’s officers have said they were still “meaning to do it,” while others remain adamantly opposed. There is no vaccine mandate, he said, but the department has been pushing information to its officers and is exploring making vaccinations available during roll call.

“We’re going to keep trying,” said Gamard, who oversees training for the force.

David J. Thomas, a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University and a retired police officer, described policing as “very conservative in nature.” He noted that in the past, officers have resisted other measures meant to protect them, such as body armor, and are hesitant to adapt to changes.

Officers have the “belief that it’s just not going to happen to them,” he said. Thomas said one police chief told him, “We’ve done everything we can to get them vaccinated, and they won’t listen.”

Thomas said he also believed some officers were vaccinated but not admitting it, comparing it to the work he does with law enforcement on mental health issues. Some officers are hesitant to admit they need help, fearful of seeming weak, and admitting they are vaccinated might be similar, he said.

But as the delta variant-fueled virus surge continues to sweep the country, the prospect of significant numbers of first responders falling ill raises other issues.

“I’m going to use a term the Pentagon would use: It’s a matter of force readiness,” said Sandra C. Quinn, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. “Will they have a healthy workforce that’s vital for protecting public safety and well being?”

Miami police chief Art Acevedo said he found officers’ resistance to vaccination “very surprising” and “disappointing.”

Acevedo has been an outspoken advocate for vaccinations, and when he signaled support for a mandate last month, local and national police groups lashed out. Pasco called it “management by tantrum,” while the local police union’s president in a letter called the chief’s comments “flat out demoralizing.”

After the pushback, Acevedo, who was chief in Houston before becoming the Miami department’s leader in April, was undeterred, saying unions arguing against mandates were practicing “labor leadership by hypocrisy” after demanding more protective equipment for officers early in the pandemic.

“We need to do everything we can to keep each other alive,” Acevedo said in an interview. “And the one thing when it comes to covid that we know, that the data shows, that’ll help you stay alive . . . is being vaccinated.”

However, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police chief Johnny Jennings said while he believes in vaccination, he does not support a mandate. Jennings said he preferred to “continue to educate and get cooperation from people to go and voluntarily get vaccinated.”

He noted that the pandemic has “been devastating” for police.

“We don’t have the luxury of putting . . . Plexiglass between us and the people we come in contact with,” Jennings said. He said police “have to be responsible to protect ourselves.”

Yolian Y. Ortiz, a spokeswoman for the FOP lodge representing officers in Charlotte, similarly backed vaccinations while pushing against any requirement.

“We are asking everybody to get vaccinated,” she said. “But we believe it’s a personal choice and should not be mandated.”

Officers, she said, are going through the same thought process as others who have not gotten the shots.

“You want your employees to be able to exercise that personal choice, like religion or your freedom of speech. You don’t want that to be infringed upon,” Ortiz said.

Some departments have been able to obtain high compliance without mandates. Ian Adams, a former police officer in Utah who is a doctoral candidate at the University of Utah, studied police vaccination rates in Salt Lake City and found that most of the department’s officers were vaccinated in a matter of days. Adams said the department’s leadership helped fuel the outcome. (A spokesman for the department said the police chief was not available for an interview.)

“My question for people talking about mandates, is there an alternative to consider? It requires a lot of leadership and hard work and transparency, but none of that’s impossible,” said Adams, who also is also executive director of the Utah State Fraternal Order of Police. “And I think that’s what this case demonstrated.”

Exactly how many officers nationwide are vaccinated is unknown. There are more than 15,000 local police departments in the United States, each with its own policies, and no government agency tracking the information.

The Washington Post requested vaccination rates and policies from dozens of police, fire and city officials. Several said they did not keep track of vaccination rates or had incomplete statistics, while some departments reported numbers suggesting thousands of their employees remained unvaccinated.

Police officials in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio - cities that are home to some of the country’s largest departments - said they have not kept records of vaccinations among their forces, nor were mandates in place. In Chicago, home to the country’s second-largest local police force, officials have not kept track of how many officers are vaccinated although a mandate for city employees goes into effect later this month.

Of the major departments that are keeping track, Las Vegas officials said more than half of that city’s force was fully vaccinated. The department also said that vaccinations are required for newly-hired police employees.

There is no mandate for New York City police, the country’s largest local department, which said about 62% of its workforce - which includes 36,000 officers as well as 19,000 civilian personnel - were vaccinated as of Sept. 23. By comparison, 74% of adults in New York are fully vaccinated, according to city data.

Data reported by fire departments also varied. In Austin, vaccinations are not mandated, but fire officials said that four in five personnel were vaccinated. Both New York and Los Angeles departments reported that more than half of employees were vaccinated.

In Denver, a vaccine mandate covering government workers - including police, fire and sheriff’s department employees - went into effect at the end of September, and those who refuse risk losing their jobs.

Even without mandates, experts said, first responders have an obligation to get vaccinated to protect the public.

They are in “very public facing positions, and they really have a responsibility to keep the public safe,” said Racaniello, the Columbia professor.

Oakland education activist killed in Maxwell Park home-invasion robbery

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 01:46:59 GMT

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com and MARISA KENDALL | mkendall@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: October 2, 2021 at 7:49 a.m. | UPDATED: October 3, 2021 at 9:05 a.m.

OAKLAND — A man known as a fearless advocate for equity in local schools was fatally shot and his wife wounded late Friday night in a home-invasion robbery at their Maxwell Park home in East Oakland.

Police had not released their names as of Saturday evening, but a co-worker and long-time friend of the victim identified him as Dirk Tillotson — a champion for equity in schools in Oakland, New York and around the world. The educational community on both coasts was reeling Saturday as people who knew Tillotson reckoned with the senseless act of violence that cost them their friend.

“They’re just in shock,” said Paul Le, who with Tillotson founded Great School Choices — a nonprofit that fights to give all students an equal shot at educational success. “Just don’t have any answers as to why. Why it had to be him. Because he just gives and gives and gives.”

The shooting was reported about 11:29 p.m. Friday at the couple’s home in the 2600 block of Monticello Avenue, which is a primarily residential neighborhood. Authorities said both victims were asleep when at least one person broke into the home.

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Tillotson, 52, was awakened by the noise and was shot after confronting the suspect, who also shot Tillotson’s wife, authorities said.

Tillotson died at the scene and his wife was taken to a hospital. Le said Tillotson’s wife is OK and is staying with friends.

Police are trying to determine why the house was targeted and what, if anything, was taken. Detailed descriptions of any suspects have not been released and no arrests have been made.

Tillotson was born in upstate New York, and went to college at SUNY Brockport before moving on to UC Berkeley Law School. From there, he launched a career in education activism that took him all over the globe, from helping to reform schools in Qatar, to working on educational equity issues in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, to helping to incubate the first autism inclusion school in Harlem, New York, to expanding translation services for Oakland students.

His fingerprints are everywhere, Le said.

“The world lost one of the best advocates for education in the world,” Le said. “Even though he never tooted his own horn, that’s what we lost last night.”

A GoFundMe page set up to support Tillotson’s wife, Amina, and son, Malcolm, had raised more than $5,000 as of Sunday morning.

Tillotson moved to Oakland around 2013, Le said, and founded the Great School Voices blog to serve as a watchdog for equity issues in the Oakland school system. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he fought to make sure all students had access to the internet, computers and any other resources they needed to learn successfully at home.

Theo Oliphant was friends with Tillotson for 29 years — they met on their first day of law school at UC Berkeley and quickly became close. Oliphant was blown away by his friend’s dedication to activism from the very beginning. By his second year of law school, Tillotson already was volunteering as a court-appointed special advocate, fighting for the educational rights of foster children, Oliphant said.

As a friend, Tillotson pushed you to be the best version of yourself, said Oliphant, a 51-year-old real estate developer living in Martinez, who also serves on the board of Great School Choices. People were drawn to him, and his house was always a social hub.

“He was a magnet for people because you could be vulnerable around him and he supported you in your vulnerability,” Oliphant said. “And there was no judgement.”

Tillotson never pulled punches when he was fighting for what he believed in, but he always made sure whoever he was sparring with felt valued and respected, Le said.

“He had no filter,” Le said. “He just kind of told it like it is.”

In the next few weeks, Tillotson and Le were set to launch a new initiative to expand their activism nationwide. The project, Led Better, will offer teachers remote, digital training in special education, English as a second language, and other high-need areas, Le said. The goal is to make these services more accessible and more affordable to all educators. The project is set to start in California and New York, and then branch out to other states.

The project still will launch in Tillotson’s name, Le said.

“But it sucks that he won’t be able to see the fruits of that labor,” he said.

Tillotson’s killing is the 105th death being investigated as a homicide this year by Oakland police. Last year at this time police had investigated 80 homicides in the city. Oakland police investigated a total of 109 homicides last year.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $15,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the suspect or suspects. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

Two killed, four wounded in Oakland shootings

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 15:32:11 GMT

The two men killed were brothers

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com

OAKLAND — Two brothers were killed and four other people, one a 17-year-old girl, were wounded in a pair of shootings early Sunday in different areas of East Oakland, authorities said.

The names of the brothers, one 21 and the other 26, have not yet been released.

They were shot about 1:55 a.m. Sunday outside their home in the 3700 block of High Street near Masterson Street.

Authorities said the men apparently got into some kind of confrontation with some other men and were shot. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

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The suspects fled on foot before police arrived on the scene.

Police are trying to determine what the confrontation was about.

The killings are the 101st and 102nd being investigated as homicides by police this year. Last year at this time police had investigated 76 killings as homicides.

The four wounded people were shot about 2:26 a.m. Sunday as they were driving in an SUV in the 1400 block of Eighth Avenue, police said.

Besides the 17-year-old girl, two women, both 18, and a 30-year-old man were wounded. They were able to drive to a hospital where they were all reported to be in stable condition.

Police believe they were deliberately targeted by more than one shooter standing in the street. A motive for the shooting is under investigation and no arrests have been made.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $20,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrests of the suspects in both the double killing and the shooting that wounded four people. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950 or 510-238-3426 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

Oakland police union blames increase in violence on city council's 'defund strategy'

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 15:23:02 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The issue of policing is once again front and center in Oakland. Barry Donelan, the president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, says the problem is out of control.

"City leaders are vilifying and demonizing them at every turn. The defund strategy by the majority of city council has brought us this violent crime," he said.

Donelan says police don't have the resources to keep up with the crime surge.

The department is currently losing about 10 offices a month.

"We're at 694 today. Lowest we've been in seven years, yet the highest violent crime in a decade."

Oakland Police Officers Survive Downtown Shootout with Gunman.

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 00:09:57 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

September 22, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland Police Officers Survive Downtown Shootout with Gunman.

OAKLAND - This morning two brave Oakland Police Officers were ambushed on a downtown street in broad daylight by a suspect apparently intent on killing them and any other residents that crossed his path. The suspect engaged the officers in a gun battle and one officer was shot. That officer was rescued by colleagues while other officers corralled the suspect. The suspect barricaded himself in a nearby building and officers were able to protect nearby residents. Ultimately, he was taken into custody.

“It was only by mere inches that the bullet that struck an Oakland Police Officer this morning could have us presiding over a much worse outcome this evening. Two of Oakland’s finest were ambushed by a gunman on city streets and only their quick thinking, courage, and experience stopped more residents or officers from getting hurt. We are all proud of them and thankful the one officer shot will recover. Sadly, these gun attacks are likely to continue as Oakland’s defund-the-police-experiment shrinks the department and drives up crime,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Every officer who responded to today’s violent, fluid, and dynamic downtown scene showed why Oakland’s police officers are America’s most courageous and professional law enforcement officers.

The Oakland Police Officers’ Association would also like to thank the staff, doctors, and nurses at Highland Hospital for taking such good care of our injured member. Also, thanks to the various outside law enforcement agencies that have entered the city today to help us and our residents.

###

'Unacceptable': OPD denounces city's rising violence after officer ambushed, shot responding to call

Thu, 23 Sep 2021 04:50:06 GMT

By Amy Hollyfield and Laura Anthony

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- An Oakland police officer is in stable condition this afternoon with a gunshot wound to the leg, after an hours-long incident that began with a 911 call, led to a running gun battle and then a two-hour standoff at an apartment building just blocks from City Hall. It comes in a week when Oakland has already surpassed 100 homicides for the year.

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An early morning 911 call about a man acting erratically with a weapon near downtown Oakland quickly turned violent when police say, the man shot one officer almost as soon as he and his partner arrived.

Amid rising violence, Oakland council votes to fund another police academy

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 13:04:14 GMT

By Sarah Ravani

One day after Oakland recorded its 100th homicide of the year, the City Council decided to add an extra police academy to increase the number of officers on city streets, pushing aside its rejection earlier this summer for another class of cadets.

Three months ago, the council voted against adding a fifth police academy in the city’s two-year budget, saying at the time that more resources needed to be invested in violence prevention services.

But on Tuesday night, the resolution to add a fifth academy, introduced by Councilmember Sheng Thao, passed 6-2 with council President Nikki Fortunato Bas and Councilmember Carroll Fife voting against the plan.

Thao had opposed the extra academy in June but reversed her position in the wake of criticism from constituents as violent crime has spiked in the city.

Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said the newly funded academy would have 20 trainees and would start in January or February. The resolution also orders the city administrator to study the possibility of adding a sixth police academy next year. It directs the city administrator to prioritize recruitment efforts with local community colleges to boost diversity and look into providing child care for police trainees.

“As a City Council member, a mother and a victim of a home burglary and a survivor of domestic violence, I know personally just how important effective policing and public safety is in the city of Oakland,” Thao said. “No matter who you are, when your home is broken into, or you (hear) gunshots outside your door or when you walk to your car alone at night, you want to feel safe.”

Fortunato Bas said she doesn’t know how a police academy will prevent violence. She said “building a comprehensive safety infrastructure should be our top priority” — by investing in violence interrupters, mental health services, parks, libraries and other programs.

“The status quo is not yielding results,” she said.

Fife said that even if the council had approved an additional academy this year, the officers wouldn’t be on the streets yet to help address the rise in crime. Instead, the city should look to “quadruple the number of dollars going into prevention.”

The debate over adding a police academy came amid concerns that violent crime is escalating and the number of sworn police personnel is dwindling.

Acting Chief Darren Allison inspects a cadet's service weapon during the Oakland Police Department's 183rd Basic Recruit Academy Graduation held at the Scottish Rite Center in Oakland, California, on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020.

Michael Short/Special to The Chronicle 2020

The department currently has 694 sworn personnel, the lowest number since 2014. Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, said the city is losing about 10 officers a month to other law enforcement agencies and retirement.

In a statement Tuesday, Donelan criticized the council for voting in June to fund four police academies and not the six that Mayor Libby Schaaf had initially proposed. In May, Schaaf proposed a two-year budget that would increase funding for the police by spending $693 million total. Instead, councilmembers approved a budget that funds four police academies and boosted funding for violence prevention measures and social services.

“Oakland’s dwindling ranks of police officers are struggling to stem the violence and bloodshed on city streets,” Donelan said. “City Council members who previously voted to defund the police, helping fuel Oakland violence, are now considering more police academies. How about this strategy: support your hardworking police officers and act against violence.”

Some residents are demanding more police, ramping up pressure on city officials to respond to shootings, while others argue that funding social services and anti-violence programs is the best path to reducing homicides.

One concern about dwindling staffing is that if the department reaches 678 sworn personnel, the city could lose out on millions of dollars in revenue from Measure Z, a voter-approved parcel tax that funds public safety and violence intervention programs. But last week, City Administrator Ed Reiskin said the council could vote for an exemption to stem the loss in Measure Z funds.

On Monday, Schaaf urged residents by email to call into the meeting to support Thao’s resolution.

“We can reimagine public safety and we can provide a basic level of public safety for our residents,” Schaaf said before the meeting.

Measure Z is projected to generate more than $26 million in revenue in the fiscal year 2021-2022 to fund police services, including crime reduction teams, community resources officers and the anti-violence Ceasefire program, as well as street outreach, victim support, re-entry programs and fire services, said Karen Boyd, a spokesperson for the city administration.

Boyd said if the Police Department’s staffing drops below 678, the city could lose about $72,429 per day until staffing is restored or an exemption is approved. Each police academy costs about $4 million.

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At Tuesday’s meeting, dozens of people spoke during nearly two hours of public comment. Most speakers urged the council to consider an exemption before approving a fifth academy.

Cat Brooks, the executive director of the Anti Police-Terror Project, called on the council to hold off on voting for another academy. She emphasized that more police won’t prevent crimes, but social services will.

“Healthy, whole and happy” peop le don’t commit crimes, she said.

The department is currently funded for 45 police officer trainees per academy for two academies this fiscal year and two the following fiscal year.

In May, only 23 out of 45 trainees graduated after people dropped out. And a current police academy is set to graduate 26 out of 45 trainees — leaving 41 funded positions that won’t be filled. The cost savings from those two academies could potentially fund another academy, a spokesman for the department said.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani

Oakland City Council Votes To Hire, Train More Police After Spike in Homicides

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 12:58:26 GMT

OAKLAND (KPIX) — A day after Oakland hit the grim milestone of its 100th homicide so far this year, city council members who voted to reduce resources to the police force reversed course. In a 6-to-2 vote the council voted to increase the number of new police recruits.

Tuesday’s late-night vote will fund two new police academies over the next two years.

Councilmember Sheng Thao introduced the proposal to add the new police academies. It was a move that Mayor Libby Schaaf has been advocating for months.

The department has shrunk to 694 sworn officers—the fewest since 2014.

“Good policing requires officers that are not just running from 911 call to 911 call or are exhausted because they’re working too much overtime,” said Schaaf. “Oakland has the lowest per violent crime staffing of any department in America.”

The city’s 100th murder victim of 2021 was a man found shot to death Monday morning outside the Coliseum BART station. On Tuesday afternoon, Oakland officers were called to another shooting as a man was rushed to a hospital after gunfire near Bond and High Streets.

One concern facing the city council is that if the number of officers falls below 678, Oakland could lose Measure Z funding, which goes to various purposes including firefighting and violence prevention.

But some feel the city could get an exemption from that. Much of the public comment at the council meeting reflected a lack of support among residents for the police department.

“I want to advocate against the creation of more police academies that we know don’t keep us safe,” said one caller to the virtual meeting.

Fueled By City Council Majority’s Defund the Police Strategy – Oakland Hits 100 Homicides in Record Time.

Tue, 21 Sep 2021 20:34:38 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

September 21, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fueled By City Council Majority’s Defund the Police Strategy – Oakland Hits 100 Homicides in Record Time.

OAKLAND – Sadly, yesterday, Oakland suffered homicide #100 for the year:

#100 – Yesterday, at about 10:40 am, a caller advised 911 they heard gunshots and saw a man down near the Bart Station located at 7200 San Leandro St. Officers arrived on the scene and located the victim, who was suffering from 5 gunshot wounds to the upper torso. Unfortunately, the victim did not survive the injuries.

Oakland’s 100th homicide of 2021 is also Oakland’s 10th homicide in seven days. It has been thirteen years (2008) since Oakland last recorded its 100th homicide in September. This time last year, there were 70 homicides. Yet, amid the violence, Oakland defund-the-police council members play a political shell game by talking about more police academies that they voted against previously.

“Oakland’s dwindling ranks of police officers are struggling to stem the violence and bloodshed on city streets. City council members who previously voted to defund the police, helping fuel Oakland violence, are now considering more police academies. How about this strategy; support your hardworking police officers and act against violence,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Oakland’s defunded police department’s sworn staffing is 694 - the lowest since 2014. Oakland is currently losing about ten officers a month. City council defunding froze fifty-five (55) police officer positions, resulting in the disbandment of the Traffic Division, walking details, some Crime Reduction teams, and Community Resources units. Yet, Oakland’s hardworking and underappreciated police officers took 859 firearms off Oakland streets this year – Truly #OaklandsFinest.

About the Oakland Police Officers’ Association: The Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) represents all sworn members at all ranks within the Oakland Police Department. Representing the hardest working Police Officers in America. The OPOA can be found on the Web at www.opoa.org.

###

Oakland: Man shot and killed near Coliseum BART station, police say 10th homicide in the last seven days, 4th since Saturday

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 22:33:54 GMT

By SUMMER LIN | slin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: September 20, 2021 at 3:10 p.m. | UPDATED: September 20, 2021 at 3:10 p.m.

OAKLAND — Police said they’re investigating the city’s 100th homicide of this year after a shooting near the Coliseum BART station took the life of one man.

The murder marked the 10th homicide in a 7-day period and the fourth since Saturday, Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said at a Monday afternoon press conference.

“So much violence, so many guns, so many senseless lives lost. If this is not a calling to everybody in this community that there is a crisis I don’t know what is,” Armstrong said. “The fact of the matter is we haven’t spoken loud enough about the violence that we’ve experienced; we haven’t talked about the now 100 lives that have been lost in our community.”

Armstrong said that police responded Monday morning to the 7200 block of San Leandro Street near the BART station to a report of multiple shots fired and discovered a man who died from from gunshot wounds, according to police. The identity of the victim has not been released.

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Authorities responded to a shooting on Saturday at at about 11:00 p.m. on the 2300 block of Legion Avenue and when officers arrived, they found that a 30-year-old man, who was outside a house party, had been shot multiple times and died at the scene.

Oakland police responded to a shooting around 2:15 a.m. Sunday at the 300 block of 17th Street in which a 28-year-old man from Stockton was shot and killed and three others were injured. The victim’s man has not yet been released.

Later on Sunday at 2:30 p.m., police responded to a shooting at the 2300 block of Humboldt Avenue in which a 23-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said the victim had gotten into a fight with another man and the suspect fled the scene.

Oakland police said the killing is the 100th homicide this year and the 10th since last Monday but it’s the 99th killing according to a count by Bay Area News Group. The city reported its 100th homicide last year in December and 109 homicides in total.

Two killed, five wounded in Oakland shootings

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 22:26:45 GMT

Police have now investigated 97 homicides so far this year in the city

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: September 19, 2021 at 7:42 a.m. | UPDATED: September 20, 2021 at 5:49 a.m.

OAKLAND — Two men were killed and five other men were wounded, one during a robbery, in four shootings Saturday night and early Sunday in different areas of the city, authorities said.

The shootings are not related, authorities said.

Authorities said about 2:15 a.m. Sunday a 28-year-old Stockton man was killed and three other men were wounded in a shooting in the 300 block of 17th Street between Franklin and Webster streets in the Uptown district. The name of the man killed has not yet been released.

Authorities said the men had apparently been at clubs in the area and were outside when someone began shooting. Police are trying to determine if the shooter was in a vehicle or on the street and whether the men shot were the intended targets.

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The Stockton man died at a hospital. The other men, one 25, one 27 and the other 31, were in stable condition at different hospitals.

A motive for the shooting is under investigation.

The killing is the 97th homicide investigated by Oakland police this year and the eighth since last Monday. Last year at this time police had investigated 71 homicides in the city. The city recorded 109 total homicides last year.

The other fatal shooting happened about 11:04 p.m. Saturday in the 2300 block of Legion Avenue in East Oakland, a few blocks from Arroyo Viejo Park.

Police said a 30-year-old man who lived in another part of Oakland was outside at a house party when someone in a passing vehicle opened fire and he was hit. He died at the scene and his name has not been released. No other injuries were reported and police were trying to determine if the man shot was the intended target.

A motive for the shooting has not been determined yet and no arrests have been made.

About 9:13 p.m. Saturday a 50-year-old Oakland man was wounded in the upper torso as he was riding in a car in the 5200 block of Foothill Boulevard. No other occupants of the vehicle were hurt and they were able to drive a few blocks to another location where police were called. The man was in stable condition at a hospital.

Police said it appears the man was hit by a stray bullet fired during a confrontation other people were having. At least three parked vehicles and a building were also hit by the gunfire but no other injuries were reported.

A motive for the shooting is under investigation and no arrests have been made.

Authorities said a 27-year-old San Ramon man had just purchased some food in the area and had gone back to his car when he was confronted outside by a man with a gun who demanded his valuables.

The robber took a laptop from the man and then shot him multiple times without provocation, police said. The man was in stable condition at a hospital and the robber is being sought.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $25,000 in reward money in the 17th street shooting, up to $10,000 in the Legion Avenue shooting and up to $5,000 in the other two shootings for information leading to the arrests of the suspects. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950 or 510-238-3426 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

Calif. Police Union Blames Violent Day on Low Morale, Staffing

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 14:57:04 GMT

A California police union is blaming a city's brutal day of violence on low staffing and morale.

On what Oakland's police union is calling "Bloody Monday," four people were killed, and multiple people injured following several shootings and a stabbing. The union says officers have been leaving the department because of the defund the police movement, KPIX-TV reports.

“Stop the attrition," Barry Donelan, the union president, said in a statement. "We’re losing 10 a month, and (we need to) provide these officers a sense of value and appreciation that they deserve as the dedicated public servants that they are. Last night was extremely taxing to those who were on duty."

Statement from the Oakland Police Department

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 14:37:18 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 14th, 2021

Statement from the Oakland Police Department

Over the last 24 hours, the City of Oakland experienced an unprecedented level of violence that continued into this morning. So far this year, we have lost 94 lives in our city. Our department is stretched beyond capacity as we manage multiple critical incidents that have traumatized families and our community. Lives were lost due to gun and domestic violence, and there are many others who have suffered serious to critical injuries.

As violent crime increases in Oakland and throughout our country, we continue to work together through these trying times. We work closely with our City leaders/departments, and community organizations, such as the Department of Violence Prevention, Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, and our local and federal law enforcement partners, focusing our efforts to reduce violent crime and hold those accountable.

During these dangerous times, we are all exposed to the harsh reality of life’s tragedies. The Oakland Police Department and the City of Oakland, remain committed and focused to our dedication in providing support and public safety service to our community.

Please see the below critical incidents:

Double Homicide – September 13, 2021, at 3:15 PM, Patrol Officers responded to the 3400 block of 68th Avenue on a report of a fatal double shooting (Homicide). Both victims, an adult female and adult male, succumbed to their injuries and were pronounced deceased on scene.

US Marshals Task Force Officer Involved Shooting (OIS) – September 13, 2021, at 3:22 PM, the US Marshals Task Force was serving a criminal arrest warrant in the 2500 block of Fruitvale Avenue when an officer involved shooting occurred. An investigation is underway. For additional information, please contact: FBI San Francisco Media Office at (415) 926-0977, or media.sf@fbi.gov

Triple Shooting – September 13, 2021, at 5:14 PM, the Oakland Police Department received calls reporting a shooting in the 3300 block of E. 12th Street. OPD officers arrived on scene and located three victims suffering from gunshot wounds. One victim is in critical condition, and two victims are in stable condition.

Shooting – September 13, 2021 at 7:15 PM, a ShotSpotter activation occurred in the area of 46th Avenue and International Boulevard. Almost simultaneously, OPD Patrol Officers were flagged down in the area and directed to a female adult victim suffering from gunshot wound(s). The victim is listed in stable condition.

Stabbing – September 13, 2021, at 9:30 PM, Patrol Officers responded to the 1400 block of 105th Avenue on the report of a stabbing. When officers arrived on scene, they located a victim who was involved in a domestic dispute which resulted in an injury. The victim was transported to a local hospital and listed in stable condition.

Homicide – September 14, 2021, at 7:42 AM, Patrol Officers responded to the 1000 block of 46th Avenue on the report of an unresponsive male. When officers arrived on scene, they located an unresponsive male adult suffering from gunshot wound(s). The victim was pronounced deceased on scene.

For more information, please contact the Media Relations Office at 510-238-7230 or opdmedia@oaklandca.gov.

###

Monday Night Oakland Sees A Bloodbath – Yet Silence From The Oakland City Council Members That Voted to Defund the Police.

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 16:15:46 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

September 14, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday Night Oakland Sees A Bloodbath – Yet Silence From The Oakland City Council Members That Voted to Defund the Police.

Oakland Police Staffing 695 And Falling.

OAKLAND – Yesterday evening turned into a bloodbath on Oakland’s streets. Officers responded to the scene of a double homicide (#90 and #91) on 68th Avenue. This followed officers assisting on the scene of a FBI agent shooting a suspect on Fruitvale Ave. Then came a triple shooting near the Fruitvale BART Station, and within hours, another shooting on 46th Ave.

“The carnage witnessed on Oakland streets last night and how Oakland’s tired, vilified, and unsupported police officers fought to protect our residents once again demonstrated that Oakland Police Officers are America’s hardest working cops. This devastating violence is brought to you by the majority of Oakland’s City Council

that defunded the police that discounts the plight of Oakland’s victims of violent crime, and hide behind their zoom screens, ignoring the decade-high violent crime occurring on city streets,” said Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan.

Oakland’s defunded police department’s total sworn staffing is 695 - the lowest in six years. Oakland is currently losing about ten officers a month. City Council decisions to defund the police have resulted in the disbandment of the Traffic Division, walking details, some Crime Reduction teams, and Community Resources Units and the Council voted to freeze fifty-five (55) police officer positions.

###

‘It’s Devastating’; Storeowner’s Surveillance Video Captures Oakland Crash That Left 6 Children Injured

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 02:07:54 GMT

By Da Lin

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — When Gaspar Gamez checked his surveillance camera video at his Oakland business, he was shocked to see what it had recorded.

There were images of a suspected DUI crash at the intersection of International Boulevard and 38th Avenue that left 10 people injured including six children. Two of the youngsters were ejected from the vehicle they were in and suffered critical injuries.

Suspect in Oakland shooting arrested after ramming police vehicle

Mon, 13 Sep 2021 02:04:51 GMT

Two people were wounded in the early Saturday shooting

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: September 11, 2021 at 8:05 a.m.

OAKLAND — Two men attending a party in East Oakland early Saturday were shot and a suspect was arrested after he deliberately crashed into the vehicle of a police officer responding to the scene, authorities said.

The gunshot victims were in stable condition and the officer was treated and released at a hospital, authorities said.

The shooting happened about 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the 800 block of 85th Avenue where a large party was being held at a warehouse, police said. said. Authorities have not yet said who organized the party.

It was not known what prompted the shooting but authorities said dozens of shots were fired. A 27-year-old man was hit multiple times and a 38-year-old man was wounded once, police said. The younger man got his own transportation to a hospital and the other victim was taken to a hospital from the scene.

The shooting prompted multiple ShotSpotter activations and calls and officers began responding to the scene.

Witnesses had reported the suspected shooter, a 43-year-old man, fled the scene in a Dodge Durango SUV.

Police said an officer was driving eastbound in the 8400 block of International Boulevard in route to the shooting scene when the SUV was observed driving westbound on International at high speed. Police said the SUV deliberately crossed into the eastbound lanes and crashed into the officer’s vehicle.

The suspect tried to run from the scene but was quickly apprehended. Police said two guns were found inside the SUV. The suspect’s identity has not been released.

A motive for the shooting is under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 510-238-3426.

20th Anniversary of 9/11 - We Will Never Forget

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 05:26:29 GMT

Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) knows it takes an extraordinary person to do a job where they might have to give the ultimate sacrifice any day. This year on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 we ask our country to take a moment of silence to honor the memory of these fallen patriots. PORAC would like to take the time to thank all the first responders, law enforcement, firefighters, and medical services who helped all who were impac ted that day and continue to fight to keep our country safe. We will make sure you are never forgotten.

CHP to hit Oakland streets this weekend to help crack down on sideshows

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 05:21:22 GMT

California Highway Patrol will help Oakland police with sideshows and traffic enforcement, according to city officials

By ANNIE SCIACCA | asciacca@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: September 10, 2021 at 5:24 p.m.

OAKLAND — More California Highway Patrol officers will swarm into Oakland starting this weekend in a collaborative effort with Oakland police to crack down on sideshows and other dangerous driving antics, Mayor Libby Schaaf and police Chief LeRonne Armstrong jointly announced Friday.

The news comes a few weeks after Schaaf said she had asked Gov. Gavin Newsom for the CHP’s help in traffic enforcement to reduce “reckless driving” and “robberies that involve vehicles.” He agreed to provide it.

According to the announcement, Oakland police “will conduct focused and coordinated operations with CHP to reduce dangerous driving along Oakland’s high-injury corridor” and the CHP will help the department’s sideshow enforcement teams by providing additional officers every weekend through the end of September.

Police Department spokesman Paul Chambers referred questions about how many CHP officers would hit Oakland streets to the state.

He did not identify the roads considered “high-injury” corridors, noting that police continuously work with the city’s Department of Transportation to flag areas where speed and dangerous driving have resulted in serious injury collisions.

According to a 2018 Department of Transportation map, International Boulevard and parts of Foothill Boulevard, Fruitvale Avenue, MacArthur Boulevard, Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Broadway and Telegraph Avenue were among the areas of “high concern.”

Just the night before the mayor’s Friday announcement, nine members of a family — including a 2-year-old and an 8-year-old in critical condition — were injured when a suspected drunken driver hit their van. The driver allegedly was going an estimated 90 mph eastbound on International and had been weaving in and out of a bus lane before running through a red light at 38th Avenue, broadsiding the van.

“All of our residents deserve safer streets in their neighborhoods,” Schaaf said in a written statement. “I’m thankful for Governor Newsom and Commissioner Ray’s partnership with Oakland, as all of us are committed to reduce the harm, violence, and trauma caused by dangerous traffic activity on our streets.”

But not everyone believes adding more CHP officers will increase safety.

Activists have been pushing for less CHP presence in Oakland, especially after the department’s officers fatally fatally shot Erik Salgado last year for allegedly trying to escape as they were attempting to stop him for driving a car they thought was stolen.

“We need justice, not more criminalization,” Salgado’s sister Amanda Blanco said in a statement issued last month when Schaaf first announced her request to the governor.

Schaaf’s request came a day after Carl Chan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce and an advocate of increased policing, announced he had asked Newsom to declare a “state of emergency” in Oakland and send state law enforcement help, including the CHP, to “preserve the peace, protect the public and save our lives.”

But instead of gun violence crimes, it appears the CHP’s role will be focused on traffic enforcement and cracking down on sideshows in the city.

“CHP’s presence will provide much-needed assistance with the illegal sideshow activity that has plagued communities across our city,” Armstrong stated. “With their partnership, we seek to eradicate this illegal sideshow epidemic that has caused so many sleepless nights for our residents here in Oakland.”

Oakland policing struggling to adapt to the politics of “defunding”

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 05:17:20 GMT

Thank you to Nikki Medoro of the KGO.810 Morning Show with Nikki Medoro for the frank discussion of the situation on the ground in Oakland around violent crime.

One Oakland council member voted against adding more police academies. She's now backing them

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 15:49:11 GMT

As Oakland grapples with rising violent crime, one city leader who voted against adding more money to the police budget in June has shifted her position.

Council Member Sheng Thao was one of six who voted in June to only fund four police academies over two years. At the time, Thao said that if she felt “funding a fifth academy would make my son safer, I would vote for it today.”

During the meeting, Thao said she was open to adding a fifth academy “in the future” after having conversations with the police chief about how to produce better graduation rates from the academy.

In the months since that vote, homicides continued to spike and some residents — including some of Thao’s constituents — pressured leaders to add more police resources.

Thao said this week that she plans to introduce a resolution at the Sept. 21 City Council meeting to immediately fund an additional police academy this fiscal year and a second next year.

Thao’s changing position signals a shift among some city leaders as public safety becomes a top issue.

So far in 2021, Oakland has seen 88 homicides, compared to 64 at this time last year.

Though a mayoral election is slated for November 2022, Thao said she is not “actively working” toward a mayoral run, but may change her mind in the future.

Thao’s decision has been mostly applauded by city officials, who say the need for more officers is critical, but some criticized her shift.

“I am shocked that she is proposing the exact thing that she voted against two months ago,” said Council Member Loren Taylor, who had proposed funding five police academies in June. His proposal was rejected. “It is disingenuous to portray yourself as an advocate. She was on the wrong side of history and is trying to correct it.”

Thao told The Chronicle on Tuesday that voting in June to add a fifth academy would have been fiscally irresponsible.

“It’s been fully vetted now,” Thao said. “It’s been worked on. We are not rushing the process. We are making sure we are fiscally responsible.”

She said her decision to push for two more academies over two years comes after she was able to “roll up her sleeves” and work with the chief. Chief LeRonne Armstrong meets with all council members regularly. Thao’s proposal directs the department to prioritize Oakland residents, people of color and women into the academies by teaming up with local colleges.

In June, Armstrong told the council he had begun working with Oakland’s school district and Merritt College to offer career opportunities at the department. Thao also wants city staff to study the cost of offering child care services for trainees.

Thao’s decision to support the fifth academy isn’t exactly surprising given her comments in June that she could fund it in the future, said Jim Ross, an Oakland-based political consultant.

Her shift, in part, could come from the recent news that Oakland has made significant headway in its reforms under federal oversight. It also could be related to the news that a program to dispatch counselors and paramedics from the Fire Department to mental health crises, instead of police officers, may not launch until February, Ross said. That’s later than many city leaders had hoped.

In May, Mayor Libby Schaaf proposed a two-year budget that would have increased funding for the Oakland Police Department by spending $693 million total. The mayor’s plan would have paid for two additional police recruit academies, bringing the total to six.

Instead, council members approved a budget that redirected about $18 million from the Police Department to fund violence prevention measures and social services. Those investments included about $30 million from the broader budget set aside for council members to allocate.

Justin Berton, a spokesman for Schaaf, said in a statement that the mayor’s initial proposal of six academies was meant to “maintain staff levels and provide all Oaklanders with a basic level of police service.”

Berton said Thao’s proposal, “offered just 10 weeks later,” gives council members “a second chance to address the reality of an understaffed OPD.”

Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas, whose budget Thao voted for in June, said she needs more information about Thao’s proposal and from the Police Department before supporting another police academy.

“I was really clear when we passed our budget, both in terms of the amendments and my policy directives, that we have to see more effectiveness in how we are currently running and spending on our two police academies per year,” Bas said. “We have to see much more success in recruitment, graduation and retention.”

On Tuesday, Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, blasted the council’s June decision again — pointing to a “shrinking” Police Department. The department recently fell below 700 sworn officers to 698 for the first time in six years, Donelan said.

“I absolutely support the idea of more academies,” he said of Thao’s proposal. “But the flip-flop is the irony here. She has voted to defund the police, and now faced with a staggering violent crime increase, it’s, ‘Uh-oh, can I do a redo and try and get new academies?’”

Thao said the Police Department saved on costs due to low graduation rates at prior police academies.

Paul Chambers, a spokesman for the Police Department, said the department was authorized and funded for 45 police officer trainees per academy for two academies. But in May, only 23 out of 45 trainees graduated after people dropped out. And a current police academy is set to graduate 26 out of 45 trainees — leaving 42 funded positions that won’t be filled.

The cost savings from those two academies could potentially fund another academy, he said.

A sixth academy next year could be funded by taking money out of the police’s overtime budget, Thao said. A 2019 city audit showed that the Police Department has averaged nearly $30 million in overtime costs over the previous four fiscal years.

Thao said, after talking to city staff, taking money from the overtime budget can be done.

Thao’s decision also comes amid escalating pressure from residents in her district who say crime is increasing and they are tired of delayed 911 response times.

Waheed Alsaidi, owner of Montclair Auto Shop, said he wants more community policing and social services to help deter crime.

He said his business has been hurt by crime as car break-ins have increased. Instead of having up to 15 cars in his lot to work on, he takes only three at a time so he can park them inside his auto shop to ward off potential break-ins. When he calls 911, nobody comes.

“It’s better to have enough police so they can help the residents,” Alsaidi said. “I don’t think there is enough because every time something happens and we call, they never show up.”

Alsaidi said more than 20 residents attended a community meeting last week with Thao and Armstrong to discuss issues in the district. Alsaidi, who was there, said residents were upset with Thao that she “was not voting in the right way.”

Thao said she’s had to explain to her constituents why she voted the way she did — to be fiscally responsible.

“Public safety has been so politicized in this city,” Thao said. “It’s not just one narrative. We need both police officers and we need violence interrupters and violence prevention, as well.”

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani

Oakland police have less than 700 officers for 1st time in 6 years

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 14:40:45 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Homicide and assault rates are on the rise in Oakland and Tuesday we received word that in the last four days the police department lost another three officers, bringing the number of officers there below 700.

It's the lowest number of officers we've seen in Oakland in the last six years.

"I think it's important to acknowledge that we are in a state of emergency," says District 6 Oakland Councilmember Loren Taylor. Taylor was addressing concerns about the uptick of violent crimes in Oakland and the number of total police officers there dropping below 700 for the first time in 6 years.

"We have excessive gun violence that we haven't seen for four or five years and it's important that we respond commensurately," said Councilmember Taylor.

Homicides in Oakland have risen by 40 percent according to the Police Officers' Association.

The head of the POA says three officers have left the department in the last four days and the problem could get worse.

"Officers are leaving in droves, they don't feel valued, their vocations isn't preserved by the city council, they're derided and vilified at every turn," says Oakland POA President Barry Donelan.

2012 saw the lowest number of Oakland police officers in the last decade and the highest number of homicides, but Cat Brooks of the Anti Police-Terror Project says more officers doesn't mean fewer homicides.

"Spike in homicides started over a year ago when they had those numbers of crime. There's actually no definitive data that demonstrates a correlation between more cops and less crime," says Brooks.

Taylor was one of just two councilmembers who recently voted against redirecting more than $17 million away from the police department, money that would have gone to two additional academies, which would have brought in more officers.

Now though at least one council member who voted in favor of that move is in support of some sort of additional academy.

"I think councilmembers are recognizing the seriousness of the situation and the need to increase the officers on the street especially as we are bridging the gap between now and the future state when we will have a more reimagined and reconstructed public safety system," says Taylor.

Oakland Defund the Police Councilmember Now Calls for More Police Academies as Crime Numbers Rocket

Wed, 08 Sep 2021 15:02:41 GMT

A councilmember in Oakland is getting heat from people on both sides of the “defund police” movement.

Earlier this summer, Councilmember Sheng Thao voted against adding more police academies, which would have increased the number of police officers on the street.

But with violent crimes going up and the number of police officers on the force going down, Thao is now calling for more police academies.

Number 678 is important for the Oakland Police Department.

A councilmember in Oakland is getting heat from people on both sides of the “defund police” movement.

Earlier this summer, Councilmember Sheng Thao voted against adding more police academies , which would have increased the number of police officers on the street.

But with violent crimes going up and the number of police officers on the force going down, Thao is now calling for more police academies.

Number 678 is important for the Oakland Police Department.

“We don’t need more police academies, we need more preventative strategies so that we’re getting to the root of things that cause crime,” said Brooks.

The question now is – how soon will OPD reach the money-losing threshold? A spokesperson says the department currently has 695 officers.

“I would anticipate by mid to late October, we’ll fall below those numbers,” said Donelan.

Oakland’s Experiment with Defund the Police is Causing Skyrocketing Violent Crime and a Fast Shrinking Police Department.

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 21:23:34 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

September 7, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland’s Experiment with Defund the Police is Causing Skyrocketing Violent Crime and a Fast Shrinking Police Department.

Police Staffing Fell Below 700 for First Time in Six Years.

OAKLAND – The majority of Oakland’s City Council embraced a “defund the police” strategy that has already ensured more homicides so far in Oakland (88) this year than in all of 2019 (78). With almost four months left in 2021, Oakland is on target to hit decade-high violent crime numbers.

To make matters worse, the ongoing vilification of Oakland Police Officers by City Council Members has helped drive attrition within the police department. Labor Day total sworn staffing (at all ranks) fell below 700 for the first time in six years. On average, the police department loses ten officers a month, mainly to other agencies where their service is valued, unlike Oakland. The Traffic Division, walking details, some Crime Reduction teams, and Community Resources Units have been disbanded, and fifty five (55) police officer positions frozen.

“Oakland’s City Council President and her defund the police cohorts are why residents now face extended wait times for police response, why alternatives to police have not been stood up, why violent crime is escalating on our streets, and why hardworking dedicated Oakland Police Officers are choosing to work elsewhere. Its own City Council is driving Oakland’s public safety crisis,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

###

9/11 stories: We looked up at the towers, then at each other, and went; ‘Oh my God’

Mon, 06 Sep 2021 13:57:24 GMT

In the run up to the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks much is being said a written. The story of Father Mychal Judge the first victim that day represents much of what we lost on that faithful day. The Irish Times ran a story this week recalling Father Judge and all he did for New York, its below.........

‘Mychal Judge had a heart as big as New York’

Human rights activist and filmmaker Brendan Fay was a close friend of Fr Mychal Judge, the New York Fire Department’s chaplain, and the first named victim of the attack.

“That morning, there was such a beautiful blue sky. I got home from a run, and picking up coffees I had seen people gather outside an electrical store, and I wondered what they were watching. It soon hit home. The calls from Ireland started right away. And later, we saw that defining image, of my beloved friend, Mychal Judge.

While most were fleeing the horror and the terror of the World Trade Center, Mychal Judge and the other firefighters were making their way towards all that pain and anguish and suffering and tragedy. This was Mychal Judge, this is who he was.

We met shortly after I arrived in New York in the mid-1980s. He was one of a handful of priests who ministered to the gay community during our darkest moments. He’d say mass and provide sacraments for LGBT Catholic groups, and as the Aids crisis worsened, he got a reputation as the priest to call on for hospital visits. Mychal Judge had his own way, he often defied orders from the hierarchy.

We were outsiders, and here he was, saying we were loved, and we belonged, and that he cared. It was when many parishes refused to do funerals for people with Aids, so they’d call Mychal Judge. He understood our feelings as immigrants. I met him, surprisingly, at a sober meeting in 1991, and that’s where our friendship deepened. It became a very close, intimate bond. Sobriety was so important for him. His father died when he was six, and he’d often talk about that at funerals. Not about himself, but to children, how he understood their pain, their loss, particularly at a firefighter’s funeral.

'I remember my phone messages, a month later. People in tears, talking about Mychal, how our dear Mychal was gone'

In our house, here on the wall, there’s a picture of him at his 65th birthday, with my husband Tom and I. There were people there, from the Franciscan Friars, his beloved Fire Department, his family and the gay community. Mychal Judge had a heart as big as New York; there was room in it for everybody.

He celebrated immigration and was especially sensitive to those who were undocumented, including the thousands of Irish. Once, someone gave him a free travel ticket to anywhere in the United States. One morning he got a letter from a prisoner in an institution in California, so he chose to fly there to surprise him. He’d a few great phrases: ‘Here comes high levels of madness.’

We had dinner on August 16th, 2001, and went for a long walk. He talked about his pains of the past, his hopes for the future, then he hugged me goodnight, and asked me to give his love to Tom. He had this great way of embracing. That was the last time I saw him. I remember my phone messages, a month later. People in tears, talking about Mychal, how our dear Mychal was gone.

I often go to the corner of Church and Vesey streets, where they carried Mychal’s body to first, before he was left to rest at the church altar. The streets of New York, that was Mychal Judge’s cathedral, and where he found God, on these city streets.

On the day of the attack he needed last rites, so a young cop ran to the church, but couldn’t find a priest. Someone said that if he was a Catholic he could perform it. So there he was, this young rookie cop, a few firefighters, and they held him, and prayed. So, forget about the big vast funerals, it was what happened on the corner of Church and Vesey streets, in New York City. Surrounded by the NYPD, the Fire Department, all of whom he loved so much, and who loved him.

That was my friend Mychal Judge. I still miss him, I still think of him.”

Brendan Fay

Anarchy in Portland: Political leaders yawn as left and right battle with guns in the streets.

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 18:57:07 GMT

Cities that tolerate political violence invite more of it. Portland, Ore., has failed to learn this lesson, and it’s a miracle no one was killed amid recent clashes. On Sunday Antifa adherents squared off against demonstrators affiliated with the far right Proud Boys. Bloody confrontations have become routine in Portland, but this one was even more harrowing than usual. Social-media video appears to show participants exchanging gunfire, and Police Chief Chuck Lovell said one person was apprehended for firing a weapon.

We are trying our best,” Mr. Lovell added, describing how “our critical staffing shortage,

as well as legal restrictions, impacts our response.” Daryl Turner, executive director of

the Portland Police Association, says police funding has been slashed by more than $25

million since George Floyd’s murder, and some 150 officers have resigned or retired since

June 2020. That includes 50 officers who served on a crowd-control unit.

Mr. Lovell said the on day of the riot police responded to a fatal crash, a shooting that

injured five people, and street racing that shut down the Fremont Bridge, among other

crimes. Portland has seen 61 homicides this year, up from 32 in all of 2019.

Mayor Ted Wheeler, federal courts and Oregon lawmakers have severely restricted when

police can use less-lethal force, even amid riots. Mr. Lovell said last week that the public

“should not expect to see police officers standing in the middle of the crowd trying to keep

people apart.”

The mayor still doesn’t get it. In a statement Monday he said the “Portland Police Bureau

and I mitigated confrontation” and “minimized the impact of the weekend’s events to

Portlanders.” He bragged that the “violence was contained to the groups of people who

chose to engage in violence toward each other. The community at large was not harmed

and the broader public was protected. Property damage was minimal.”

Message: Anarchy is tolerable as long as you’re merely shooting at each other. The chaos

will continue until the city's political leaders muster the will to stop it.

Appeared in the August 27, 2021, print edition

Cori Bush Wants to Defund the Police. My Neighbors Have Other Ideas.

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 17:41:52 GMT

The article below (also via link) looks at the defund the police with particular review of Oakland

Leighton Woodhouse

Leighton Akira Woodhouse is a documentary filmmaker and journalist whose work spans factory farming, animal rights, immigration, the alt-right, and pompous European social theory.

I first came across his work in The Intercept, but he’s written for Newsweek, The Nation, The New Republic and Gawker. (I try not to hold that last one against him.) Leighton also lives in East Oakland, where he’s been reporting on the movement to defund the police — and its passionate opposition.

So when Cori Bush, the Democratic congresswoman from Missouri, was roundly criticized for defending her private security detail and defunding the police in the span of a single minute, I was keen to find out what Leighton had to say about the matter. — BW

In February, a mile and a half from my house, at a park featuring an “I Can Do Anything” mural, a 38-year-old basketball coach named Reuben Lewis was gunned down in front of dozens of children. Two of his three sons, who he was picking up from football practice, watched him die.

In March, about four miles from that park, a 58-year-old man named Andre Weston got into an argument with a homeless man named William Vann. He doused Vann with an accelerant and lit him on fire.

In April, about two-and-a-half miles from where Vann was murdered, a house was burned to the ground in retaliation for a shooting that the people living there had nothing to do with. Esame Musleh, a refugee who had fled Yemen to escape the violence there, was burned alive. So was his one-year-old daughter.

Those are four of the 77 murders that have occurred so far this year in Oakland, California, where I live. Not one of them was at the hands of the police. But if you drive through the city, you’ll see the slogan “defund the police” on homemade placards in the windows of apartments and houses that boast “In This House We Believe In Science” lawn signs out front.

Last week, Cori Bush, a Democratic congresswoman from Missouri whose political career began as an anti-police activist in Ferguson, echoed that message in an interview with CBS News. Bush is a vocal proponent of the movement to defund the police. Yet her campaign expenditure filings show that over a two-and-a-half month period this year, she spent nearly $70,000 on a private security detail.

When asked about this apparent hypocrisy, her answer was sharp: “Would you rather see me die?”

CHP will help Oakland enforce traffic laws on city streets

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 19:05:18 GMT

By Sarah Ravani

Gov. Gavin Newsom will send California Highway Patrol officers to Oakland to enforce traffic laws on city street, Mayor Libby Schaaf said after Chinatown leaders pleaded for help confronting a wave of violent crimes.

Leaders in Chinatown had called on the governor to declare a state of emergency in the wake of a series of robberies and assaults in Oakland, prompting Schaaf to ask for CHP officers to be sent to the city’s major commercial corridors and along International Boulevard.

City officials said Thursday that Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong will meet with the CHP commissioner soon to determine the details — how officers will be deployed and for how long.

“Beware there is going to be more enforcement,” Schaaf said at a news conference Wednesday with Newsom announcing a state mandate on vaccinations for teachers and school staff.

“The reckless driving that kills people, the robberies that involve vehicles like what happened to our beloved U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer — that is going to really get under control with the help from the state and I am so grateful,” Schaaf said.

The former senator was robbed and assaulted July 26 in Oakland near Jack London Square. The mugger pushed her, stole her cell phone and jumped into a waiting car, according to Boxer’s office.

Newsom said “additional law enforcement supports will be coming to Oakland.”

The governor called Oakland’s overall rise in violent crime “a crisis that needs to be addressed head on,” adding that the state’s $267 billion budget set aside hundreds of millions of dollars for street outreach programs.

Newsom added that the state also set aside $165 million in grants “to address the issue of Asian hate in this state.”

“That is unprecedented,” he said.

On Tuesday, Carl Chan, president of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, sent a letter to Newsom urging him to send CHP and other state law enforcement authorities to Oakland.

“I’m not only asking you to patrol in Chinatown. All areas, we need your help,” Chan said at a news conference in Chinatown.

The press conference Tuesday was held after a weekend robbery and shooting in Chinatown that left two people injured. Oakland is currently facing a broader uptick in violent crime — 78 people have been slain in the city compared with 54 at this time last year.

Council Member Dan Kalb said Thursday that if the CHP provides assistance with violent crimes and serious traffic offenses like speeding and reckless driving, then “I’m all for it.”

“It’s the big things that we need help with,” Kalb said.

Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas said that local, state and federal governments must work together solve violent crimes, get illegal guns off the streets and address the root causes of poverty and violence by creating good jobs and affordable housing, and providing quality health care and education.

“Any additional law-enforcement that comes to Oakland must serve our community with the highest standards of respect and collaboration,” she said in a statement.

Dan Lindheim, a former Oakland city administrator and currently a professor at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, said it would be best if CHP focused on major traffic enforcement — sideshows, speeding, running red lights.

The challenge though, he said, is that CHP does not have to adhere to the same rules and reforms that OPD has gone through when it comes to reducing certain traffic stops. In 2019, Oakland police said they will no longer pull people over for low-level infractions like a broken windshield or taillight.

The Oakland Police Officers Association said in a statement that it appreciates CHP’s help, but still was critical of the city for seeking outside help.

“Every Oakland cop welcomes help from the CHP,” said Barry Donelan, president of the union. “But it’s a shame that it took Oakland’s crime-weary residents pleading to the state for help because the majority of Oakland’s City Council abandoned crime victims and embraced a dangerous defund the police ideology.”

The Oakland City Council directed more than $17 million away from Schaaf’s proposed police budget this summer and funneled those funds to the Department of Violence Prevention. The move prompted criticism from police officials who said crime is out control and more resources are needed. The council increased the Police Department’s budget, but by a smaller amount than the mayor had proposed.

The Department of Violence Prevention is in the process of launching several programs with its new funds. The programs include doubling the number of “violence interrupters” working for the department through nonprofit agencies to 20, increasing support for homicide victims’ families, and adding staff for crime scene response.

The city is also looking into transferring some traffic enforcement out of the Police Department and into the Transportation Department.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani

Welcome California Highway Patrol But Shame That Oakland’s Crime Weary Residents Had To Plead For Outside Help After Being Ignored By The Majority Of Their Own City Council.

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 19:00:16 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

August 12, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Welcome California Highway Patrol But Shame That Oakland’s Crime Weary Residents Had To Plead For Outside Help After Being Ignored By The Majority Of Their Own City Council.

OAKLAND – The dedicated but overworked women and men of the Oakland Police Department welcome Governor Newsom’s decision yesterday to deploy California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers to Oakland to help combat out of control crime.

Oakland has seen a 50% increase in homicides and shootings this year, over 1600 robberies and a 97% increase in carjackings. As Oakland residents face a crime wave, the Oakland Police Department faces a staffing crisis. There are now only 704 Oakland Police Officers at all ranks to protect the city. That is down from 750 officers in 2019. Oakland Police Department’s staffing levels are at their lowest level in six years due to attrition and defund the police policies promulgated by the majority of the City Council.

“Every Oakland cop welcomes help from the CHP. But it’s a shame that it took Oakland’s crime weary residents pleading to the state for help because the majority of Oakland’s City Council abandoned crime victims and embraced a dangerous defund the police ideology.” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

The Oakland City Council voted 6 - 2 to defund the police. That included freezing 55 vacant police officer positions, disbanding traffic enforcement units, reducing the number of crime reduction team and community resource officers, and ending neighborhood walking details.

CHP Officers will likely be deployed to major Oakland thoroughfares to conduct traffic enforcement, as Oakland’s traffic enforcement units are defunded. The goal; reduced traffic fatalities, deter sideshows and interdicted illegal firearms.

Click for Oakland’s crime statistics year to date.

###

Success on police reform hinges on funding, not defunding law enforcement

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 03:20:22 GMT

Brian Marvel

Recent public opinion polls have found that concern over crime is at its highest point in four years as a spike in violent crime plagues major cities across the country. From the perspective of the Peace Officers Research Association of California, the nation's largest statewide law enforcement association and where I serve as president, the growing public concern about violent crime doesn't detract from the need for federal legislation to improve policing - it underscores that need and the need for such legislation to include increased funding for law enforcement.

As clashing calls to defund and increase funding for law enforcement pull the national dialogue in opposing directions, we need to remember that we all want the same thing. We want safer communities. We want to recruit exceptional individuals who display professionalism and strong ethics, who can act calmly and responsibly under pressure. We want a diverse workforce that resembles the communities we serve. We want officers who are prepared for the rigors of the job. We want to partner officers with social workers and mental health professionals. We want reforms that will better our law enforcement professionals to better serve our communities.

Thoughtfully crafted federal public safety laws should help law enforcement mitigate violent crime while improving the way law enforcement operates - those two goals are not mutually exclusive. We can and must do both. So how do we get there?

We wouldn't improve our education system by taking resources away from teachers, discouraging students from becoming teachers or enacting policies to incentivize teachers to do the bare minimum. Instead, those who prioritize and value education advocate for more classroom resources, higher-education incentives for teachers, investments in grant programs to recruit and retain promising individuals into the field and more training to help improve teacher-student interactions and ratios. So why should our approach to improving public safety and the law enforcement profession be any different?

It shouldn't, and most Americans agree. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll found that: 55 percent of those surveyed believe that increasing funding for police departments would reduce violent crime; 65 percent feel that using social workers to help police defuse situations with people having emotional problems would reduce violent crime and 75 percent recognize that increasing funding to build economic opportunities in poor communities would reduce violent crime.

Unfortunately, rather than focusing on allocating resources to smart public safety reform measures, some legislators are focused on changes to qualified immunity and U.S. Code section 242 - changes that will make it easier to penalize and prosecute officers and won't have any positive impacts on public safety outcomes. These changes could cause hesitation and discourage proactive policing at a time when 59 percent of Americans believe crime is an "extremely" or "very" serious problem. They likely will also compound the challenges of recruiting qualified officers into the profession at a time when we cannot afford to discourage smart and capable individuals from becoming officers - in a recent survey of 10,000 officers, only 7 percent said they would recommend law enforcement as a career.

We have an opportunity to increase diversity, recruit more qualified individuals into the field and increase the level of education officers receive. We need to invest in programs to recruit minorities into law enforcement while incentivizing higher education through scholarship and grant programs.

Experts agree that we need strong requirements in place that can check for the skills and characteristics we expect of peace officers today. We need to establish minimum recruitment standards that will ensure we have the right people for the job as we seek to bring the profession in line with our core values as Americans.

Peace officers are not social workers or mental health professionals, yet they are constantly asked to fulfill these roles. We need to give departments the funding they need to create new programs that pair officers with social workers and mental health professionals when responding to nonviolent calls.

We need to move away from a focus on penalizing officers in favor of enacting smart solutions that align federal law enforcement policies and resources with the realities and expectations of law enforcement today. The responsibilities of peace officers have grown exponentially, but federal standards and funding to support the increased training and wrap-around support programs needed to improve the efficacy of police-community interactions have not kept pace.

As President Biden recognizes, more funding is needed. But along with that, we need federal standards - for use-of-force, training and recruitment. As a guide, lawmakers should look at California's SB 230 and AB 392. Together, these laws established statewide, uniform training standards designed to minimize the use of force.

Lawmakers need to focus on solutions that will make a difference - and allocate resources accordingly. How we allocate resources reflects our values and goals. Politically expedient solutions are never the answer, whereas a thoughtful and considerate approach that ensures all voices are heard, including law enforcement, provides us with the best opportunity to improve public safety outcomes for all. That is how we will chart a new path forward for law enforcement in America.

Brian Marvel is the president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC).

Brazen Daylight Oakland Chinatown Street Attack, Shooting Caught on Camera

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 02:46:50 GMT

OAKLAND (KPIX) — In Oakland’s Chinatown, people are living in fear as robberies and assaults have increased over the past few months. On Saturday, a brazen daytime shooting was captured on surveillance video.

The robbery began when a pair of men hopped out of a car to grab the purses of two women on the sidewalk. Two young men intervened and began struggling with the attackers. That’s when the guns came out. Two shots were fired and one young man fell to the ground as the struggle continued. Finally both assailants — who both held handguns — jumped back into their car and drove off.

Congressional Gold Medal Awarded to Law Enforcement Who Defended our Democracy on January 6th.

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 06:16:48 GMT

President Joe Biden

Public Official

Today, Today, I signed a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to law enforcement officials who defended our democracy on January 6th. To all of them: Thank you for protecting the Capitol, our Constitution, and for saving the lives of public servants.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, 72, Has Passed Away

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 06:11:23 GMT

Richard Trumka, who led the AFL-CIO since 2009 as President, passed away unexpectedly today.

“Rich was a relentless champion of workers’ rights, and even as we mourn his passing today, we will st and on his shoulders to continue the fight for workers, and for the fair and just society he believed in so passionately,” AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler tweeted today. “We will honor his legacy with action.”

At least 2,700 San Francisco city employees have not been vaccinated. Some are frontline workers

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 06:07:15 GMT

Trisha Thadani &

Mallory Moench

Aug. 4, 2021

At least 2,700 San Francisco city employees have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus — including some frontline workers — and could eventually lose their jobs if they continue to refuse the shots, according to city data exclusively obtained by The Chronicle.

The overwhelming majority of San Francisco’s 36,000-person workforce is vaccinated against the coronavirus. But the San Francisco Police Department, Municipal Transportation Agency and Department of Public Health each had hundreds of unvaccinated employees as of Wednesday, according to data collected by the Department of Human Resources.

Frontline city employees were among the first groups eligible for the vaccine. The data provided to The Chronicle does not reflect how many employees plan to claim valid religious or medical exemptions.

San Francisco was the first major U.S. city to announce it would require all its employees to get vaccinated once the Food and Drug Administration fully approves the shots, possibly as soon as early September. The vaccines are now under emergency use authorization. Unless employees claim a legitimate religious or medical exemption, they could risk losing their jobs.

All 36,110 employees were originally asked to submit their vaccination status to human resources by Friday, but about 8,500 employees either did not respond or logged their information incorrectly. The department has given employees a grace period until Aug. 12.

The unvaccinated represent a fraction of the city’s workforce. Still, the numbers raise concerns that some employees interacting with the public — including police officers, bus drivers and medical professionals — are unprotected against the virus and putting others at risk.

“We have set a clear policy for our workforce, and we need people to follow it if they want to work for the city and county of San Francisco,” said Jeff Cretan, a spokesman for Mayor London Breed, who has at least four unvaccinated employees in her 127-person office.

Cretan said the mayor’s office is going to continue doing outreach to those who are unvaccinated and don’t have a valid exemption, and “do everything we can to make sure they are comfortable getting the vaccine.”

“The vaccine is safe, it’s effective, and it will help us protect the health of our workers and the public,” he said.

About 80% of San Francisco’s eligible population has received at least one dose of the vaccine. City officials have been scrambling to vaccinate the rest, especially as the highly contagious delta variant drives a surge in cases and hospitalizations, mostly among the unvaccinated.

Mawuli Tugbenyoh, chief of policy for the Department of Human Resources, said the city implemented this policy because “the health and safety of our employees and the public is our preeminent concern.” Unlike New York, which has a similar mandate for city workers, San Francisco’s employees cannot substitute weekly testing in place of getting vaccinated.

According to the data, nearly 70% of the city’s workforce said it has received at least one shot — a number that experts say is likely higher than most other U.S. cities. Another 9% of employees incorrectly recorded their information, but Tugbenyoh says they are most likely vaccinated.

Several union leaders representing nurses, bus drivers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies told The Chronicle some workers have medical or religious reasons for not getting vaccinated or mistrust a health care system historically biased against people of color. Many also don’t want an employer meddling in a personal decision.

“Our concern is when is it going to stop?” said Roger Marenco, president of Transport Workers Union Local 250A, the union representing Muni operators.

Marenco represents 2,200 employees, mostly bus drivers, who work for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. At least 304 employees, or 5.2% of the agency’s workforce, are unvaccinated. As of Wednesday, there were still about 2,600 employees in the agency who incorrectly input information or have not responded, including Marenco, who did not provide his status to the city or The Chronicle.

The San Francisco Police Department has one of the highest shares of unvaccinated employees: 17% of the workforce, or at least 480 people. About 530 employees still needed to report or correct their vaccination status.

Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for the Police Department, said the number of unvaccinated employees is “larger than we’d hoped.” He added that the department will “continue educating our members about city policy and other factors that may help mitigate vaccine hesitancy.”

While the city has not officially decided what it would do with unvaccinated employees, Tugbenyoh said a non-disciplinary separation is possible. In a worst-case scenario, the situation could lead to short-staffing in departments such as police and the Municipal Transportation Agency that already say they’re strapped for resources.

The concept of mandated vaccines is not new: some San Francisco workers are already mandated to get certain shots, like for measles and mumps.

Still, even in the Department of Public Health — which is leading the city’s vaccination effort and pandemic response — about 200 employees are unvaccinated.

Department of Public Health nurse Mayela Gutknecht is one of them.

She said she still has antibodies from a coronavirus infection in November, according to her last blood draw three weeks ago. She said she wants to see how long her natural immunity lasts, even though experts have said that a coronavirus infection confers weaker immunity than the vaccines and that even those who’ve had the virus should get shots.

She said when her immunity does wane, she would consider getting a vaccine, but said she would look at case rates to gauge the need. But even then, she still has “lots of questions about the shots,” she said.

“I would rather mask up at work and social distance and support families in various ways and reduce the risk of being exposed to it or exposing families than get shots every year,” she said.

According to the city’s health order, no one — from nurses to a UPS delivery person — will be able to go into a high-risk setting, like a skilled nursing facility or homeless shelter, without being vaccinated or having an exemption by October.

VIDEO: Cars Impounded for Reckless Driving Following Daytime Oakland Sideshow

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 06:01:46 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Law enforcement impounded several vehicles Thursday after a dangerous reckless driving incident that followed a mid-day sideshow interrupted by Oakland police, according to a Facebook post by CHP.

The post by the California Highway Patrol Golden Gate Division Air Operations account said that on Thursday at approximately 2:40 pm, a CHP airplane was over Oakland when local police broadcast a call concerning a large crowd gathering in the area of 90th and Holly Street.

Former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer robbed, assaulted in Oakland

Fri, 06 Aug 2021 05:57:38 GMT

Former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California was assaulted and robbed Monday afternoon in downtown Oakland.

According to a statement from Boxer’s office, the assailant pushed her in the back, stole her cell phone and jumped into a waiting car. She was not seriously injured.

The Oakland Police Department confirmed that at 1:15 p.m., while a victim was walking in the 300 block of Third Street, they were approached by a suspect, who forcefully “took loss from the victim,” and fled into a waiting vehicle. The incident is currently being investigated, and police declined to release the identity of the victim. The area of the assault is near Jack London Square.

WSJ: Portland Can’t Find Police for Unit to Fight Rising Murder Rate

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 07:30:18 GMT

Few volunteer for new gun-violence team that comes with more oversight and a mission to combat racism after a history of profiling

By Zusha Elinson

Aug. 2, 2021 5:30 am ET

Leaders in Portland, Ore., are looking to combat the city’s rising homicide rate by resurrecting a police unit focused on gun violence. But after a year of growing tension within the department, they can’t find enough officers to join.

Since 14 job openings were announced in May, only four police personnel have applied to work with the new version of Portland’s Gun Violence Reduction Team, which was shut down last year amid long-running protests seeking racial justice and an overhaul of police practices. None have yet been assigned.

Portland officers say such positions, once considered prestigious, are now less desirable, given the increased scrutiny that accompanies them. The new unit has its own citizen-advisory board, instituted after the old unit was criticized by city leaders for racial profiling. A job description says qualifications include the ability to fight systemic racism.

“They’re demonizing and vilifying you, and then they want to put you in a unit where you’re under an even bigger microscope,” said Daryl Turner, head of the union that represents Portland’s officers.

Portland police have coped with frequent late-night street violence in the past year, as well as criticism from politicians and activists on the right and left.

Jami Resch, assistant chief of the Portland Police Bureau’s investigations branch, acknowledged that morale is down in the department. She said criticism of the old unit and uncertainty surrounding the new one and its relationship with the oversight committee have slowed applications. Once those roles are clarified, there will be more interest, she predicted.

Homicide rates rose 24% in a sample of 32 American cities in the first quarter of 2021, compared with the same period last year, according to a recent study by the Council on Criminal Justice, a think tank focusing on criminal-justice policy and research. The rates are far below peaks from the 1990s.

Jami Resch, assistant chief of the Portland Police Bureau’s investigations branch, predicted the gun-violence unit would attract more interest once roles are clarified.

But with 53 homicides so far this year, Portland is on pace to surpass its all-time high of 70 in 1987, according to Portland police officials. The trend is reversing Portland’s decades long history of having one of the lowest homicide rates among large cities.

Retirements and resignations are rising at departments across the country. There was an 18% increase in resignations and a 45% increase in retirements from April 2020 through March 2021, when compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a June survey by the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

In addition, officers around the country have become more reluctant to take on tasks that could lead to controversy or criticism following last year’s Black Lives Matter protests over police treatment, according to police officials.

Some politicians and police officials say that has contributed to the nationwide rise in homicides. Prior research showed that following nationwide protests, a police pullback measured by a decline in arrest rates played a role in a rise in murder rates in 2015, in a few cities including Baltimore and Chicago. But it wasn’t a factor in most major cities, said Richard Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, who co-wrote a study on the topic.

Researchers say other possible reasons for the current surge in homicides include stress from the Covid-19 pandemic, the temporary shutdown of courts and anti-violence nonprofits, and frayed relations between law enforcement and Black communities after high-profile police killings, such as that of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Following calls to defund the police, the Portland City Council last summer voted to cut $15 million from the police department, including the 38-person gun-violence team, which they criticized for racial profiling. In 2019, 52% of the team’s stops were of Black people, who make up 5.8% of the city’s population.

After the team was disbanded, homicides rose. This spring, Portland police officials proposed creating a new team.

In March, Mayor Ted Wheeler announced the new police unit, called the Focused Initiative Team, and said it would focus on lowering tensions with residents, along with combating gun violence. The Democrat said an 11-member board made up of community members would oversee it.

An internal posting described jobs on the Focused Initiative Team as focusing on the Portlanders most likely to be involved in gun violence, like the old unit. But it included a new list of required qualifications, including the “ability to identify and dismantle institutional and systemic racism in the bureau’s responses to gun violence.”

“Martin Luther King couldn’t dismantle systematic racism. Now you want a cop to do it?” a veteran Portland officer said of the new unit. “Nobody wants to be part of something that’s set up for failure.”

Mr. Wheeler’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Ms. Resch said the gun-violence team’s work in the past benefited minority communities, as shootings have disproportionately affected the 23% of Portland’s population that is nonwhite.

This year’s victims include Makayla Maree Harris, an 18-year-old who had just graduated high school. She was out with friends in downtown Portland on a Friday night last month when she was killed in a barrage of gunfire that also wounded six others. No arrests have been made.

Lionel Irving, a Portland nonprofit leader who is on the oversight committee for the new unit, said he is hopeful that it will focus more on taking down leaders of violent groups and less on the “stop-and-frisk” approach of the old unit.

Mr. Irving said he has seen during the past year how police presence waned in Portland neighborhoods as officers pulled back or were redeployed to patrol protests that started last summer and continued into this year.

“It created a sense of lawlessness,” said Mr. Irving, whose nonprofit Love Is Stronger tries to reduce violence and recidivism.

The veteran Portland officer said his colleagues “are incredibly hesitant to do anything proactive because either they have a complaint filed against them or every stop is a fight.”

Ms. Resch said that she doesn’t believe there was a police pullback. But she said that there was a dip in self-initiated activity such as investigative stops by officers because they were working protests and because there were fewer people on the street during the pandemic.

A Piedmont wealth manager who allegedly left his wife and a dying man at the scene of a hit-and-run faces manslaughter charge

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 21:02:20 GMT

Matthias Gafni

July 7, 2021

The impact of the crash on the afternoon of Mother’s Day threw Gregory Turnage Jr. onto the hood of the white Lexus before he fell to the Oakland sidewalk. As he lay bleeding, witnesses said, the driver opened his door and walked around the smashed front bumper before looking down at Turnage’s crumpled body.

But rather than call 911 or render aid to the Oakland father, the driver fled on foot, according to the witnesses and Oakland police investigators, leaving behind a gravely injured Turnage as well as his own wife, who remained in the front passenger seat of the Lexus behind a deployed airbag.

Turnage, 41, was rushed to a hospital but died from his injuries. The driver — identified as Timothy Hamano, a 64-year-old Piedmont wealth manager — turned himself in the next day after Oakland police issued a warrant for his arrest, according to court records.

On Wednesday, nearly two months after the crash, Alameda County prosecutors charged Hamano with felony hit-and-run leading to death as well as vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. If convicted he could face up to 10 years in prison. Despite indications that Hamano had been drinking prior to the crash, the Oakland police lead investigator said, there was not enough evidence to prove he was impaired.

Efforts by The Chronicle to reach Hamano and his wife, Jamie, an optometrist, over the phone, via email and at his home were unsuccessful. An Alameda County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman said the office does not comment on pending cases.

But public records and interviews reveal a tragic, unusual and complicated case. Experts say whenever a driver allegedly takes flight after a crash that injures or kills a person, the investigation focuses on whether the suspect was impaired by alcohol or drugs, which could increase the seriousness of the charges and the potential punishment. The suspect’s flight also makes any investigation more challenging.

For Turnage’s partner, Angie Brey, and their 10-year-old son, Miles, the wait for answers has been agonizing.

“We are beyond devastated, and our lives and our hearts have been completely shattered,” Brey told The Chronicle. “I am haunted daily by the horrific manner that Greg was taken and knowing that he died suffering and without a single loved one by his side to try and comfort him.”

Brey called the driver’s actions “a callous, self-serving act of cowardice” that is “too much for my heart to handle.”

She had mixed emotions Wednesday after receiving a call from a prosecutor alerting her to the charges.

“I feel kind of numb,” she said. “I’m just a little frustrated that they were unable to get him for drinking.”

Turnage first left his home around 6 a.m. on May 9, walking to one of Brey’s favorite bakeries to get her pastries. When he found a line down the block, he returned home and prepared homemade chocolate-covered strawberries, waffles and coffee and tiptoed into Brey’s bedroom with their son for a surprise breakfast in bed.

He sheepishly laughed, handing her a fork. The hardened chocolate had stuck the strawberries firmly to the plate.

“These acts of kindness were not unique to just special days like Mother’s Day,” Brey said. “Greg was the kind of man, partner, and father who showered our son and I with these small, kind acts of love daily. He was a doting and protective father to our son, and he was one of the most gentle, caring and thoughtful people I have ever been so fortunate to have in my life.”

For six years, Turnage cared for his grandmother full time as she deteriorated from Alzheimer’s disease.

“He was adamant that she be able to leave this world in her home where she felt safe and that she be able to depart with dignity and love,” Brey said.

After her passing at the end of 2017, Turnage delivered Amazon packages, but the couple decided he should stop when the pandemic hit and find something more permanent.

Most mornings before Brey left for her job as an administrative coordinator at a San Francisco law office, Turnage would prepare her a cup of coffee, then walk to the supermarket to get ingredients for pancakes and smoothies for Miles.

“He always did the dishes, without complaint, just because he knew I hated doing them,” Brey said.

He gave deep hugs, she said, and gentle shoulder rubs. He loved math and computers. He sang loudly when he cleaned. He voraciously followed news and politics. He’d practice baking after watching “The Great British Baking Show.” And he loved his son.

“He deserved to watch our son grow up and to meet our future grandchildren,” Brey said. “Our son is only 10 and he needs his father during these pivotal years of his life, and he could not have had a better example of what it means to be a good man and a good partner than the example he had in Greg.”

Sharon Cropsey and Trish Elliott, both 78, walked south on Park Boulevard in the late afternoon on Mother’s Day. The women live in a nearby senior home and frequently walk the neighborhood together.

On Nextdoor, residents frequently complain about speeding on the four-lane road that Oakland hills and Piedmont residents often use to shuttle between Interstate 580 and Highway 13. Motorists confront a speed meter, and signs along the median remind them to drive like their kids live there.

Just before 5:15 p.m. the friends, who walk with their heads down to watch for uneven concrete, heard a loud crash. Snapping their heads up, they saw a Lexus smashed into a parked car along a small strip of stores on the 3800 block of Park Boulevard. A man was on his back on the sidewalk, they said, bleeding with a visibly broken leg.

Cropsey called 911. A crowd gathered. Someone ran to grab water. A man and woman turned Turnage on his side, as instructed by dispatchers over the phone. Car parts were strewn on the sidewalk.

“The driver got out right away and went around the side to see (Turnage) on the ground,” Elliott told The Chronicle in a recent interview at the scene. As Cropsey spoke to police, Elliott said she spoke to Hamano’s wife, who appeared dazed in the passenger seat.

“She was shocked and I called out to her husband,” Elliott said, “but he was unresponsive. He didn’t answer any of my questions.” At some point before officers arrived, she said, Hamano disappeared, prompting her to ask his wife where he went.

“His wife said he doesn’t do well in stressful situations,” Elliott said. “It was shocking and horrifying and I was hoping against hope this man would live.”

Hamano’s wife called her husband’s cell phone, getting visibly frustrated when he didn’t answer, Elliott said.

Soon, officers and dispatchers tried to find the driver. “They saw driver walking around the corner toward 13th Avenue, turned at the corner near the dry cleaners,” a dispatcher alerted officers at the scene, according to radio traffic reviewed by The Chronicle.

“The driver’s GOA (gone on arrival), but the wife is on scene and she was in vehicle,” a police officer reported to dispatch. Officers set up a perimeter and, according to the search warrant, Hamano’s wife identified him to police as the driver. She told officers they had been celebrating Mother’s Day at two different places and her husband had drunk some Bloody Marys, said Oakland police Sgt. Timothy Dolan.

“Based upon the statement provided by Hamano’s wife, he was consuming alcoholic beverages throughout the day prior to the collision,” Dolan said in court documents. “His intoxication level was never determined during the follow-up investigation.”

Hamano’s arraignment is scheduled for July 28.

“Where is Greg?” Brey wondered. More than two hours had passed since he’d left for his afternoon walk, a worrying amount of time even though he was working to hit a calorie-burning goal on his Apple Watch. She’d ordered burgers for Mother’s Day dinner.

“You OK?” she texted him.

“Hey. Just text me back and let me know you’re good. Thought you went on a walk but it’s been 2 ½ hours,” she wrote.

She called his phone. Miles called his phone. The calls went to voicemail.

Maybe Turnage had decided to drive to his uncle’s house, Brey thought. She went with her son to check for his car — and found it parked down the street. She started calling relatives as her anxiety rocketed.

“The fact that when Miles and I try to call you on both our phones there is silence (no ring tone) and the fact that you haven’t responded has us worried,” she texted Turnage. “Greg, please call us. I’m panicking.”

She called the emergency room at nearby Highland Hospital on a whim. He was there; she needed to come immediately. Minutes later, she was ushered into a chapel.

“It’s almost impossible to articulate the surreal horror that washes over you as you try to process these words and the fact that you will never see, hear, or touch one of the most important people in your life ever again,” Brey said.

When Hamano turned himself in the day after the crash, he “refused to provide a statement regarding the collision and was booked at Santa Rita Jail,” Dolan wrote in his search warrant affidavit.

But neighbors along the Oakland street had provided them with ample evidence. Two witnesses picked him out of a photo lineup, and another resident filmed the driver on her phone, Dolan said. After milling around the car on that video, he soon disappeared, he said.

“I think citizens that came out to help really helped solve the case,” Dolan said.

Police collected video evidence of Hamano leaving the scene from surveillance cameras, and a church’s alarm system captured the crash — the Lexus simply failed to negotiate the gentle turn, Dolan said.

A judge signed a search warrant May 12 allowing police to obtain a DNA swab from Hamano and to search his Lexus. Officers wanted to confirm through physical evidence that he had been driving, particularly by matching DNA on the driver’s-side airbag.

On Tuesday, Dolan got a search warrant to obtain receipts from the San Francisco restaurant where the Hamanos celebrated Mother’s Day with a late lunch before the crash. The bill included two Bloody Marys and a wine charge for $10, Dolan said, for a four-person party. In addition, he said investigators determined the couple had been at a San Francisco golf course beforehand where they ate hot dogs and drank beers. It wasn’t clear how much Hamano imbibed at either place, Dolan said.

“It’s pretty egregious,” Dolan said of the crash and fleeing the scene. “The family are wonderful people. ... I feel horrible for (Brey) and her son.”

In the aftermath of the crash, Cropsey, the witness, said she couldn’t stop thinking of the man she last saw being taken away in an ambulance. She asked her church group and daughter to pray for him. For two weeks, she obsessed over who the mystery man was and what his prognosis would be, until she searched online and found his death notice.

“I was one of those who stood by Gregory on May 9, praying for his recovery, as we waited for the paramedics,” she wrote in a comment.

She explained her belief that Turnage, before being struck by the Lexus, had moved toward the edge of the sidewalk to leave room for Cropsey and her friend, possibly due to coronavirus social distancing.

“I suspect he had stepped to the side to let us pass. I suspect it was an act of chivalry to us that put him in harm’s way,” she wrote. “I hold Gregory in my heart.”

Brey, meanwhile, has struggled to move forward. The summer trip she had planned to Okinawa, to show Turnage where her family is from, is off. Dreams of buying a larger house are gone. A second child is no longer an option.

“All Greg did was go for his daily walk,” Brey said, “and now, for the rest of our days, Mother’s Day will mark a yearly reminder of the trauma inflicted upon us and all that was taken away from my child and I.”

Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni

Oakland police overwhelmed with July 4 violence: '12 hours of nonstop chaos'

Tue, 06 Jul 2021 04:47:52 GMT

Mallory Moench

July 5, 2021

Oakland police responded to seven shootings, two deaths and a huge sideshow overnight on the Fourth of July in “12 hours of nonstop chaos,” Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said Monday.

The seven shootings took place from 6:30 p.m. Sunday until 10 a.m. Monday. Six were in East Oakland and one in North Oakland. One victim was a 16-year-old boy.

One shooting led to the city’s 67th homicide this year after a 48-year-old man died on the street just after midnight. Another man died of blunt trauma to the head, the cause of which is under investigation. A female victim was in grave condition Monday and not expected to survive.

The level of life-threatening violence was so high that the ambulance system was inundated and “took a considerable amount of time to respond,” the police chief said.

“The last 24 hours have been very challenging in the city of Oakland,” Armstrong said during a news conference at police headquarters Monday. “It was 12 hours of nonstop chaos.”

Armstrong said a vast majority of the injuries were caused by celebratory gunfire, such as bullets shot into the air that rain back down, in “one of the more violent Fourth of Julys” he had ever seen.

“This year the level of celebratory gunfire was something like we haven’t seen before and the number of people who have been hit is unbelievable,” he said.

Simultaneously, police monitored a sideshow of more than 300 cars and 200 spectators roaming across the city. Some participants were armed with guns and pointing lasers or throwing objects at officers, the chief said. One spectator was hit by a car and sustained injuries that may require “lifelong medical treatment,” he added.

Police arrested three people, seized five guns and towed six cars in response to the sideshow.

The police force had been prepared to crack down on illegal fireworks on the holiday, but because of the high level of violence and the “low number of resources and officers running from one shooting scene to another,” they were unable to respond to fireworks activity, Armstrong said.

The violence piled on top of a busy weekend for Oakland firefighters, who responded to 61 fire-related calls Sunday and three structure fires early Monday morning. Deputy Chief Nick Luby told The Chronicle that “there is a high probability” two of the three fires were caused by fireworks.

Armstrong held his news conference a week after slamming the Oakland City Council for voting to shift about $18 million from the police budget to violence intervention and prevention as well as social services. The mayor and two council members who represent East Oakland, where most of the shootings this weekend occurred, opposed the move.

Armstrong used July Fourth as an example of how strapped for resources the department is. Oakland currently has 714 sworn police officers — roughly 165 sworn officers per 100,000 people — while San Francisco has roughly 202 sworn officers per 100,000 people.

The decision to redirect police funds divided a city wracked by violence. Supporters said the purpose was to address the causes of those crimes, such as unemployment and gang violence.

Advocates pointed out that the presence of officers, for instance at a Juneteenth celebration at Lake Merritt where a shooting killed one person and wounded seven, doesn’t always prevent crimes. Others described police as violence responders, but not preventers, who instead depend on the community for that role. The new budget invests in the city’s Department of Violence Intervention, which partners with community organizations to interrupt and deter violence on the streets.

Armstrong, an Oakland native, said Monday he would hold a rally to call on the community to end violence.

“We have to get people to put down guns,” Armstrong said. “We are losing people at an alarming rate, and we have to recognize how much trauma and hurt and pain it causes in our community.”

Mallory Moench is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@mallorymoench

Oakland police chief slams council vote on funding as deadly shootings surge

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 17:43:30 GMT

Sarah Ravani

June 28, 2021

After four homicides over two days, the debate over policing in Oakland intensified Monday when the police chief sharply criticized the City Council’s move last week to redirect about $18 million away from the mayor’s proposed police budget.

Chief LeRonne Armstrong said the budget vote means fewer officers will be on the streets and response to 911 calls will be delayed. He added that a surge in violent crime makes it more crucial to increase police funding and said that the social services and violence-prevention programs meant to replace officers are not fully operational yet. Oakland saw four homicides over Friday and Saturday, bringing the city’s total to 65 for the year compared with 32 at this time in 2020.

“We find ourselves in a crisis,” Armstrong said at a news conference Monday. “We see clearly that crime is out of control in the city of Oakland and our response was for less police resources.”

Yet another shooting was reported right before the press conference began, and a victim was in critical condition, Armstrong added. Then, just hours after the press conference, two armed robbers held up a television news crew that was interviewing Guillermo Cespedes, the head of the city’s Department of Violence Prevention, outside City Hall. The suspects fled after a scuffle with a security officer and no injuries were reported.

Armstrong’s strong statement reflects a hardening of sides as the city grapples with how to best address a surge in violent crime. Armstrong, who was appointed by Mayor Libby Schaaf, finds himself on the side of the mayor and two council members who opposed the progressive majority on the council that pushed to shift resources from the police.

Some residents want an increase in police while others are advocating for shifting resources to try to address the root causes of crime, and city leaders are lining up against each other.

That debate is playing out in the wake of the City Council passing a two-year budget that cut $18.4 million from Schaaf’s proposed spending on police. The money will instead fund violence prevention measures and social services. In May, Schaaf proposed a two-year budget, which goes into effect July 1, that would have increased funding for the department, spending $693 million in total.

Schaaf would have paid for two additional police recruit academies, bringing the total to six. The council’s adopted budget funds four police recruit academies instead. The approved budget will also freeze 50 vacant officer positions.

Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas, who led the push to shift resources from the department, said Monday she appreciates “the chief’s passion and commitment to keeping the people of Oakland safe. I know he has lost loved ones to violence, like so many others in our city this last year alone.”

She said she shares his public safety goals, but differs in “how we must allocate our public safety resources for the next two years. For me, the time has never been more urgent to increase our investments in preventing violence from happening in the first place.”

She has said transitioning low-level, nonviolent 911 calls to other departments would help officers focus on the highest-priority cases.

Armstrong spoke emotionally Monday about the loss of lives to gun violence. He pointed to a photo of LaShawn Buffin, a 53-year-old woman killed Jan. 19 in East Oakland.

“That is my god-sister,” Armstrong said. “That means something to me.”

Armstrong said he responded to a report of a shooting Saturday night where a man was killed. As he walked through the neighborhood, a woman yelled from her window, “Do something about it.”

“Without the resources, it makes it challenging to make Oakland safe,” he said. “When the yellow tape is gone and when the streets are cleaned up, there is still hurt and pain and tragedy in our community.”

In a statement on Facebook, Bas said the first year of the city’s two-year budget is a “transition year” and residents will receive the same level of police service. Bas said there are no layoffs or reductions to the police force.

Thursday’s vote came after the city’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force met for nearly a year and put together a list of recommendations on how to best use funds from the police department to bolster social services. In May, the City Council voted to prioritize 12 of those recommendations, which included creating a new unit within the Fire Department to respond to certain calls for homeless people and mentally ill that police previously responded to. They also included moving some traffic enforcement into the transportation department.

Out of the $18.4 million, the council redirected about $17 million to the Department of Violence Prevention, which works in partnership with the police department, but Armstrong said the new programs don’t yet exist and will take time before they’re launched.

In the meantime, Armstrong said, the city will suffer from not having additional police resources.

“As of July 1, there will not be one additional resource to help address public safety,” he said. “And we won’t have an increased presence on the ground in the city of Oakland. That concerns me.”

Oakland currently has 714 police officers — roughly 165 officers per 100,000 people, while San Francisco has 202 officers per 100,000 people.

Council Member Loren Taylor, who was at the news conference, said after the event that he is frustrated because his district in East Oakland feels the impact of gun violence disproportionately.

“We don’t have the number of violence interrupters that are trained ready to do the work today,” he said, adding that it can take up to a year to hire for those positions. Taylor had proposed five police academies instead of four. He voted against the budget Thursday.

“We need to center the voices and the lives of our community members as we are reimagining public safety,” he said.

Councilman Dan Kalb, who voted for the budget, said there will be no shift in resources on July 1 when the new budget goes into effect. The cut to the department’s budget is roughly 2.5% and any impact might be seen at the end of the first fiscal year, he added.

Still, the investment and priorities council made are critical, Kalb said.

“We’ve been saying for years that we have to step up and put serious investments into a range of violence prevention and intervention strategies that will help reduce violence,” Kalb said. “It’s not going to be an easy transition. We have to do that at some point and we are starting that point now.”

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com

Armed robbers held up news crew as it interviewed Oakland's chief of violence prevention

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 17:41:03 GMT

Rachel Swan

June 28, 2021

Two armed robbers held up a television news crew that was interviewing Oakland's director of violence prevention outside City Hall on Monday afternoon, just hours after the police chief warned of worsening crime amid cuts to the police budget.

Oakland police reported that the two suspects approached the newscasters at 3:09 p.m. and tried to steal a camera. After a scuffle, a security officer pulled out a gun and ordered the suspects to leave. They fled without the camera. No injuries were reported.

A statement from the Police Department described the incident but did not identify Guillermo Cespedes, head of the city’s Department of Violence Prevention, as a victim.

Cespedes told The Chronicle he was at the scene of an attempted robbery on Monday, and a police watch commander confirmed he was being interviewed when the crime occurred.

“Our colleagues were conducting an interview at Oakland City Hall when they were approached by two armed individuals,” Liza Catalan, a spokesperson for NBC Bay Area, said. “Thankfully our colleagues are safe and unharmed.”

Less than three hours before the attempted robbery, Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong held a news conference in which he criticized the City Council for passing a budget that reduced police spending by $18 million — diverting much of those funds to the city’s department of violence prevention in an effort to support alternatives to policing.

Armstong said a surge in violent crime makes it more crucial to increase police funding and warned that police response to 911 calls could be delayed as a result of the cuts.

Oakland created its Department of Violence Prevention in 2017, with an ambitious goal: decrease homicides by 80 % over three years. The city tapped Cespedes to run the department in 2020, months before gun violence began rising at a staggering rate — a sudden unraveling after five years of progress.

As of Monday the city had counted 65 homicides for the year, nearly double the amount for this time last year.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Police Officers Calling It Quits, Retiring Early at Alarming Rate

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 17:38:12 GMT

A group called the Police Executive Research Forum reported that resignations rose by 45% in the last year alone and retirements are up by 18%.

Darrell Cortez, a 30-year veteran of the San Jose Police Department, said he's glad he's not a cop now.

"Police officers are really feeling demonized, vilified, criticized in the court of public opinion," he said.

Cortez said he joined the force to help people and protect them from harm. He agreed that police reform is needed, but he is still sad to see a lot of officers deciding to turn in their badge in frustration.

Oakland Council Members Push Back On Police Budget Claims, Say ‘It Is Not A Cut’

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 17:34:38 GMT

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) – The Oakland City Council voted last week to divert money from the police, which led many to believe the department budget was being cut. But some who made that decision told KPIX 5 that’s a misunderstanding.

At a news conference on Monday, Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong denounced the $18 million in cuts to his budget voted by the City Council. He said it would reduce police response and decrease the number of new recruits by eliminating two academy classes over the next two years.

Defying 'defund police' calls, Democrat Adams leads NYC mayor's race

Sat, 26 Jun 2021 21:32:24 GMT

For months, as New York City faced a growing spate of shootings, mayoral candidate Eric Adams delivered the same line at one campaign event after another: "The prerequisite for prosperity is public safety."

Adams' message, which included a vow to beef up subway patrols, appears to have resonated with a broad swath of New Yorkers as the United States' most populous city undertakes a tough recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and confronts deep challenges including wealth inequality and police accountability.

In initial results from Tuesday's Democratic primary election, Adams was the first choice on more than 31% of in-person ballots. That puts him nearly 10 percentage points ahead of liberal rival Maya Wiley, who has called for cutting one-sixth of the city's $6 billion police budget. read more

A year ago, amid widespread demonstrations across the city over police brutality and calls to "defund the police," it might have been difficult to imagine a former police captain who advocated for more officers on the street emerging as the Democratic Party's preferred mayoral candidate.

Oakland residents divided over reinvesting police funds amid violence: 'We all want to feel safe'

Sat, 26 Jun 2021 21:07:28 GMT

The mood felt tense as two dozen kids, ages 6 through 13, filed into Curt Flood Field to do stretches and bleacher runs Friday afternoon. Shortly before practice started, shots broke out and children had to run and duck behind the park restroom at the field.

At 4:30 p.m., a police helicopter circled overhead.

“As much as we don’t really like the police, we kind of need them,” said Aeeshah Diggs, whose son Mark is on the Oakland Dynamites and practices at Curt Flood everyday. The gunfire is relentless, she said. Another shooting happened at the same location last week.

Diggs — like many Oakland residents — has complicated feelings about the police. She relies on them, but is also wary of them. Her cousin, Roger Allen, was shot and killed by a Daly City officer in April following an alleged struggle over a BB gun.

The past year in Oakland has been fraught for many residents. Homicides have spiked to 64 — nearly double the 33 by this time last year — as racial justice protests over police violence gave momentum to a years-long debate across the Bay Area and the country about the most effective way to address violence and how to reimagine the police. While some residents want to slash the police budget and others want to boost their resources, those like Diggs are caught between both sides.

At a contentious meeting Thursday night, the Oakland City Council passed a two-year budget that cut $18.4 million from Mayor Libby Schaaf’s proposed spending on police to fund violence prevention measures and social services. Schaaf would have increased funding for the Oakland Police Department, paying for two additional police recruit academies, bringing the total to six. The approved budget will freeze 50 vacant officer positions and shift the money elsewhere.

Oakland becomes the latest city to experiment with a new vision of public safety, one that shifts money from law enforcement to social programs with the aim of addressing the underlying causes of crime. Instead of more officers, the city will funnel resources to its Department of Violence Prevention, which partners with community organizations doing street outreach and intervention, and other social services.

Activists celebrated the decision, but the mayor and two councilmembers representing the districts most impacted by violence opposed the move.

A day later, residents and community leaders were still debating what policing should look like in Oakland. Supporters of more police pointed to violent crime as the reason for adding more officers, while their opponents said police were failing to address that violence.

Just days earlier, a shooting at Lake Merritt killed one person and injured seven. Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said at a press conference after the shooting that it justified a greater police presence. But others noted that the large police presence at the lake on Juneteenth didn’t prevent the shooting.

Advocacy groups such as Anti Police-Terror Project have been campaigning for six years to slash the police department’s budget in half.

Liz Suk, the executive director of Oakland Rising, a coalition of nine non-profits, has lived in East Oakland for more than 30 years and has been both a victim of and witness to violence. She’s said she’s watched over the years as the city has invested more in police while disinvesting in the community, leading to worse street conditions, rising homelessness, insufficient services and little support for arts and culture.

The new budget will boost those neglected areas, she said.

“Crime is on the increase because we’re in a pandemic,” Suk said. She said jobs, affordable housing, recreation programs for children and mental health services are desperately needed. “We need a response from the city that is different than what it is now,” she added.

Some who supported the reduction in Schaaf’s proposed police funding were cautious about how new resources would be used. At King’s Boxing Gym on 35th Avenue in Oakland, co-owner Celeste King sat in her office Friday, listening to the steady thump of gloves punching Everlast bags. Increasingly, parents are bringing their children in to learn self-defense, she said.

King supports shifting money from police, but wants the violence intervention organizations that benefit to be held accountable.

“We definitely need some defining somewhere,” King said, leaning back in a swivel chair, surrounded by family photographs, trophy cases and a poster of Muhammad Ali towering over a knocked-out Sonny Liston. “I just hope when it’s done it goes to the proper social services.”

Others have been adamant about keeping and even increasing police funding, warning about crime levels in the city. Oakland currently has 714 police officers — roughly 165 officers per 100,000 people while San Francisco has 202 officers per 100,000 people.

“Defunding your already shrinking, over-stretched police department, as Oakland suffers with rocketing violent crime, seems like an ill-thought-out policy decision that won’t end well for Oakland’s residents and police officers alike,” said Sgt. Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, in a statement.

Carl Chan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, said that over the past couple days, local businesses owners, employees and residents collected more than 3,000 signatures on a petition sent to the Mayor and City Council to maintain police funding. Given attacks against Asian-Americans this year many people he knows want more police, he said.

“Many people truly feel unsafe already,” said Chan, who himself was attacked in April.

Chan said that earlier this year, when elderly Asian-Americans were getting robbed after cashing checks, he asked police for more foot patrols near banks. He said police presence reduced the number of incidents after March, although he didn’t have exact data. An officer on the street can deter someone from committing a crime of opportunity, a similar effect to a home security camera, he said.

Chan urged the city to hire more officers instead of relying on costly overtime in its budget.

Suk, whose parents immigrated from Korea, said she understands the anxiety of the Asian-American community.

“There definitely is an element of the community who believes that policing is the answer because it is an easy solution,” Suk said.

But she said doing so was not only contributing to a racist system of incarceration but also ineffective, with attacks occurring in Chinatown despite a police station nearby. She instead promoted community ambassadors who walk the streets, escort the elderly and work with business owners on beautification and safety as a better solution.

Antoine Towers, chairman of the Oakland Violence Prevention Coalition, said the investment in violence prevention was “long overdue.”

Towers, who lives in West Oakland, lost his nephew, brother and many other people he knew to gun violence. For the longest time, he said, shootings would happen on his block every other night. It was so bad that it was hard to advocate that it was safe for his 11-year-old daughter, who he was trying to win custody of, to stay with him. Someone was killed outside his home near West Grand Avenue and Chestnut Street Friday.

He said that police don’t prevent violence, but simply respond to it: “if they hear something is happening, they try to stop as much carnage as possible.” Police depend on violence interrupters whom the community trusts to address the root causes of crimes, he added.

That includes conflict mediation and community events to fill a void that violence might otherwise. Last week, Towers said he brought together a dozen community members at a barber shop in West Oakland to talk about what they want and need. If they said a gun, he pushed them to consider why; if they said money, he offered to help them find a way to earn it without resorting to crime.

Back at Curt Flood Field, the Dynamites’ coach, Jeff Cotton, said he’s captivated by the idea of redistributing police funding. But like many others, he’s concerned about which programs receive it.

Money for organizations that work with youth, providing an outlet and a place to go after school, could be very valuable, Cotton said.

“The adults are not the problem,” Cotton said. “These kids are taking out each other.”

But he also acknowledged the value of law enforcement.

He noted that when the regular season starts on Monday, the Dynamites will have a police officer at every practice.

Mallory Moench and Rachel Swan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com rswan@sfchronicle.com

Some Oakland officials worry about timing of police budget cuts amid spike in crime

Sat, 26 Jun 2021 20:57:41 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The fallout continues after a controversial vote by the Oakland City Council Thursday night to cut nearly 20 million dollars from its police force. While it sounds like a lot of money, it's a small fraction of what many in the defund movement wanted. Still, some question the timing, in a city that has recorded more than 60 murders, less than halfway through the year.

Oakland's City Council President is among those celebrating a new budget that shifts $18 million dollars from the police department to other programs, including those designed to prevent crime.

Editorial: It’s a shooting gallery in Oakland; more cops are needed

Fri, 25 Jun 2021 04:06:44 GMT

The City Council has picked a heck of a time to decide to cut the size of its already understaffed police force

It’s a shooting gallery in Oakland and innocent residents are often the victims. The City Council has picked a heck of a time to decide to cut the size of its already understaffed police force. That strategy will only make things worse.

Consider 15 incidents police reported just during a recent nine-day period from June 11-19:

1. Two men, ages 19 and 48, were shot in East Oakland. Initial reports were that the men were wounded by stray bullets from a nearby gun battle.

2. Two people were injured in a drive-by shooting near the Berkeley border in North Oakland. A man and woman were driving during the middle of the day when someone fired at them from another car.

3. A 36-year-old man was driving in East Oakland with a woman passenger when someone began shooting at them from outside. The man was wounded but able to drive to a police substation where medical help was summoned.

4. A 16-year-old boy was shot at least twice while he was in a vehicle with others. Police were trying to determine if he was wounded during an exchange of gunfire between the group he was with and the occupants of another vehicle.

5. A 43-year-old tow truck driver who was in Oakland on a repossession assignment was found fatally shot inside his vehicle about a mile southeast of Lake Merritt.

6. A 46-year-old man was shot in the upper torso when he tried to resist a man on a bicycle who had demanded his cell phone and money.

7. A 16-year-old girl was shot by a person she was attempting to carjack near Kaiser Hospital.

8. A 23-year-old man waiting to get food at a taco truck about a mile southeast of Lake Merritt heard some other people arguing, heard gunfire and realized he had been shot in the arm.

9. An 8-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl were injured in an East Oakland shooting. Bullets from a gun fired in the area went through several surfaces before hitting a wooden deck near the children, causing them to be struck by fragments.

10. A 51-year-old taxi driver was wounded in the face in East Oakland by a stray bullet fired during a shootout between other people.

11. A 25-year-old man was fatally shot while driving in West Oakland. Police said he was found inside a car that crashed.

12. Two people were wounded at a homeless camp in West Oakland.

13. A 35-year-old man in East Oakland was hit in the leg by a stray bullet fired during a nearby shootout.

14. A 41-year-old woman was wounded inside her East Oakland home by a stray bullet fired outside during a shootout.

15. One person was killed and seven others were wounded in a gang-related shooting at Lake Merritt near the city’s Juneteenth celebration. Some victims were people caught in the crossfire.

• • •

'Chaos': Alameda Co. DA dismissing cases as pandemic-related backlog grows

Fri, 25 Jun 2021 04:00:54 GMT

ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Alameda County's District Attorney says she can't keep up with the criminal case load created by the pandemic.

"We've seen a big uptick in crime, especially violent crime," said Alameda County District Attorney, Nancy O'Malley, who says she's having a hard time getting suspects to court.

Oakland City Council Responds to City’s Sixth Mass Shooting of the Year and Continued Violence by Doubling Down on More ‘Defunding the Police.’

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 20:50:51 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

June 21, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland City Council Responds to City’s Sixth Mass Shooting of the Year and Continued Violence by Doubling Down on More ‘Defunding the Police.’

OAKLAND – On Saturday Oakland suffered its sixth mass shooting of the year. Six shot and one died at Lake Merritt. Statistics released today show that Oakland has suffered 59 homicides this year and a further 295 people shot.

In response to this violence, Oakland’s City Council proposed another wave of defunding the police. In December the Police Department’s Traffic Division, all Foot Patrol Squads and officers assigned to Crime Reduction Teams were disbanded. For this Council that was not enough. Now, the Council President’s proposed budget includes a second round of ‘defund the police’ by cancelling upcoming police academies and reducing the numbers of officers responding to 9-1-1 calls.

“Defunding the police married with the exodus of Oakland Police Officers has stretched the department incredibly thin to respond to the bloodshed on our streets. Officers are leaving Oakland to serve communities that want and value their service. The litany of violent crime victims has already demonstrated that Oakland’s ‘defund the police’ strategy has failed.” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Oakland’s City Council will debate their proposed ‘defund the police’ budget on Thursday, June 24th at 1030AM. To observe the meeting via zoom, click on this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88555241060

Click for Oakland’s crime statistics year to date.

###

Oakland: ‘Several people’ fired guns during Juneteenth Lake Merritt shooting, police say

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 22:14:37 GMT

List of victims now stands at eight, police said

By JOSEPH GEHA

OAKLAND — A mass shooting Saturday evening that killed one young man and tore up a massive Juneteenth celebration around Lake Merritt was carried out by “multiple shooters,” and likely is connected to gangs based in San Francisco, authorities said Monday.

“The individuals responsible were multiple shooters, not just one. We’ve learned over the last couple days that several people fired weapons during this event,” Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said during a news conference. Authorities added another victim to the total Monday, saying seven people had been injured in addition to the one person killed.

“We don’t believe that this was a random shooting. We believe that this was directly related to group and gang violence … related to the city of San Francisco,” Armstrong said.

Police have not yet definitively identified the people responsible for the shooting, which took place around 6:22 p.m. in the 2200 block of Lakeshore Avenue. Authorities are working with San Francisco police’s gang units to investigate the case, police officials said.

“There seems to be some group or gang feud going on, and it appears they may have met or encountered each other during the festivities at the lake,” Oakland Lt. Leo Sanchez said.

“We have no evidence yet … that there’s any Oakland gang ties involved in this, in the actual shooting,” Sanchez said.

Two men who were seen running from the area with guns were arrested on the night of the shooting, but police said Monday they do not appear to be associated with the shooting.

The man who was killed was a 22-year-old resident of San Francisco, Armstrong said, though police did not identify him.

Police officials, however, said it appears some of those wounded were not intended targets of the violence.

“There were individuals also that were just part of the festivities, part of the gathering, and were caught up in the crossfire,” Sanchez said.

Police said those wounded range in age from as 16 to their mid-60s, and several of them were hospitalized in stable condition as of Monday.

Mass shootings are on the rise in Oakland, with six so far in 2021

Sun, 20 Jun 2021 19:31:41 GMT

Halfway through 2021, Oakland has more mass shootings than in all of last year

By DAVID DEBOLT

OAKLAND — John Avalos was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had dropped off food on his friend’s porch and was back in his car when a firefight began. When the shooting stopped, more than 200 shell casings littered an East Oakland neighborhood.

Three men were wounded in the Jan. 21 shooting — and Avalos was dead. It was the city’s first mass shooting of 2021.

So far this year, Oakland has seen a dramatic rise in gun crimes, from homicides to shootings to armed robberies and carjackings. But there is another troubling trend: mass shootings — defined as single incidents with four or more gunshot victims — are up, too. The city has had six mass shootings in less than six months, the most of any California city. That’s already more than the four that occurred all of last year.

The shootings happened outside a downtown club, in the front yard of a family gathering, on Lakeshore Avenue near Lake Merritt and aboard a party bus, where a group of women were celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday party.

The latest came on Saturday around 6:22 p.m., when one person was killed and six others wounded on Lakeshore Avenue at Lake Merritt, where about 1,000 were gathered.

These mass shootings are less publicized than massacres that occur at places of worship, movie theaters and nightclubs, and at workplaces, like the deadly VTA shooting in San Jose last month, in which an employee shot and killed nine co-workers.

But they have left their own scars on Oakland residents and neighborhoods. Police arrested two men who ran from the scene of Saturday’s shooting with firearms, and are investigating whether they are connected or responsible for the shooting. Oakland police have not announced arrests in the other five mass shootings this year.

“These are terrible incidents, tragic incidents,” said Oakland police Capt. Tony Jones, who runs the city’s Ceasefire program to reduce violence. “I don’t know why the public doesn’t look at it that way when it happens in Oakland. They just don’t seem to catch on with the public and the outrage you would see that occurs in other cities. I just don’t know why. We certainly feel it at OPD.”

On average, Oakland experienced four mass shootings a year between 2016 and 2020, with 88 people wounded and six killed, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Though the city was the site of the Oikos University massacre in April 2012, when nursing student One L. Goh shot and killed seven people, most of the bloodshed happens on city streets.

The worst year, 2016, saw 35 people wounded in seven separate shootings. That included eight injured on 14th Street near City Hall, and a 16-year-old killed and three other teenagers wounded while attending a vigil for friends who drowned in a Stanislaus County reservoir.

Citywide, all gun-related crimes are up.

Police have recovered 504 guns so far in 2021, about the same rate of seizures as last year. Most of the weapons were linked to felonies, according to police department statistics, and appear to be coming in from out of state.

Oakland police officials attribute the rise in violence in part to the increase of guns on the street, where tension between gangs appearing to battle over turf came with the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Police have also seen a troubling level of gunfire at shooting sites. It is not unusual for crime scene technicians to mark 70, 80 and 90 casings fired at one scene.

“When was the last time you heard of somebody at 1:30 p.m., one block away from the Oakland Police Department, getting out of a car with machine guns and shooting somebody,” Jones said, referring to a May 24 homicide on 8th Street.

Oakland residents, in particular East Oakland, are hearing gunfire each night, officials have said. Shotspotter activations are up 119% over last year, with two-thirds of the 3,924 activations occurring in East Oakland.

In the first half of 2021, there have been about 330 shootings causing injuries including death, an increase of about 77% compared with this time last year. Shootings of occupied vehicles and homes increased by 79%, robberies where guns were used are up 57%, while carjackings rose a staggering 104%.

Ari Freilich, state policy director with the Giffords Law Center, said “unfortunately Oakland’s experience is consistent with many cities this year.” Crime in major cities spiked over the pandemic, along with gun sales and a proliferation of ghost guns, which can be bought online as kits and assembled at home, Freilich said.

Two weeks before the deadly VTA shooting in San Jose, at least two gunmen unleashed terror on a group of women and girls on a party bus headed from San Francisco back to Oakland. The gunmen stalked the bus, first shooting at it on Interstate 580, and following it onto city streets, firing more before the wounded bus driver managed to get to the Eastmont Police Substation.

Two teenage girls, 16 and 19, were killed and six other women — one who was inside a parked car — were wounded. One remains in critical condition. Police estimate the shooters fired about 70 rounds. Investigators do not believe the women were the intended targets.

Before Saturday’s shooting at Lake Merritt, the most recent mass shooting occurred June 6, when five men were shot at a family gathering outside a home in the 5100 block of Ygnacio Avenue in East Oakland. On May 8, three men and a woman were wounded in a shooting in the 1400 block of Lakeshore Avenue, near Lake Merritt. Six men were wounded on Feb. 13 in Old Oakland, outside a downtown club. All of them survived.

“Most times when we have a killing, the person who dies never had anything to do with it,” said Antoine Towers of the Oakland Violence Prevention Coalition. But “any kind of harm leaves a scar, even if you are not the one who got shot. Just hearing a shot” can cause trauma, he said.

Avalos, a 38-year-old San Lorenzo resident, was one of those unintended victims. He came to the city’s Stonehurst neighborhood to bring food to a friend quarantined after a COVID diagnosis, authorities said. Multiple gunmen sprayed the area of 107th Avenue and Apricot Street with more than 200 bullets. Avalos was fatally wounded; three others were shot but survived.

While the majority of victims in Oakland mass shootings survive, they carry their wounds with them, said Freilich.

“These are life-altering traumatic experiences both physically and mentally,” Freilich said. “Their lives will never be the same. Many survivors will have a lifetime of medical bills and painful and just enormous trauma.”

In the Avalos killing, Oakland police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the homicide and shooting. Anyone with information is asked to call 510-238-3821. In the party bus double homicide and shooting a reward of up to $40,000 is being offered. Tipsters are asked to call the California Highway Patrol tip line at 707-917-4491. In the three other Oakland mass shootings, investigators are asking individuals with information to call 510-238-3426.

One killed, six wounded in shooting near Lake Merritt in Oakland

Sun, 20 Jun 2021 19:24:54 GMT

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com and PAUL ROGERS | progers@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

One person was killed and at least six others were wounded in a shooting Saturday evening at Lake Merritt in Oakland near the city’s Juneteenth celebration, the latest in a series of mass shootings that have struck the city this year.

Police said the shooting was reported at about 6:22 p.m. in the 2200 block of Lakeshore Avenue, where an estimated 1,000 people had gathered.

One victim, a 22-year-old San Francisco man, was pronounced dead after being transported to the hospital, said Officer Johnna Watson, a spokeswoman for the Oakland Police Department. The other six victims — four males ages 16 to 27, and two women — were in stable condition, she said.

There were originally five wounded victims reported, but an adult woman walked into a hospital late Saturday evening with a gunshot injury, bringing the number to six.

Investigators said they were trying to determine a motive for the shooting and identify suspects. Two men running from the scene with guns were arrested, police said, but it was unclear if they were responsible for the shooting.

“Tonight a joyous occasion at our Lake Merritt was marred by a senseless act of gun violence,” said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf in a statement. “Police in the area tended to victims, and apprehended two people with firearms near the scene. The investigation is ongoing and will determine if they are connected to the shooting. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims, and I want to thank our officers for a quick response.”

One man who was jogging in the area said Lakeshore Avenue was jammed with vehicles, some of them parked in the middle of the street with no passengers inside, when the shooting occurred.

“I heard gunshots. It was really quick,” said Andrew Simpson, 21. “Out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy with a gun pointing at a car. Everyone started sprinting and screaming. They were yelling ‘we’re getting shot at!’ I didn’t really understand what was going on. Hundreds of people were running. People were jumping in their cars and driving off.”

Simpson, who said he could not see many details in the chaos, began running up a side street.

“A few people offered me a ride,” he said. “They were saying ‘we’ve got to get out of here.’ It was pretty crazy.”

Witnesses said people in the dense crowd ran in opposite directions around the lake’s shoreline when the shots rang out. Some ran straight into the water. A police helicopter, which had been flying throughout the day, returned and circled the area.

Dozens of police officers rushed to the area to perform crowd control and preserve the crime scene.

A black convertible Oldsmobile and a silver Nissan Murano, surrounded by at least 35 shell casings on the street, were cordoned off with yellow police tape along Lakeshore Avenue near the intersection with Brooklyn Avenue as dusk fell.

Most of the remaining crowd along the 2200 block had dispersed by 8:30 p.m. Saturday as investigators continued working the crime scene.

“A few people offered me a ride,” he said. “They were saying ‘we’ve got to get out of here.’ It was pretty crazy.”

Dozens of police officers rushed to the area to perform crowd control and preserve the crime scene.

Most of the remaining crowd along the 2200 block had dispersed by 8:30 p.m. Saturday as investigators continued working the crime scene.

The shooting occurred about one mile north of the Lake Merritt Amphitheater, where hundreds of people had gathered throughout the day to commemorate June 19, 1865, the day that the last enslaved people in Texas finally learned that President Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier. On Thursday, President Joe Biden signed legislation marking Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

It was unclear whether there was any connection between the shooting and the Juneteenth events, which were scheduled to take place from noon to 8 p.m. on the lake’s south shore. People regularly gather in the area where the shooting occurred on other days, particularly weekends.

Simpson said he passed by the amphitheater earlier in the evening, nearly a mile to the south, and saw a relaxed, friendly crowd.

“There were lots of families. People were dancing,” he said.

This is the 59th homicide investigated by Oakland police this year. Last year at this time police had investigated 32 homicides in the city.

Police said they will not be providing an update Sunday, but more information will be available at press briefing Monday.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $35,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the shooter or shooters. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

Bay Area News Group photographer Dylan Bouscher and reporters David DeBolt and Jesse Bedayn contributed to this story.

Thirty-seven U.S. police officers were murdered in the first five months of 2021

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 15:56:34 GMT

By Ken Dilanian

WASHINGTON — With violent crime on the upswing across the nation, the number of police officers who have died violently in the line of duty is also spiking.

FBI Director Christopher Wray highlighted the issue in an appearance Tuesday before the House Oversight Committee. Wray said a total of 37 officers had been murdered in the first five months of 2021, compared with 46 during all of 2020.

“And that's not counting all those officers who've died in the line of duty facing the countless other inherent dangers of the job, like from a car accident in pursuit after a subject or drowning during an attempted rescue. Or even the scores of officers who've died from Covid-19. Because, of course, law enforcement kept coming to work every day despite the pandemic.”

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 148 police officers have died of all causes so far in 2021, up from 134 this time last year. Traffic deaths, in particular, have risen 42 percent, according to those statistics.

Action Alert: City Council Poised to Decimate 911 Response

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 02:51:03 GMT

Dear Fellow Oaklander,

Last month the Administration proposed a budget that would both reimagine public safety with community investments AND maintain the basic police response our most vulnerable community members depend on.

On Monday, Council President Bas and her Budget Team of Councilmembers Kalb, Gallo and Fife presented their proposed budget that makes new laudable investments that I fully support, which are primarily funded by an additional $32 million in newly identified revenues.

However, their proposed budget also:

Cuts 2 academies of 64 new officers,
Cuts 9 traffic enforcement positions, and
Cuts 41 positions dedicated to 911 response.

The Council President’s proposed budget would severely decrease police services especially in our most impacted areas. They would:

Shrink what is already the lowest per-crime staffed police department in the county during a gut-wrenching spike in gun violence.
Increase OPD’s unsafe overreliance on overtime and leave even more critical vacancies unfilled; and
Decimate an already inadequate 911 response to Oaklanders experiencing crisis and needing help.

The Administration’s budget proposed last month would have hired more new, diverse, progressive recruits to fill our vacancies so our officers wouldn’t have to work so much unsafe and expensive overtime, and we could fully staff 911 response, our successful Ceasefire violence prevention strategy, and increase criminal investigations — all while decreasing proportional police spending in Oakland.

The Council President’s budget means roughly 80 people a day (12%) could get no police response to their lower priority 911 calls, and the highest priority calls would get a slower response.

If you think every Oaklander deserves a dependable response in their moment of crisis, and that we can’t afford to further deplete the low officer staffing Oakland has today during this gun violence spike, NOW is the time to speak up.

Ask Councilmembers to reject any budget that further reduces these most critical public safety services.

You can email all Councilmembers at council@oaklandca.gov AND participate in their special budget hearing tomorrow 6/17 at 10:30 am through phone toll free at (833) 548 0276 Webinar ID: 861 7110 1493 or on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86171101493

With Oakland-love,

Libby

Oakland council members clash with Mayor Libby Schaaf over their plan for more police cuts

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 15:57:55 GMT

by Sarah Ravani

Several Oakland City Council members proposed Monday cutting about $18.4 million from the Oakland Police Department to fund violence prevention and social services amid a debate over how to keep cities safe while addressing the need for more support in some communities.

In May, Mayor Libby Schaaf proposed a budget that allocated $700 million to the police department — meaning the council proposal would trim about 2.6% from the total, a small fraction of the 50% the council said last summer it planned to cut from the department’s budget.

Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas said the decision to chip away at the police budget in smaller increments is deliberate because the right systems and programs need to be in place to replace some police activities.

“That goal is still a goal,” Bas said. “It will take time and what we are doing with this budget is saying we are committed to this goal of transforming our public safety system.”

Still, Schaaf’s office criticized the proposed public safety cuts as a threat to keeping the city safe amid rising gun violence.

Bas worked on the amendments with a budget team made up of council members Carroll Fife, Dan Kalb and Noel Gallo, and the full City Council will discuss the proposed amendments at a Thursday meeting.

Bas discussed the public safety amendments and other proposed changes to Schaaf’s $3.85 billion two-year budget proposal at a Monday news conference. She said the amendments would “deeply invest in our community” by creating affordable housing, better maintaining parks, providing sanitation services to 100 homeless encampments and bolstering Department of Violence Prevention funding.

Bas’ plan would strip millions from the police department by eliminating two police academies over two years and freezing those positions. Schaaf had proposed six police academies over two years. The number of police recruits who graduate per academy varies, but is usually in the low 20s.

“We know that our police officers are overstretched,” Bas said. “For decades, they have been called upon to respond to everything under the sun.”

Instead, the department’s officers will focus on what they do best: respond to and solve violent crime, she added.

Schaaf saw the proposal differently.

“Oaklanders need to know this budget proposal will severely deplete 911 response” by cutting officers, the mayor’s spokesman Justin Berton said. “On Sunday night in East Oakland, 100 calls to 911 went unanswered as an already understaffed department responded to an extreme surge in gun violence and human trauma in our community. Every Oaklander deserves a dependable response in their moment of crisis.”

The public’s views on funding for police are nuanced. The city surveyed 1,862 randomly selected residents in December and January, during a concerning spike in homicides. The survey found that 78% of respondents said they want the same or more police patrolling their neighborhoods and responding to 911 calls, and nearly 60% supported removing police from nonviolent situations and mental health calls.

Bas introduced the budget amendments at a news conference in downtown Oakland in front of a mural of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by police officers in Kentucky last year.

“This is a response to how hard this year has been,” Bas said. “This past year I have talked to countless people who have lost their jobs, who have lost loved ones due to COVID. I have joined healing circles with families who have lost loved ones to gun violence.”

Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, questioned how a smaller force would be able to respond to violent crime.

“I would worry about what would happen in the long term if you make the police department even smaller,” he said. “We will see how Oakland does with a smaller police force.”

Bas said by only eliminating two police academies, the department will be able to maintain staffing levels above the minimum requirement of 678 officers.

One program intended to transform the system would create a team within the Fire Department to replace police with trained mental health workers on certain calls, such as responding to people who are publicly intoxicated, disturbing the peace or acting erratically.

Bas is proposing an additional $3.6 million invested in the program — called MACRO for Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland — to bring its total budget to about $6 million. It would allow the Fire Department to provide 18 months of service to East Oakland with a team of four.

Schaaf’s office said the city announced last week an additional $34 million to expand non-police and violence prevention programs. Donelan of the police union said he supports investing in programs like MACRO that eliminate certain 911 calls from the police.

The City Council budget team also wants to allocate an additional $17 million to the city’s Department of Violence Prevention. In 2020, that department, which was tasked with reducing violent crime in the city by 80% over three years, ran on an annual budget of $10.1 million. Oakland is facing a historic rise in violent with more than 55 homicides so far this year.

Kalb said investing in violent crime and violence prevention is “very important.”

“That is long overdue,” he said.

The council is required to pass the next two-year budget by June 30.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani

24hrs in Oakland - May 8th 2021 - Listen to the Streets of Oakland for One Day

Thu, 10 Jun 2021 14:47:03 GMT

Oakland Police Department Radio Traffic for May 8th 2021

A resident brought this recording to our attention. A recording for the police (main channel) radio traffic for a 24 hours period in Oakland - May 8th 2021. - This one hour recording captures what Oakland residents and the police officers that serve them experience in just one day in Oakland. It provides a window into the violence taking place on our streets.

Ex-top cop Bratton: Defund the police? We're at the center of the storm, doing the jobs no one else wants

Wed, 09 Jun 2021 18:16:10 GMT

By Bill Bratton

Like Black Lives Matter, Defund the Police is a political hashtag that means different things to different people. Some want to abolish the police altogether; others want to take money out of police budgets and give it to social‐service agencies to be used for community needs and activities, particularly focused on minorities. Still others want to, as they put it, redesign or reimagine policing.

All are centered around the idea of taking from law enforcement organizations many of the responsibilities and associated funding that have become flash points—dealing with the mentally ill, the homeless, the addicted—and putting them in other hands.

But there’s a reason those responsibilities have fallen to the police over the years: society in general, and the state in particular, decided it did not have the willpower or the funds to run programs that would handle them successfully. Mental institutions closed; shelters became unwelcoming and unsafe; addiction services became underprioritized and overwhelmed.

Who is having to deal with the issues of today? The police.

Police departments around the country would be pleased to pass along many of these responsibilities and focus on more traditional policing concerns, but they cannot do that until some other fully capable entity is prepared to step into the breach.

Replacing the police as government caregivers is a great concept; its advocates just have it backward. We saw how small‐government representatives sucked funding out of most social programs since the Kennedy administration. Neutered them, starved them, and then tried to eliminate them. And we saw that the only one standing at the bottom of all society’s safety nets, when people fall through the holes because they are frayed and worn down or purposely ripped open, is the cop. And the country got very comfortable with that.

Shall we invest money in developing more care for emotionally disturbed people? Shall we increase hospital beds and institutions for the mentally ill? Shall we adjust the insurance laws so their needs actually get covered? Or should we just say, "Ahh, screw it. The cops will handle it"?

Society had made that choice already, now they were rethinking it. Should we deal with the homeless with treatment and housing? Or should we tell the cops to tell them, "Keep moving it along"?

Again, we’ve done that before; that’s how the cops became the enemy of the homeless. Should we deal with drug addiction and rehab and programs on a national basis, or should we just say to the cops, "Try to arrest your way through this and make it better"?

You can’t defund the police before you make those investments. You can’t withdraw police services until you have sustained and secured those services in other ways. You can’t take the money from the cops and throw it to failed agencies that don’t know what they’re doing.

You have to make those investments, and then over time, as these specifically trained organizations get into gear and respond successfully to the responsibilities being given, the police can relinquish their role and defund themselves. The NYPD goes on an emotionally disturbed person call every 4 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If it was not the department’s responsibility, think of all the time that would be available to reduce disorder and prevent crime.

The money must be reinvested first, and then one day police departments across America should be able to wake up and say, "Wow, we don’t need that many cops. We don’t have that many calls, we don’t have as big a drug problem, we don’t have a serious homeless problem, we are not affected as seriously by mentally ill people who are neither being cared for in a hospital nor supported on the outside." At that point the departments themselves can say, "You know, we’ve got lots of cops who don’t have that much to do. You can have a few thousand of them back."

You can’t defund an institution to punish it and think that this action is going to make it better.

But we are not there; we’re nowhere near. And we can’t possibly get there by taking a billion dollars out of the police budget, as has been proposed for the NYPD, including 60% of overtime funding, which is the department’s go‐to tool during a crime wave.

It seems to me that a formidable portion of the effort to defund the police, abolish the police, f*ck the police is just punitive. People are angry and hateful and spiteful. It doesn’t make sense, it’s not well thought out.

You can’t defund an institution to punish it and think that this action is going to make it better. Under normal circumstances, you have to pour more money into an institution with needs, not less.

So "Defund the Police" has never made sense to me. "Defund the police and send the money elsewhere" is at least rational, but that money isn’t being sent anywhere else, and the government and/or private agencies in line for those funds didn’t become any smarter or more efficient in the meantime. Those agencies must be rebuilt. Meanwhile, we are going to see exactly what we’re seeing, which is the police doing the job that every other agency has failed to do.

If you defund the police and tell them to stop doing those jobs—to disengage from the homeless, to walk by the mentally ill—the streets will not be pretty.

As funds are being withdrawn and no replacements are being put in place, nothing is working. In June 2020, the 60% cut in overtime pay resulted in thousands of New York City cops being taken off the streets. The crime rate, particularly shootings, went through the roof. NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea equates it to turning off the hoses while a fire in a building is raging. He asks, "What did you expect would happen?"

#DefundThePolice was a catchy hashtag driving policy. However, policy needs to be based on facts, figures and an understanding of the issues. Defund, redesign, reimagine, abolish the police all had their moments.

The worst idea is that somehow America should simply abolish the police, yet you can hear that call emanating from any number of protest podiums. There is an active opposition to the entire concept of policing that is using this upheaval as a shovel at a grave, saying, "We can abolish this!" What could they be thinking?!

Anytime police are absent, society degenerates. When the powerful but sociopathic decide they are going to take what’s not theirs, who is best trained and able to prevent bad actors from preying upon the community? Cops. With no cops in the streets, lawlessness prevails. Robbery, rape, casual violence, horrendous murder rates.

Who’s going to stop them? Social workers? Self‐appointed citizen vigilantes? Who are those people and who sets their agenda? It’s not pretty, armed anarchy.

So, please, that is not going to happen. Forget about abolishing the police.

Adapted from "THE PROFESSION: A Memoir of Community, Race, and the Arc of Policing in America" by Bill Bratton and Peter Knobler. Published by arrangement with Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2021 by William Bratton.

Views from behind the badge: Rebuilding the public's trust in the police

Mon, 07 Jun 2021 14:14:50 GMT

Norman Rockwell had this way of capturing what was best about America. "The Runaway" locked in the image of a little boy's trust in and hero worship of a cop. That was 1958.

Even today, you'll still find people picking up an officer's tab for lunch, just because. "It happens quite often, quite often," said Lt. Kami Maertz, a watch commander for the Clay County Sheriff's Office in a northeastern corner of Florida.

"What do they say?" asked "Sunday Morning" senior contributor Ted Koppel.

Debate continues on how to handle Oakland’s rise in crime

Wed, 02 Jun 2021 14:48:52 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – The city of Oakland is in the midst of a violent crime wave and the police union says the only answer is to hire more officers.

However, an East Oakland city council member says people in his district have mixed views on the subject.

The police department currently has 725 officers.

New OPOA Advertisement Highlights Oakland’s Skyrocketing Levels of Homicide, Shootings, Carjacking, Mayhem and Violence as Oakland’s Police Officer Numbers Fall.

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 16:52:12 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

May 17, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New OPOA Advertisement Highlights Oakland’s Skyrocketing Levels of Homicide, Shootings, Carjacking, Mayhem and Violence as Oakland’s Police Officer Numbers Fall.

OAKLAND – Oakland’s violent crime rate has doubled in 2021. Murders, violence, assaults, and carjacking have all dramatically increased as the numbers of Oakland Police Officers continue to fall.

In a new series of paid advertisements, the OPOA called upon Oakland residents to speak up to the City Council to ensure their own safety. Oakland needs more Police Officers – not less – to address the violence.

“Oakland’s Police Officers are working hard to stem the staggering increase in violence in our city, but our numbers are falling,” said Sgt. Barry Donelan, President of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA). “The citizens of Oakland need to wake up city leaders to what is going on in the streets, which is bloodshed, violence, broken lives, and fear,” he said.

“Let your Council Member know that your personal safety, the safety of our community, and the security of the less fortunate, are dependent upon removing firearms from our streets, stopping violence, preventing theft, and stopping the wholesale destruction of our community,” the advertisement says.

Click to Read the Advertisement.

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Here's where Oakland's homicides have spiked during the pandemic

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 00:54:13 GMT

Susie Neilson

May 31, 2021

Like other U.S. cities, Oakland has seen a sharp uptick in homicides as the pandemic has unfolded. Through May 23, the city had recorded 51 homicides for the year, a 132% increase compared with the same period last year and a 70% increase compared with 2019.

The Chronicle analyzed where homicides have been occurring in the city and how the numbers compared with prior years. First we looked at the locations of homicides within the city’s five patrol areas as designated by the Oakland Police Department.

So far this year, the areas with the most homicides are Area 3, the region encompassing Fruitvale and Central Oakland, and Area 5, Oakland’s easternmost section — consistent with prior years. Those two regions had 32 homicides as of May 23, making up 63% of the city’s total homicide count.

Cities Reverse Defunding the Police Amid Rising Crime

Fri, 28 May 2021 04:18:29 GMT

(Our own Oakland Police Captain Bobby Hookfin pictured in today's Walls Street Journal. Representing #oaklandsfinest)

By Zusha Elinson, Dan Frosch and Joshua Jamerson

May 26, 2021 5:58 pm ET

One year after the movement to “defund” law enforcement began to upend municipal budgets, many American cities are restoring money to their police departments or proposing to spend more.

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would reinstate $92 million for a new precinct after scrapping the project last summer. The mayor of Baltimore, who led efforts as a city councilman to cut the police budget by $22 million last year, recently proposed a $27 million increase.

After attacks on Asian-Americans and a rise in homicides in Oakland, Calif., city lawmakers in April restored $3.3 million of the $29 million in police cuts, and the mayor is now proposing to increase the department’s budget by $24 million. Los Angeles’s mayor has proposed an increase of about $50 million after the city cut $150 million from its police department last year.

In the nation’s 20 largest local law-enforcement agencies, city and county leaders want funding increases for nine of the 12 departments where next year’s budgets already have been proposed. The increases range from 1% to nearly 6%.

Many U.S. cities are led by Democrats who supported protesters’ calls to defund the police—a term that activists have used in different ways, including to push for simply shrinking the size of police forces but also shifting resources from law enforcement to social services. The demonstrations, led by Black Lives Matter and allied groups, followed the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer last year.

Crime is Skyrocketing, Police Officers are Dwindling, Don't Let Anyone Say There is No Connection

Fri, 28 May 2021 01:07:26 GMT

Oakland cops work every day to protect you from skyrocketing levels of homicides, murders, mayhem, carjacking’s and violence.

For the past decade, Oakland has been at historically low levels of staffing, currently with just 725 officers working around the clock to provide protection and safety to 425,000 residents across the nearly 78 square miles of our city.

This year there are 291 homicides and firearm assaults to date, a 90% increase over last year. There are 194 carjacking,

an increase of 126% from 2020. And, we haven’t even reached the midpoint of 2021.

Oakland Police Officers’ Association Officers are doing our best with limited staff to keep Oakland safe. We need more officers – not less – to ensure your safety, and ours, from the forces of violence, too many guns, too much hatred, and criminals who cause terror, destroy lives, and harm our community and citizens.

Let your councilmember know that your personal safety, the safety of our community, and the security of the less fortunate, are dependent upon removing firearms from our streets, stopping violence, preventing theft, and stopping the wholesale destruction of our community.

CONTACT OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

AND DISTRICT 2 COUNCILMEMBER

NIKKI FORTUNATO BAS

NFBAS@OAKLANDCA.GOV

Telephone # 510-238-7002

Oakland Police Officers' Association officers are honored to serve you. Help us protect you and our community by speaking up and letting elected officials know that you want more officers and improved public safety for the benefit of our entire community.

Two women killed, others wounded in Oakland party bus shooting

Tue, 18 May 2021 17:32:47 GMT

Relatives said the group was celebrating a woman’s birthday

By DAVID DEBOLT

OAKLAND — Two women were killed and at least three other women were wounded early Tuesday morning after someone opened fire on a party bus on an Oakland freeway, authorities said.

The Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau confirmed one woman died in the bus and the other at an Oakland hospital.

The shooting happened at about 12:20 a.m. on eastbound Interstate 580 near the Seminary Avenue off-ramp, as the party bus was returning to Oakland from San Francisco with a group celebrating a woman’s 21st birthday.

A gunman or gunmen in another vehicle began shooting at the bus on the freeway and the suspects followed the bus off I-580 and shot at them some more on city streets, near 68th Avenue and Foothill Boulevard, authorities said. Dozens of rounds were fired at the party bus.

At least three other women were wounded and taken by ambulance to a hospital from the Oakland Police Eastmont Substation, where the bus driver was able to drive to after the shooting.

Relatives who showed up at the Eastmont station told the Bay Area News Group one of the women killed was a 19-year-old Stockton resident. A man who identified himself as the father of the 21-year-old celebrating her birthday said she was shot in the leg but is in stable condition.

Following the gunfire, the California Highway Patrol shut down traffic on east I-580 at the MacArthur Boulevard exit. The lanes were reopened later Tuesday morning.

CHP is investigating the shooting and believe it was a targeted attack, although a motive is not yet known. Detectives are asking the public’s help in identifying the suspects and the suspect vehicle.

Anyone with information is asked to call the CHP investigative tip line at 707-917-4491.

Last month, a 25-year-old woman was shot while riding on a party bus in East Oakland in the 7600 block of MacArthur Boulevard. Authorities said there were more than 30 passengers on the bus which was eventually supposed to go to San Francisco. None of the other passengers or the driver were injured and the woman survived the April 9 shooting.

Oakland Police Department Losing Officers as Homicides Rise

Tue, 18 May 2021 14:33:50 GMT

Right now, 706 officers are on the force – the lowest number in six years

By Melissa Colorado

Homicides in Oakland are up by more than 100% since last year.

As homicides soar, the Oakland Police Department said it continues to lose burned out officers at a growing rate – either to retirement or to another city.

"Many members wearing the blue uniform are leaving the vocation because of the stresses on themselves and their families," said Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association.

Oakland logs 50th and 51st homicides of 2021

Mon, 17 May 2021 22:23:57 GMT

Police investigate shootings in East Oakland neighborhood

OAKLAND — Two teenagers were fatally shot Sunday in an East Oakland neighborhood in the city’s 50th and 51st homicides of the year, authorities said.

Police said a man was later detained in connection with the shootings, but provided no further information about him.

At 5:53 p.m., police responded to reports of ShotSpotter activity near Highland Avenue and East 26th Street in the city’s Highland Terrace neighborhood.

When officers arrived, they found a 17-year-old boy lying in the roadway in the 2100 block of East 26th Street near Morgan Plaza Park and suffering from at least one gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A second 17-year-old managed to obtain transportation to a hospital, but he was later pronounced dead.

Police had no preliminary details about a possible motive, but it is believed the two victims knew each other, authorities said.

The killings, part of a deadly wave of shootings driven by a rise in firearm use and personal-contact limits for violence prevention programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, were the 50th and 51st homicides investigated by Oakland police this year, and come days after a fatal shooting last week and police-released identities for two separate fatal shootings earlier this month.

Last year at this time police had investigated 24 homicides in the city, and did not investigate their 50th homicide until August 5. The 100th and 101st homicides both came on Nov. 9, 2020, and the year closed with 109 homicides, 102 of which were classified as murders.

Before last year, the last time Oakland recorded more than 100 homicides was 2012, when there were 131, with 126 classified as murders.

In 2011 and 2012, the city logged its 50th homicides respectively on June 9 and June 10. In 2013, a year that saw 92 total homicides, police did not log 50 homicides until July 5. In 2014, a year with 86 total homicides, police did not investigate a 50th homicide until July 31.

In 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively, they came on July 21, Sept. 14 and Sept. 25. In 2018, the city’s 50th homicide happened on August 27.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $20,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the suspect the killings. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

Yesterday’s Double Murder Brings the Total Number of Oakland Homicides this Year to 52. Despite the Violence, Oakland’s City Council Considers Defunding an Already Shrinking Police Department.

Mon, 17 May 2021 19:42:15 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

May 17, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Yesterday’s Double Murder Brings the Total Number of Oakland Homicides this Year to 52. Despite the Violence, Oakland’s City Council Considers Defunding an Already Shrinking Police Department.

Oakland suffers a homicide every three days in 2021.

OAKLAND – Crime numbers released this morning showed that, including the two homicides last night, Oakland’s homicide rate has more than doubled year over year. On average during 2021, Oakland suffers a homicide every three days.

To make matters worse, last Thursday the Police Chief advised Oakland’s Police Commission that ten (10) Oakland Police Officers left the department in the previous three weeks. The total number of officers left is 706, the lowest number in six years, while violent crime is at the highest level in a decade.

“Oakland’s shrinking police department is struggling to respond to the escalating bloodshed on our streets. Oakland’s City Council ignores the violence and considers further defunding of the police. The impacts of their ‘defund the police’ strategy are plain to see in the carnage and danger our residents are subjected to daily.” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Click for Oakland’s crime statistics year to date.

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Oakland Police Restart Crackdown on Illegal Sideshows

Sun, 16 May 2021 21:28:18 GMT

The Oakland Police Department is restarting a special detail to deal with sideshows in the city. On Saturday, Police said they say they were tracking a group of about 150 cars that keeps driving between Hayward and Oakland.

Nearly three dozen officers are fanning out across Oakland to stake out some of the most popular spots.

Survey: 78% of Oakland residents want more police officers

Thu, 13 May 2021 17:50:55 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – A 2021 survey conducted earlier this year says that over 70-percent of Oakland residents want more police officers, not less. But some question the survey’s results.

The Oakland Police Department receives 2,000 calls for service per day.

Some residents say that some calls get a police response. Some calls don’t.

During Police Week We Remember the Sacrifice of the 53 Oakland Police Officers that have been killed in the line of duty.

Thu, 13 May 2021 17:40:22 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

13 May 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

During Police Week We Remember the Sacrifice of the 53

Oakland Police Officers that have been killed in the line of duty.

National Police Week occurs every May, to acknowledge the sacrifice and bravery of the women and men of law enforcement who strive everyday to protect our communities. This year the names of 394 officers who made the ultimate sacrifice were added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Throughout the pandemic, Oakland Police Officers have been on duty serving the

residents of our city. Despite our thinning ranks and a staggering increase in violent crime Oakland’s Police Officers have been here for our city.

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan said, “I hope Oakland recognizes and values the courageous women and men who selflessly wear the OPD badge. The risks of our profession were tragically on display this Police Week in California, when two police officers in Stockton and San Luis Obispo were murdered in service to their communities. We honor them, along with the 53 Oakland Police Officers who made the ultimate sacrifice for our city.”

While the pandemic forced the cancellation of both state and Oakland annual memorials there are some events for national police week. The 33rd Annual Candlelight Vigil, is happening virtually today at 5:00 p.m. (Pacific).

What is National Police Week? In 1962, President Kennedy proclaimed May 15 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15 falls, as National Police Week. Established by a joint resolution of Congress in 1962, National Police Week pays special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others.

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Critics upset over Oakland mayor's budget proposal to increase police funding

Tue, 11 May 2021 03:10:03 GMT

By Laura Anthony

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- California may be flush with money, but at least one East Bay city is struggling to make ends meet. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf presented her proposed budget to the city council this afternoon, and it's Schaaf plan to increase police spending that has some critics fuming.

With violent crime in her city surging, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has proposed a budget that increases police spending, rather than defunding by as much as 50% as some activists have demanded.

"This has been a gut-wrenching year for gun violence," said Schaaf. "When we surveyed Oaklanders, 78% said they want at least current levels if not more, police response, 911 response, officers patrolling their neighborhoods."

Oakland Police Officers Association responds to proposed budget

Mon, 10 May 2021 01:39:00 GMT

by: Amanda Hari

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — We’re hearing from the Oakland Police Officers Association after Mayor Libby Schaaf released her proposed budget for the 2021 through 2023.

It provides more than $650 million for the police department over two years.

The more than $650 million is about 18% of Oakland’s overall budget. The police officers association president said every bit of that is needed.

“We’re struggling and we’re struggling and the need for Oakland police officers is still significant given the level of violence,” Oakland Police Officers Association President Barry Donelan said.

Mayor Schaff’s office says her proposed budget preserves core police services — it gives the police department $325 million in 2021-22 and $334 million in 2022-23.

“I think the mayor is doing the best she can, it’s just a very difficult environment,” Donelan said.

Donelan says this money is a start to getting the department what it needs — including more officers.

Donelan has been an officer for more than two decades.

He’s currently a sergeant. He says there are 709 Oakland police officer — a five-year low — and crime is on the rise.

“Last year more than 100 murders,” he said. “This year we’re already closing in on 50 murders for the year this year.”

Just Saturday morning, seven people were wounded in four shootings.

Video shows the shooting at Lake Meritt where three men and one women were injured.

Oakland police are still looking for the suspects.

In addition to the money for police, $2.6 million will be used to create and ramp up a non-police response to people having a mental health crisis.

“We’ve been supportive of that program all along,” Donelan said.

On a daily basis, Oakland police receive 2,000 calls. Donelan says this program would help lighten the load.

“If you’re looking at 100-150 calls a day that no longer come to us and got o this other group from my perspective that’s positive.”

This budget still has to be approved by city council.

loody night in Oakland - 8 wounded in 5 separate shootings

Sat, 08 May 2021 19:25:37 GMT

by Steve Rubenstein

A night of gun violence erupted in Oakland on Friday and Saturday, leaving eight people wounded in five separate shootings, police said.

Three men and a woman, all unidentified, were shot around 3:22 a.m. Saturday at 1400 Lakeshore Ave., near Lake Merritt. The woman was listed in critical condition and the three men were in stable condition, said Oakland police Officer Johnna Watson, a department spokeswoman.

Fifteen minutes earlier, police found a man with a gunshot wound at 17th Street and Broadway.

Earlier Saturday morning, two men were struck by gunfire — one at 2600 East 27th Street and the other at Howell and 58th streeets, Watson said.

At 8:48 p.m. on Friday, police located a man with a gunshot wound in the 1400 block of 89th Avenue. Watson said he was listed in critical condition.

Police haven’t released the names of any of the victims.

The department was offering rewards of up to $20,000 for information leading to arrests, Watson said.

The five overnight shootings followed two deadly shootings in the predawn hours of Friday morning. One occurred at 55th Avenue and Foothill Boulevard and the other occurred in the 1400 block of 3rd Street. Both victims were men who were not immediately identified.

No arrests have been made in any of the shootings.

The violence came as Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf released a highly anticipated budget proposal on Friday. The mayor’s two-year budget totals $3.85 billion and includes more than $690 million for the Police Department through 2023. The amount represents a slight increase over previous years, mostly to account for overtime expenses.

Police reform activists criticized the proposed police spending a year after George Floyd’s murder prompted many city leaders to say they would cut the amount they spend on policing in favor of spending more on social services.

Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, issued a statement calling the proposed police spending “completely antithetical to what the people are demanding.”

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @SteveRubeSF

Overwhelming majority of California’s Asian Americans fear physical violence, poll says

Fri, 07 May 2021 23:11:23 GMT

California Community Poll also shows shift in attitude statewide toward anti-Asian racism

In the wake of a rash of alarming hate crimes nationwide, more Californians are acknowledging that Asian Americans experience discrimination, and an overwhelming majority of Asian Americans report that they fear becoming victims of hate-based violence, a new survey says.

The California Community Poll, which surveys Californians about politics, race and current events in conjunction with the Los Angeles Times, found that 70% of Californians agree that Asians are “frequently or sometimes” discriminated against.

That marks a “substantial shift” in perceptions and experiences of discrimination among the group, up from 55% last year, the poll’s sponsors said Friday. There has also been a dramatic shift among Asian American respondents, with about 79% saying their community experiences discrimination, as compared to just 63% last year.

“This increase in awareness — as horrible as the reason for the awareness is — it gives us the chance to talk about what solutions to this could be,” said Nancy Yap, executive director of the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment, one of the poll’s sponsoring organizations. “We’re all afraid of this, we’re all in this together, so how do we start to change what race relations look like in California?”

The poll’s results arrive during a renewed surge of anti-Asian American hate incidents that activists date back to last March, when then-president Donald Trump began using racist rhetoric to describe the coronavirus.

The organization Stop AAPI Hate has received 6,603 reports of anti-Asian incidents across the U.S. since then, more than 2,000 of which took place so far in 2021, according to a new report released Thursday. About 65% of the incidents involve verbal harassment, and 13% involve physical assault. Forty percent of the incidents were reported in California.

Violence in the Bay Area, particularly against elders, has rocked local Asian-American communities this winter and spring. Earlier this week, two Asian woman — one of whom is 85 years old — were stabbed while they stood at a San Francisco bus stop; prosecutors are reportedly considering hate crime charges for the suspect.

Other high-profile incidents include the death of an 84-year-old San Francisco man after a young man slammed him into a driveway and a 91-year-old shoved to the ground in Oakland’s Chinatown.

In San Jose and Oakland, civic leaders have formed community patrols to protect Asian-American residents. Protests drawing thousands have likewise called for increased awareness of the history of California’s racist policies such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

“The more we draw attention to anti-Asian hate, the more Asian Americans know they have a place to report what they’re experiencing, and the more we can demonstrate the extent of the problem and advocate for meaningful solutions,” said Russell Jeung, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University.

The California Community Poll shows that the vast majority of Asian American residents live in fear of such attacks. About 73% of Asian Americans said they were worried about being the victim of physical violence or a hate crime due to their race, as compared to 61% of Black residents and 58% of Latino residents.

Despite California’s wide-ranging diversity among Asian-American communities, “externally, we’re often mistaken for each other, and the hate crimes are showing that,” Yap said.

“This is about foreignness, not belonging, being vulnerable,” she added.

A higher number of Asian Americans than other groups likewise said they are afraid of being verbally abused, mocked or harassed in public, with 68% saying they were “somewhat” or “very worried” about it as compared to 57% of Black residents and 54% of Latino residents.

The vast majority of respondents of color said they worried about children or their own race or ethnicity would be bullied at school, with Asian Americans leading slightly at 72%, compared to 70% of Black residents and 66% of Latino residents.

Yet when it comes to fear of law enforcement, the poll found that the trends were reversed. About 77% of Black Californians reported being worried about facing unfair treatment from law enforcement based on race, compared to about 64% of Latinos and 54% of Asian Americans. A larger number of Asian-American residents than Black or Latino residents also said they are hopeful that their communities will be accepted in the future.

“With all this that we’re talking about, we continue to be very hopeful,” Yap said.

Still, about one-third of Black and Asian-American respondents said that their mental health was suffering because of how people view their race or ethnicity.

The poll has been conducted four times over the past year. It concentrates its efforts in communities of color in order to produce statistically significant results for the state’s Latino, African-American and Asian-American residents. Aside from the Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment, its sponsors are Hispanas Organized for Political Equality and The Los Angeles Urban League.

The latest iteration interviewed 1,294 California adults online between April 16th and 29th.

Mayor Schaaf's proposed budget doesn't cut Oakland police funding. Police reform activists are angry

Fri, 07 May 2021 23:00:45 GMT

By Sarah Ravani

Mayor Libby Schaaf proposed a budget Friday that would spend nearly $700 million, or 18% of Oakland’s overall budget on the police department, a slightly smaller share of the city’s spending than in previous years.

Though the share is slightly smaller, the $3.85 billion two-year budget actually increases police spending to account for overtime expenses.

Activists who have pushed to cut the police budget in half criticized the plan, arguing that reducing police spending would free up money to fund social services instead.

To address a swelling homeless population, Schaaf also set aside $41 million to providing interim housing and shelter and to move people to permanent affordable housing. She also proposed creating a new homelessness unit to manage the city’s encampments and address the crisis.

Schaaf said her staff used a “racial equity analysis tool” that analyzed how service changes would affect low-income Black, Indigenous and people of color. She also noted that the city has no rainy day funds to fall back on.

“We did our best within these complex set of rules to address not only the most pressing demands of the day — like homelessness, housing, streets, and public safety — but also our future liabilities that place unacceptable strain on the City’s fiscal health,” Schaaf wrote in her letter introducing the proposal.

In the days leading up the mayor’s budget release, community members urged her to listen to the advocates’ demands. Members of the Defund OPD and Refund Coalition gathered outside Schaaf’s house Wednesday, calling on her to immediately release a budget that prioritizes housing and services for the homeless, cuts the police department’s funding and reinvests in social services.

The budget release intensified the debate about policing and homelessness, both controversial issues in the city, as gun violence swells in some neighborhoods and homelessness surges.

Cat Brooks, the co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, said in a statement that Schaaf’s proposal is “completely antithetical” to people’s demands to reinvest in city services.

“Increasing OPD’s funding after years of Oakland police abusing their power and terrorizing Black and Brown communities proves that Libby is incapable of imagining — let alone implementing — a safe Oakland that doesn’t include the mass policing, incarcerating and terrorizing of Black, Brown, Indigenous and poor Oaklanders,” she said.

Brooks said the city needs better schools, emotional and mental health support, cleaner neighborhoods, housing for all and more economic opportunities.

Angelo Isaac Sandoval, the senior organizer and legal advocate at the Ella Baker Human Rights Center in Oakland, said it’s frustrating to see “hundreds of millions of dollars continue to go to law enforcement.” Sandoval said last summer’s demonstrations showed a cultural shift in how people view policing and “the Schaaf administration is missing it.”

But Schaaf noted in her letter released Friday that “views of funding for police are complex.”

She stated that a community survey found 78% of respondents said they want the same or more police patrolling their neighborhoods and responding to 911 calls. Nearly 60% supported removing police from nonviolent situations and mental health calls.

Oakland was one of the first cities to pledge to reinvest a sizable portion of the police budget last summer after George Floyd’s murder. The Reimagine Public Safety Task Force, which met for nearly a year, recently released a list of recommendations that would funnel a portion of the police department’s budget to social services.

Balancing the city’s needs is difficult. More funds are needed for affordable housing and other social services as the homelessness crisis continues to explode, further exacerbated by the pandemic. At the same time, some people in East Oakland, which has experienced in uptick in gun violence, and other areas don’t want police cut.

Schaaf released her budget proposal a week after the mandated deadline. Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas criticized the delay, arguing the mayor’s failure to publish her budget on time “erodes public trust” and “impedes our critical work for Oaklanders.”

Schaaf sent an email to council members the day before the deadline explaining that she and her staff have been working “day-and-night” to deliver her budget by the deadline, but “circumstances dictate — as they frequently have during this unprecedented year — that we need a little more time.”

Bas said in a Friday statement that she will work with her budget team, which includes council members Carroll Fife, Dan Kalb and Noel Gallo, to amend the proposal.

“We cannot go back to the status quo — the unacceptable conditions our most marginalized communities were already facing pre-pandemic and that have only worsened during COVID,” she said.

Fife told The Chronicle Oakland budgets are complex and she planned to spend the weekend studying the proposal.

“I don’t quite understand what is being proposed nor how that fits in with the community concerns about actually streamlining policing so that it addresses the root causes of crime,” she said. “I have to do my own personal analysis.”

The mayor’s office is expected to give a presentation Monday on her proposal. The City Council will then hold budget town halls to get public feedback and pass a final budget by June 30.

The budget proposal comes three days after the City Council voted to prioritize 12 recommendations on how to transform public safety by shifting responsibilities away from the police department.

Schaaf’s proposal would pay for six police recruit academies over two years to bring in another 32 sworn officers per academy, which would off-set retirements and departures and leave the department with roughly the same number of officers. The department currently has 709 sworn officers.

Schaaf said she’s increasing police funding to cover overtime. About $19 million of overtime wasn’t budgeted for last year.

A 2019 city audit — which concluded that the police department has averaged nearly $30 million in overtime costs over the previous four fiscal years — said the city “still needs to take significant steps to better manage overtime and increase transparency on the true costs of overtime.”

The $62 million budget shortfall the city faced in December was partly driven by the police overtime. Without the $192 million that Oakland received from the federal stimulus bill, it would have faced painful cuts.

The city used $58.5 million in federal funds in the current fiscal year to close the budget deficit. The mayor said her proposal sets aside the remaining $133.5 million to close a $274 million budget shortfall.

On Monday, the council approved a resolution, introduced by Councilwoman Carroll Fife and Bas, that recommended investing in the Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland program, known as MACRO. The council voted in March to create MACRO within the Fire Department to respond to certain calls police previously responded to, such as people who are publicly intoxicated, disturbing the peace or acting erratically.

Other recommendations that the council voted to prioritize are moving some traffic enforcement from police to the city’s transportation department and ending the use of militarized vehicles. Among other recommendations, the council wants to invest in organizations that address domestic violence, create community healing centers and restorative justice hubs for youth. Restorative justice focuses on repairing the harm caused by crime and is done through a meeting involving everyone involved.

Sandoval said Friday that the mayor’s proposal fails to heed community demands that were represented in the Reimagine Public Safety Task force recommendations.

“We are only as safe as the most vulnerable amongst us,” he added.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani

Two men slain in Oakland shootings

Fri, 07 May 2021 23:00:41 GMT

The shootings happened less than four hours apart early Friday in different areas of the city

By HARRY HARRIS | hharris@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: May 7, 2021 at 7:50 a.m.

OAKLAND — Two men were fatally shot less than four hours apart early Friday morning in different areas of the city, authorities said.

Their names have not yet been released. Police said the killings were not related.

About 4:18 a.m. Friday a 47-year-old man was found fatally shot in the 1400 block of Third Street near Center Street in West Oakland outside his parked RV.

Authorities said the man had apparently been living in the RV in the area for some time. That portion of Third Street is just below Interstate 880 and not far from South Prescott Park.

A motive for the killing has not been determined yet and no arrests have been made.

With the two killings, the first since April 18, Oakland police have now investigated 48 homicides in the city this year. Last year at this time police had investigated 20 homicides in the city.

“The indifference shown to my colleagues and I is disgraceful.” - Michael Fanone

Thu, 06 May 2021 16:51:10 GMT

Michael Fanone

May 5, 2021

To all elected members of the United States Government,

My name is Michael Fanone and I have been a sworn officer with the Metropolitan Police

Department for almost two decades. On January 06, 2021 I participated in the defense of the United

States Capitol and as a result of my efforts was severely injured. I was pulled out into the crowd, away

from my fellow officers, beaten with fists, metal objects, stripped of my issued badge, radio and

ammunition magazine and electrocuted numerous times with a Taser. I am writing to you so that you

may better understand my experience that day.

I am assigned to the First District’s Crime Suppression Team and while my daily

responsibilities involve combating violent crime and narcotics related offenses, I, like many other

officers, took it upon myself to respond to the numerous calls for help coming from my colleagues at the

Capitol Complex. Upon my arrival my partner, Jimmy Albright, and I searched for an area where we

could be of most assistance and eventually found our way to the West Terrace Lower Tunnel entrance

to the Capitol. The fighting here was nothing short of brutal. I observed approximately thirty police

officers standing shoulder-to-shoulder maybe four or five abreast using the weight of their own bodies

to hold back the onslaught of violent attackers. Many of these officers were injured, bleeding and

fatigued but they continued to fight.

In the midst of this fighting I observed Commander Ramey Kyle, cool calm and collected giving

commands to his officers. “Hold the line.” It was the most inspirational moment of my entire life. Even

as I write this it brings me to tears. I tried to render assistance to some of the injured officers asking

them if they needed a break. There were no volunteers, only those that identified injured colleagues who

may be in need of assistance. I have never experienced such bravery, courage and selflessness.

Since then I have struggled with many aspects of that day. As the physical injuries gradually

subsided in crept the psychological trauma. In many ways I still live my life as if it is January 07, 2021. I

struggle daily with the emotional anxiety of having survived such a traumatic event but I also struggle

with the anxiety of hearing those who continue to downplay the events of that day and those who would

ignore them altogether with their lack of acknowledgement. The indifference shown to my colleagues

and I is disgraceful.

It has been 119 days since 850 Metropolitan Police (MPDC) Officers responded to the Capitol

and stopped a violent insurrection from taking over the Capitol Complex saving countless Members of

Congress and their staff from almost certain injury and even death. The time to fully recognize these

Officers actions is NOW!

Sincerely,

Michael Fanone

Officer attacked during Capitol riot pens letter about ongoing trauma, calls on lawmakers to recognize officers' bravery

Wed, 05 May 2021 23:46:58 GMT

An officer attacked by Capitol rioters has penned a letter describing the ongoing trauma he has experienced since he was pulled into a crowd and beaten on January 6. In his letter, he urged elected officials to recognize officers for their bravery that day, calling those who have downplayed the attack "disgraceful."

Mike Fanone, a D.C. Metropolitan police officer, said he was defending a doorway to the Capitol on January 6 when he was pulled into the crowd alone, beaten with fists and metal objects, stripped of his badge and ammunition and shocked multiple times with a Taser.

"In many ways I still live my life as if it is January 07, 2021," Fanone said in a letter obtained first by CBS News. "I struggle daily with the emotional anxiety of having survived such a traumatic event but I also struggle with the anxiety of hearing those who continue to downplay the events of that day and those who would ignore them altogether with their lack of acknowledgement."

Fanone did not name specific elected officials in his letter, and declined to comment on which lawmakers he believed were downplaying the attacks.

Fanone said the events of the day have weighed heavily on him. "As the physical injuries gradually subsided in crept the psychological trauma," he wrote. Fanone described the attack as "brutal," and in a January interview after the incident, told CBS News that while he was in the crowd, people began to grab for his gun and chant, "Kill him with his own gun."

In his letter, Fanone urged elected officials to "fully recognize" officers' actions that day, writing that officers saved "countless" members of Congress and their staff from "almost certain injury and even death."

In a brief interview with CBS News, he said, "I'm not asking for some specific type of award or reward. However, the events of that day have been described by a lot of people, as well as elected officials, as the most significant attack on our democracy in 100 years. So what I would like to see is those officers who fought to defend democracy that day rewarded or recognized in a fashion that would be fitting for someone who defended democracy."

Fanone, who normally works on the Metropolitan Police Crime Suppression team, did not need to be at the Capitol that day, but said that he self-deployed to answer a call for backup. He and a few dozen other officers were positioned at a West entrance to the Capitol building where they faced off against a mob of rioters who were attempting to storm the building, where Congress had gathered to certify the winner of the presidential election.

Oakland, S.F. see spike in untraceable ghost guns: 'Anybody can get these'

Wed, 05 May 2021 15:50:05 GMT

Megan Cassidy

It was probably a wrong turn that led Brandi Barnes to the corner of Courtland and San Carlos avenues in East Oakland in the dead of night on Dec. 14, 2019. But the mistake would prove fatal.

In what Oakland police believe was a case of road rage, a figure out on the street unloaded a hailstorm of bullets at Barnes and her passenger, striking 35-year-old Barnes just before she crashed the car.

Investigators traced the crime back to the home of Dewaun Poole, a 31-year-old Oakland man with a felony record that should have precluded him from buying or owning a gun.

But during their search of Poole’s home, police found two pistols, both of them lacking serial numbers. Police believe they were purchased as disassembled, nearly complete kits, making them technically legal to ship to Poole.

One of these weapons, police say, was used to kill Barnes.

Seizures of these unregistered firearms, known as “ghost guns,” have spiked in Oakland, accounting for 22% of the guns confiscated this year. That’s compared to about 16.5% of guns seized in 2020 and 7% in 2019. Cities including San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as other major metropolitan areas throughout the country, have tracked similar rises.

San Francisco police have recorded a steady rise of ghost gun seizures beginning in 2016, when officers seized just six in the entire year compared with none in 2015. That figure grew to 17 in 2017, 50 in 2018, 97 in 2019 and 164 in 2020, according to police records provided to The Chronicle.

Shooting incidents have also spiked recently in San Francisco, with the number of gun violence victims to date rising by 181% — 26 to 73 as of April 19 — since last year, according to police data.

Oakland police say the untraceable guns are a key part of what has been a historic burst of violence over the past year, where shootings are up by 131% this year, compared with the first four months of 2020. Homicides have soared by 181%, from 16 to 45.

Many Bay Area police departments don’t keep track of how many ghost guns they’re recovering, making it difficult to compile a complete picture of how many have been seized. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said local law enforcement agencies are encouraged to submit the privately made firearms they seize, but many choose not to.

The weapons make investigating gun crimes more difficult because, without a serial number, police are stripped of the ability to track the guns to the original buyer. While crime guns often change hands, knowing who purchased the weapon is often a crucial starting point in an investigation.

“It really puts law enforcement at an extreme disadvantage,” said Oakland Police Deputy Chief Drennon Lindsey. “Having this type of impediment now, where we stand with the increase in violence surrounding the use of firearms, is really a challenge for us.”

Oakland council prioritizes 12 ways to ‘reimagine’ public safety

Wed, 05 May 2021 15:46:44 GMT

OAKLAND — When the dust settles from the Oakland City Council’s budget review over the next few weeks, the police department could find itself stripped of many of its duties — and millions of dollars.

Although it likely won’t happen immediately, the police department may stop responding to most mental health crisis calls, do a lot less traffic enforcement, step aside to let an independent commission investigate complaints of officer misconduct or excessive force, and end its practice of acquiring military-type equipment.

By declaring those and other proposed police department changes as top priorities going into the next fiscal year starting July 1, the council signaled its intent to put the city’s money behind its talk of police reform.

The proposed changes were among 12 of the 48 recommended by the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force that the council unanimously agreed Monday to prioritize as it scrutinizes new city budgets soon to be released by Mayor Libby Schaaf and council President Nikki Fortunato Bas.

COVID restrictions: San Francisco, Los Angeles counties reach yellow tier

The task force, a group of 17 people assigned the mission last summer of figuring out how to cut the police department’s budget in half over the next two years, also came up with ideas to invest in non-police responses and services in an effort to increase public safety.

“The crime we see reported on the news is generally the outcome of decade after decade of resource-lack due to an unsustainable investment of taxpayer dollars into punitive policing,” District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife said in a written statement issued after Monday’s vote. “Today we listened to the community and voted to change course.”

The council earlier this year already put one of the recommendations into play when it agreed to launch a pilot program called Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland (MACRO). But instead of a one-year pilot program, the task force recommended spending $25 million on the effort over the next three years.

Another priority approved by the council is to create a crisis hotline that’s different from 911 system for people who do not want to contact law enforcement in an emergency.

The council also agreed that spending almost $5 million more for gender-based violence prevention services should be another priority.

Moving most traffic enforcement responsibilities from the police department to the city’s Department of Transportation is another priority, although a change in state law would be required to accomplish some of that overhaul.

The council also threw its support behind an idea proposed by the Oakland Police Commission — end the police department’s use of militarized equipment.

One recommendation the council previously agreed to prioritize was the police commission’s idea of placing only the Community Police Review Agency in charge of investigating officer misconduct and excessive use of force complaints. That would leave the police department’s internal affairs investigators out of the equation.

Other priorities include boosting funding for restorative justice for young people, investing in the Oakland Youth Commission and creating a Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

In addition, the council agreed to prioritize affordable housing and homeless programs by purchasing motels or hotels, providing rental assistance and expanding supportive services.

Fife said during the meeting that rather than abolishing police, investments in areas like housing and violence prevention would make Oakland safer by freeing up police to focus on violent crimes.

“State violence happens when communities are not resourced,” Fife said, adding that without robust funding services to help people, “we will continue to invest in a system that will kill us.”

Fortunato Bas, who co-chaired the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force and co-sponsored Fife’s resolution, said the prioritized recommendations are intended to “reduce situations that could lead to escalation and police violence, provide the most appropriate response to service calls — including those that do not require a sworn, armed police officer — and address the root causes of violence and poverty.”

The council is waiting for Mayor Schaaf to release her recommended budget. Schaaf has said she intends to do so on May 7, six days after the mayor’s budget is supposed to be unveiled under a city ordinance.

After that, Fortunato Bas will present her recommended budget, which will be discussed at a public hearing scheduled for June 17 following town halls hosted in each council district. The council must approve a balanced two-year budget by June 30.

“These recommendations will help ensure Oakland is a leader in re-creating our safety system towards violence prevention and wellness, and to save lives and make our communities safer,” Fotunato Bas said.

Arrests Made, Officers Injured In Splinter Group Violence During Oakland May Day Protest

Wed, 05 May 2021 14:31:00 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Several protesters were arrested and two police officers injured Saturday night in violent confrontations with a splinter group of about 70 demonstrators who marched through downtown Oakland streets following an day of peaceful May Day protests.

Fearing a repeat of the widespread vandalism and damage done during a protest last month, Oakland police officers were out in force, shadowing demonstrators to make sure they remained peaceful. The department had canceled days off for all its officers.

On Saturday evening a group of approximately 70 demonstrators — staging an “Abolish the Police” demonstration — marched from Frank H. Ogawa Plaza to the surrounding streets and downtown area

“Individuals in the group began assaulting officers by throwing bottles and cans, two OPD officers sustained injuries,” OPD PIO Officer Johnna Watson said in an email.

Officers arrested at least seven people in connection to the assaults at 10th and Castro Streets.

“Officers arrested those individuals committing various crimes such as assault on an officer, assault with a deadly weapon on an officer and resisting/delaying/obstructing an officer,” Watson said.

Head of Chinatown Chamber of Commerce assaulted in downtown Oakland

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 03:13:47 GMT

( Another violent attack in Oakland’s Chinatown. Prominent Oaklander, the “Mayor of Chinatown,” Carl Chan, is attacked and beaten on the street in the middle of the day. Oakland Police Officer responded and arrest the violent suspect.

Every Oakland Police Officer wishes Carl, one of the nicest Oaklanders we know, a speedy recovery. #stopasianshate)

Rachel Swan

April 29, 2021

The president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, an outspoken public safety advocate, said he was attacked Thursday afternoon while walking downtown to run an errand, then visit the home of an assault victim.

Carl Chan said he was on Broadway and 8th Street, near a Starbucks coffee shop, when someone came up from behind and struck him in the head while yelling a derogatory word. He fell to the pavement, landing on his hands and skinning his knee. Chan believes he briefly blacked out.

As he regained consciousness, he saw the man walking away and managed to take pictures with his cell phone, which helped police make an arrest, he said.

Oakland Police Captain Bobby Hookfin, the commander for Area 1 — which includes downtown, Chinatown, and West Oakland — said he was in a meeting when he received several texts from watch commanders reporting the attack.

"Carl — as tough as he is — he was able to take pictures of this guy,” Hoofkin said.

Hookfin said that officers canvassing the area located a suspect based on Chan’s cellphone photos, Once officers arrested the suspect, Hookfin directed his watch commander to have the suspect interviewed right away, rather than sending him to Santa Rita Jail.

“So we can figure out exactly what happened, and exactly what charges to file,” Hookfin said. “Is this a hate crime? We don’t know. But we need to find out right now.”

Hookfin and other police command staff often accompanied Chan on walks through Chinatown during late February and throughout March, when merchants were rallying for more protection from robberies and assaults.

After the attack, Chan said he got help from a nearby restaurant owner, who brought him into the building and gave him water.

“I knew I had to get up,” Chan said an hour after the incident later, in a phone interview from the Chamber office on 9th Street.

In recent weeks, Chan became a frequent, visible presence on television news, decrying a surge in crimes of opportunity in downtown Oakland, many of them targeting Asian senior citizens. He fears he may have been singled out because of his media appearances.

“I refuse to go down,” he told The Chronicle on Thursday. “My adrenaline is pumping.”

Mother speaks out after son killed by stray bullet in Oakland

Thu, 29 Apr 2021 19:12:22 GMT

On this page we often post Oakland crime numbers including murders, shootings and robberies. But numbers don’t capture the tragedies that violent crime wrought on families. Thank you to KRON4 News for highlighting the life of Demetrius Fleming-Davis and the anguish his death has brought of his Mother, family and friends. Demetrius Fleming-Davis RIP.

Peace Officers Research Association of California’s Statement on Guilty Verdict in Trial of Former Officer Derek Chauvin

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 22:21:19 GMT

For Immediate Release: Contact:

April 20, 2021 Jon Koriel

(714) 686-4097

jkoriel@fionahuttonassoc.com

Peace Officers Research Association of California’s Statement on Guilty Verdict in Trial of Former Officer Derek Chauvin

Sacramento, CA—Today, a jury in Minnesota found former officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all three counts of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and culpable negligence for the killing of George Floyd in May of last year in 10 hours of deliberation. The jury began deliberating the verdict on Monday, April 19 following three weeks of witness testimony including the Chief of Minneapolis Police, use of force and crisis training experts, public safety academics, first responders and witnesses who testified for the prosecution.

The Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), the largest statewide law enforcement association in the nation, offered the following statement from President Brian Marvel:

“George Floyd was a man in distress and crying out for help, and his death should not have happened. This incident is an affirmation that we must hold officers accountable when their actions are found to be unlawful and inconsistent with training and best practices in the use of force to gain compliance.

“Today’s guilty verdict should be a wake-up call for the nation. It is time for America to adopt a national use of force standard, to mandate that all peace officers have a duty to intercede, to raise the bar for use of force training standards for all peace officers in every state across this country. We started this process in California by passing SB 230 and AB 392, and now we need to make these changes across the nation.

“As law enforcement officers across the nation are working to build trust within their communities, I am hopeful that today’s verdict will be another small step towards mending the divide.”

###

About the Peace Officers Research Association of California:

The Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) was incorporated in 1953 as a professional federation of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. PORAC represents over 77,000 public safety members and over 920 associations, making it the largest law enforcement organization in California and the largest statewide association in the nation.

America's violent weekend: US rocked by back-to-back shootings across the country

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:55:11 GMT

Americans awoke Friday to news of yet another mass shooting, this time at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, where eight people were killed late Thursday.

By the end of the weekend, at least nine more people had died from gun violence in back-to-back shootings across the country -- in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio, Nebraska and Louisiana. At least 10 more were wounded.

Since March 16, when eight people were killed and one wounded in shootings at three Atlanta-area spas, at least 50 mass shootings have been reported in the United States. CNN defines a mass shooting as a shooting with four or more casualties -- dead or wounded -- excluding the shooter.

Some of the shootings this weekend fell short of that definition. But together, they underscored the fact the United States faces not just the Covid-19 pandemic, but a gun violence epidemic, as well.

After deadliest day of 2021, Oakland reels from gun violence

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:48:56 GMT

OAKLAND — His mentors still cannot believe it and his mother cannot bring herself to talk about the stray bullet that killed 18-year-old Demetrius Fleming-Davis.

He had just helped prepare raised garden beds at the internship he worked on top of shifts at the Dollar Tree and between junior college classes. He discussed his weekend plans: turning over soil in his mother’s yard and hanging with friends to shop and search for the best taco.

Riding in the back of a friend’s truck, he wasn’t far from his childhood church when a bullet from nowhere came and killed him. Homicide detectives say Demetrius was simply in the wrong place.

His death on April 10 came on the 100th day of 2021. It was the deadliest day of the year, with three homicides. Oakland now has 44 homicides this year, a murder every three days. If the pace continues, Oakland will have a triple-digit homicide count for a second year in a row, after years of declines.

Police and activists blame two outgrowths of the pandemic — a surge in firearms on the streets, and a curtailment in violence prevention programs reliant on personal contact — for boosting the deadly totals. The situation has rekindled the debate over whether Oakland needs to find a more effective way to police its neighborhoods.

“We know it’s dangerous on the streets. Being a young Black man in America is dangerous period,” said Sequence Young, the Berkeley Youth Alternatives garden coordinator where Demetrius interned. “Usually when things like this happen, it’s a kid hanging with the wrong people or got caught up.”

“You don’t even have to be in the street these days,” she added. “You could just be passing through and get caught in the crossfire.”

Demetrius is among four teenagers killed, two of them juveniles. Most of the victims are Black or Latino men in their 20s or 30s, killed in shootings. Nearly two-thirds of the deaths have occurred in the flatlands of East Oakland, from 20th Avenue to the San Leandro border.

The bloodshed has been fueled by gang shootings, retaliation for other shootings or murders or robberies, and arguments that have turned deadly, police said. Shootings are so frequent in East Oakland, officials said, homes and cars have been riddled with bullets. Crews cleaning up trash find shell casings while sweeping streets.

At a shooting on Jan. 19, fifteen bullet holes were found in the front of the East Oakland home where 52-year-old Lashawn Buffin, a grandmother and family friend of Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, was shot and killed while sitting inside. She is not believed to have been the intended target.

The 44 homicides Oakland detectives have investigated as of Friday are up from 16 over the same period last year. Most of those crimes remain unsolved. By comparison, San Jose and San Francisco have each investigated 10 homicides, an uptick of one in the South Bay city and on track with what San Francisco saw compared to last year.

The high rate of killings in the first quarter of the year, usually a quieter period, worries longtime victim advocates like Marilyn Washington Harris, who lost her son to gun violence in 2000. She said she was exhausted Wednesday, after meeting with another mother who lost a son to gun violence.

“It’s mind-boggling. Nobody seems to know what to do,” she said. “Meanwhile families still go on losing loved ones.”

In Oakland, as COVID-19 numbers began to climb last spring, so too did the number of homicides. Police and community leaders attribute the violence in part to a proliferation in guns: So far in 2021, police have recovered 297 firearms, up from 271 at this time last year, according to the police department.

That’s not unique to Oakland. UC Davis researchers found that in 2020, an estimated 110,000 firearm purchases in California were linked to the pandemic.

And while Oakland is outpacing other Bay Area cities in homicides, cities across the United States including Cincinnati, Louisville, Philadelphia and Jacksonville have seen a rise in homicides or shootings since the pandemic hit.

In an interview, Chief Armstrong, who was sworn in in February, said ghost guns — firearms built from kits — are flooding the streets, and are hard to trace.

On top of the surge in guns, the pandemic, the chief said, has hurt the department’s Ceasefire program to reach and talk in person with gang members or people who police believe are committing the violent crimes fueling homicides and shootings. It’s also been hard for the city’s Department of Violence Prevention to meet with victim families to provide trauma support and intervene with friends of victims seeking revenge.

The police chief said criminals are taking advantage of a resource-strapped department. The Oakland Police Department has 711 sworn officers and is budgeted for 77 more. Armstrong said the messaging over defunding the police is something perpetrators have heard, and is a factor in rising crime, but did not provide evidence to support that.

Those who advocate for defunding the police push back strongly on the narrative that more police funding is needed to stop the killing.

Police don’t prevent violence but rather respond to it, they say, and more resources need to be directed to the services and programs that help stabilize people and keep them from grabbing their guns in the first place: from secure, affordable housing to access to good jobs to youth programming.

“When we talk about addressing the spike in violence, the data indicates strongly that we need to be investing in community-based programming: housing, people doing violence interruption — stabilizing people who are at the center (of the violence),” said James Burch, policy director for the Anti-Police Terror Project and The Justice Teams Network in Oakland. “That has the most significant impact.”

He points to a recent study done by AH Datalytics and released by the Anti-Police Terror Project showing that about 4.2% of 911 calls to police are for violent crime.

Burch and others believe that police are often being dispatched to do work that does not require armed intervention, from towing cars to more complicated cases, like handling a mental health crisis.

Too often, these types of interactions lead to more violence, advocates say, and the people most at risk — Black and Latino residents — are also the communities most impacted by the spikes in gun violence.

There is some movement toward a different approach.

Last summer, as demonstrators poured into city streets to protest violence against mostly Black and Latino residents by law enforcement and called on Oakland to defund police, the city created its Reimagine Public Safety task force, comprising residents, organizers and violence prevention experts to figure out what its law enforcement should look like and whether city funds should go toward violence prevention strategies instead of police.

The recommendations that were developed from the task force include building out a non-police alternative to mental health crisis calls, which the City Council has agreed to pilot, as well as investing in mental health and substance use services, and disbanding the police department’s homeless outreach unit in favor of increasing funding for non-police homeless outreach services.

But while police and their supporters have cautioned against taking away resources from the department, a more nuanced view has developed among those in the communities most affected.

Five members of the city’s task force wrote a letter in December noting that “more lives will be lost if police are removed without an alternative response being put in place that is guaranteed to work as good as or better than the current system,” and urging their 12 fellow task members to ensure that “police reductions will only be made when a suitable alternative is in place that is proven to offer an equivalent or better impact on public safety.”

The city will have a chance to look at where it puts its funding this spring, as the City Council prepares to negotiate and adopt a two-year city budget.

The stakes for finding the right solutions to keep people safe from violence are high.

As traumatized people absorb even more news of police killings of Black and Latino adults and children — of 13-year-old Adam Toledo in Chicago and 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Minnesota in the last month alone — gun violence continues to hit close to home.

Less than three hours after Fleming-Davis was killed last Saturday, a man was shot dead inside Booker’s Liquor Store, about two miles away. The man’s mother, who drove from Vallejo, paced in the cold behind the yellow police tape on 90th Avenue and Olive Street. Her yelps could be heard for blocks.

“Just tell him to walk out of the store,” she pleaded.

Her 25-year-old son, Dejoh Wood, was the third homicide of the day, the sixth in four days, and the 41st homicide victim of 2021.

Staff photographer Dylan Bouscher contributed to this story.

Toddler girl, father killed in suspicious fire at East Oakland home

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 02:25:42 GMT

By HARRY HARRIS

OAKLAND — A girl about to turn two and her father were killed and other family members injured early Saturday in a suspicious fire at their East Oakland home.

Investigators are trying to determine if the fire was tied to a fatal shooting inside Booker’s Grocery Liquor store a week ago. That shooting may be tied to another liquor store shooting in West Oakland on Monday. And on Wednesday evening, Booker’s Grocery Liquor was set on fire.

The names of the 37-year-old father and his daughter, who was going to turn two in May, were not released. The deaths are being investigated as homicides, the city’s 43rd and 44th of the year.

The blaze erupted while the family was asleep at 12:14 a.m. at the home on the 9500 block of Stearns Avenue, not far from the Oakland Zoo. Other family members managed to escape, but the girl and her dad were found dead inside by firefighters.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has been called in to investigate, alongside the Oakland police and fire departments, Alameda County Arson Task Force and the county District Attorney’s Office.

In the early stage of the investigation, authorities believe the house fire may have been intentionally set. It came a few days after a blaze at Booker’s Grocery Liquor, at 90th Avenue and Olive Street, which is being investigated as possible arson.

Last Saturday, 25-year-old Dejoh Woods was gunned down inside the liquor store, in the third homicide of that day and the sixth in four days. He was shot around 9 p.m. by another man known to frequent the store.

That shooting may be linked to the shooting of a cashier inside a West Oakland liquor store on Monday evening.

A reward of up to $40,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of people responsible for the deaths of the father and daughter and the people injured in Saturday morning’s fire. At this time last year, Oakland had investigated 16 homicides.

Oakland Police Officers & the Oakland As Honor Retired Oakland Cops Turning 100

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 19:14:37 GMT

On April 15th 2021, the Oakland Police A's Game Detail was proud to press back into service Oakland Police Officer Toft Jessen 5290 (ret).

Officer Jessen, born 1921, was celebrating his 100th birthday by attending yesterday’s Oakland As home game. Officer Jessen served 37 years as a member of #oaklandsfinest and on his 100th birthday he rejoined OPD on the As Home Game Detail.

Officer Jessen 5290 reported to duty at the 1600hrs line up at the Eastmont Substation. At line-up he was recognized for his service by Oakland Police Department Assistant Chief Darren Allison, the entire detail, his family led by his son and large group of Oakland Police retirees (wanting to return to service?), followed by a fly over by Argus. Chief Allision presented Officer Jessen with the official OPD detail for the As Game with his name, Office T. Jessen 5290 on it. The entire detail then escorted Officer Jessen to the game.

Thank you to the As for always being a class act. #RiseAndGrind

Pictures include the entire detail with Officer Jessen, the Argus fly over, and the most senior and most junior member on the detail yesterday.

Happy Birthday 100th Birthday Toft Jessen from every serving and retired member of #oaklandsfinest.

Oakland police chief addresses recent crime spike, alarming number of homicides

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 16:44:12 GMT

Armstrong decries budget cuts, but police critic notes department’s huge share of city’s general fund

By GEORGE KELLY | gkelly@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

OAKLAND — Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong on Monday decried the city’s recent spike in violent crimes — including six homicides in six days in East Oakland — before urging city staff to cover what he called necessary costs for enforcement details.

In remarks Monday afternoon at police headquarters, Armstrong addressed the recent fatal shootings and sideshow activity, describing it as “completely unacceptable.”

“It’s tragic for the community to have to deal with this level of trauma and pain,” Armstrong said. “My heart goes out to all of the families that have lost loved ones as a result of this violence.”

According to this news organization’s count, Oakland police have investigated 41 homicides this year, including one early Saturday and two Saturday night, compared to only 14 investigated homicides at this time last year. The city logged 109 homicides in all of 2020.

After tallying other current counts related to the year’s grim toll in violence — 159 shootings vs. 2020’s 79; 149 car-jackings vs. 2020’s 57; 340 robberies vs. 2020’s 226 — Armstrong laid bare recent department budget cuts’ impacts and practical effects.

“[T]hose millions of dollars were resources, they were officers,” he said. “They were officers in our ceasefire team, our crime reduction teams, community resource officer teams, traffic officers. We lost all of these resources, and we see the tremendous impact that that loss is having on our community.”

He then called on Oakland city councilmembers “taking votes for CARES Act funds, hopefully reallocating resources to the department.”

“This is a tall task in the city of Oakland to address this violence, but you can’t do it without resources. This city has to value the lives of our community members,” Armstrong said.

In comments Monday, Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project and executive director of the Justice Teams Network, pushed back firmly against Armstrong’s narrative.

Brooks said in part that despite any funding loss, the police department receives almost half of the city’s general fund, and that funds could go instead to other programs such as community ambassador patrols in Chinatown or around Lake Merritt, in contrast to recent policing efforts there.

“The crime spike is laying bare the exacerbation of poverty’s impact, and we cannot police our way out of that,” Brooks said.

Referring to people who break laws more out of need rather than greed, Brooks said “If you get a bunch of shot-callers in a room and asked them what would it take to stop the violence, they would unanimously say ‘I need to feed my family, I need a job and not just a 6-dollar-an-hour one,'” she said.

“We need an investment in trauma response: the city’s Department of Violence Prevention should have … a team of trauma workers to send out when violence happens. When this or that horrible thing happens, we pretend there’s not a ripple effect.”

In response to a question about tactical staffing over weekend shifts in response to current sideshow enforcement, Armstrong called specific details necessary.

“When you have three homicides in a 24-hour period, that is taxing on your police officers,” he said. “It forces us to use those resources that should be dedicated to reducing violent crime and trying to apprehend the people responsible for these shootings to addressing sideshows. But there’s still not enough resources to do both.”

Armstrong shared at the news conference that there had been no determination yet on any possible racial motivation in an attempted robbery Saturday morning in the 600 block of 10th Street that left an Asian pedestrian bruised but refusing medical care.

He ended his remarks by expressing his sympathies to the family of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old fatally shot Sunday during a traffic stop by an officer in Brooklyn Center, Minn., and said the department is monitoring developments out of Minnesota and preparing for the Derek Chauvin trial’s outcome and any related potential community unrest or protests.

Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.

Oakland Has Suffered 41 Homicides in the First 100 Days of 2021, a 215% Increase, the City Council Response: Proposals to Further Defund the Police.

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 16:34:32 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670 Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

April 13, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland Has Suffered 41 Homicides in the First 100 Days of 2021, a 215% Increase, the City Council Response: Proposals to Further Defund the Police.

Task Force to Defund the Police Submits Proposals to Council’s Public Safety Committee at 1:30 PM today.

OAKLAND – In a stark illustration of the gulf between Oakland’s City Council and the city’s residents, the Council’s Public Safety Committee today will consider proposals to further defund the city’s already atrophying police department as residents face an unprecedented increase in violent crime. The stated defunding goal is a 50% reduction of the police department’s budget.

The defund police proposals, called reimagining, will be heard at 1:30 PM today at the Public Safety Committee. The item is ironically after a police department report on the more than doubling of violent crime in the second half of 2020, an increase that occurred before this year’s massive crime increases.

Oakland City Council’s Zoom meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87926274944

“No sooner had President Biden’s American Rescue Bill restored previous Oakland Police budget cuts, the Council begins debating defunding the police again. The police department’s staffing [711 sworn] is at the lowest its been in five years, and violent crime is surging. Rather than acknowledging the bloodshed on our streets, this Council seeks to defund the police despite a staggering increase in violent crime. This is insane,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Click for the latest Oakland crime statistics.

###

Two killed in East Oakland shootings Saturday night

Sun, 11 Apr 2021 17:05:36 GMT

By HARRY HARRIS

OAKLAND — Two men were fatally shot within three hours Saturday night in East Oakland, authorities said.

Shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday a 25-year-old man was fatally shot inside Booker’s Grocery Liquor store at 90th Avenue and Olive Street, authorities said.

His name was not immediately released. Police said he was an Oakland resident.

The shooting happened after the man got into a dispute with someone inside the store, authorities said. Police have not yet said what the dispute was about or who the other person was.

No arrests were announced.

In an earlier killing, an 18-year-old man, whose name has not yet been released, was fatally shot about 6:37 p.m. in the 1400 block of Havenscourt Boulevard. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police were working to determine a motive for the shooting and did not announce any arrests. Streets in the area were shut down while officers canvassed for witnesses and video surveillance.

The killings mark the 40th and 41st homicides investigated by Oakland police this year and the third on Saturday.

There have been six homicides in East Oakland since Wednesday night. By this time last year, police had investigated 14 homicides in the city.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $10,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the suspects in the Saturday night slayings. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950, or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

Staff photographer Dylan Bouscher contributed to this report.

Three people fatally shot in 24-hour period in Oakland, police say

Sun, 11 Apr 2021 03:22:35 GMT

Lauren Hernández

April 9, 2021

Updated: April 9, 2021 8:04 p.m.

Three people were fatally shot in a 24-hour period in Oakland, part of a broader surge in violent crime this week, which included dozens of robberies, authorities said Friday.

One woman was fatally shot on Wednesday, and two other people were fatally shot on Thursday, Oakland police said. No arrests have been made, but the department said homicide investigators “continue to follow up” on each killing and are “following up on leads.”

Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said in a statement Friday that, “Three families are forever changed by this senseless gun violence.”

On Wednesday night, police responded at 8:57 p.m. to a report of a shooting on the 1100 block of 77th Avenue and found a woman with a gunshot wound, police said. Oakland firefighters and Falck ambulance crews rendered life-saving measures, but the woman — whose name is being withheld until her family is notified — died at the scene.

At 7:47 a.m. Thursday, Oakland patrol officers responded to a report of someone with a gunshot wound in the area of Edes Avenue and Nevada Street. The victim, whose name is being withheld until his family is notified, died at the scene, police said.

Hours later at 3:41 p.m., officers responded to reports of gunshots on the 9800 block of Stanley Avenue and found a man with a gunshot wound. Police did not immediately provide additional information on this case.

All three killings are under investigation, police said. Armstrong said he is “committed to reducing the violence in Oakland.”

“However, this isn’t a mission for one person or one department,” he added. “We rely on our partnership with community members to help bring an end to the violence.”

The department’s Friday announcement comes just days after authorities released data showing that Oakland police have recorded 34 homicides through March 31 — more than triple the number of homicides during the same time frame last year.

Police also said they investigated 32 robberies within a 24-hour period this week, crimes they say ranged from armed robberies to carjackings across the city. Officials did not release details on these incidents, but said “in multiple cases, individuals used the stolen vehicles to commit additional robberies.”

“Based on the information provided by victims and witnesses, many of these cases appear to be crimes of opportunity,” Oakland police said.

Police said “usually two or more suspects in a vehicle” look for people who are distracted. A suspect behind the wheel of a vehicle stays in the car when other suspects approach a victim, police said. “The victim is robbed and carjacked while sitting in their parked vehicle or just as they arrive at their destination,” police said.

Police ask that anyone with information about the homicides to contact the Homicide Section at 510-238-3821.

Lauren Hernández is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByLHernandez

Watch: Injured Capital Police Officer Applauded Leaving Hospital

Sun, 04 Apr 2021 19:46:46 GMT

Washington DC - Click to Watch

Oakland Officials Cracking Down On Large Weekend Crowds At Lake Merritt

Sun, 04 Apr 2021 19:40:11 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — As the weather has turned warm and the COVID-19 restrictions eased, weekend crowds and illegal vendors have continued to flock to Oakland’s Lake Merritt.

Local officials fear the gatherings may lead to new COVID-19 cases. They also have soaring safety concerns. So this weekend they put in new restrictions to keep the crowds away.

As homicides spike, Oakland's police chief tests a new strategy

Sun, 04 Apr 2021 19:36:24 GMT

By Rachel Swan

April 2, 2021

Two months into his new job, Oakland’s police chief is searching for answers to a rise in murder cases that started with the shutdown and now threatens to unwind years of progress.

The department logged 34 homicides through March 31, more than triple the 10 that occurred by the same time in 2020. The escalation coincides with unsettling attacks on Asian American elders, many of them captured in videos that went viral on social media.

At the same time, the city’s strained police force is struggling to manage sideshows — impromptu gatherings in which drivers take over an intersection or freeway to perform stunts. Oakland lost its sideshow detail when City Administrator Ed Reiskin ordered cuts to patch a budget deficit in late December.

Addressing reporters Friday afternoon on the ground floor of the department’s downtown headquarters, a visibly perturbed police Chief LeRonne Armstrong decried the recent slayings as “unacceptable” and announced a new strategy to deal with them: disbanding the crime reduction teams that served each geographic area of Oakland and concentrating those officers in a centralized unit.

The Violent Crime Operations Center will focus on the city’s most serious crimes — shootings and killings — signaling that Armstrong has made them a priority over the less-severe quality-of-life complaints that also generate voluminous 911 calls. The shift occurred as the department copes with somewhat thinner ranks. Although Oakland is authorized to have 792 sworn officers, the force now hovers at 713, according to department spokesperson Paul Chambers.

“I’ve moved resources from every area within the Police Department to support this new operations center, so that we can move faster in our response to violence, so that we can be more nimble in our approach to solving violent crime, but also so that we can have citywide enforcement efforts,” Armstrong said.

Roughly 60 officers and supervisors would work out of the new center, with eight poached from each of the city’s five crime reduction teams. The division would work closely with Oakland’s Ceasefire unit, a mediation program for alleged gang members.

While violence rose in many cities during the pandemic — a pattern that criminologists link to closures of schools, recreation centers and public agencies, as well as frustration over job loss — Oakland saw a more acute spike.

Unlike in San Francisco, homicides in the East Bay city now exceed the five-year average, while burglaries dropped. Both cities experienced a five-year decrease in reported rapes, robberies and larceny thefts, though robberies are climbing this year in Oakland.

Despite widespread concern about gun violence, some residents and advocates wonder whether Armstrong’s center will adequately serve the flatland communities that experience the most crime.

Keisha Henderson, a member of Oakland’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force and a resident of the Seminary area of East Oakland, has long called for better treatment by and more consistent communication from Oakland’s Police Department. She worries that without a crime reduction squad assigned to her area, trust between officers and residents will continue to erode.

“As far as community engagement, I have not seen that, because they’re so busy just attacking the shootings,” Henderson said, adding that she wishes the police would surface at community events — such as trash clean-ups — rather than just swooping in during an emergency.

She described her neighborhood as having a “cone culture,” because residents set up traffic cones in their driveways to block strangers from parking there and dissuade kids from straying down the block when they play outside.

Henderson has two 6-year-old daughters who she has never let walk down the block. She said she never knows when a shot may be fired, “and they can’t run like that.”

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @rachelswan

Neal Reintroduces Legislation to Fix Social Security WEP Provision, Improve Public Employees’ Retirement Security

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 15:16:59 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact

April 1, 2021 Dylan Opalich

SPRINGFIELD, MA—Today, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) reintroduced his groundbreaking legislation, the Public Servants Protection and Fairness Act of 2021, to fix the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) for future retirees and provide meaningful relief to current WEP retirees. The bill ensures that public servants across the nation can retire with the security and dignity they deserve.

The legislation establishes a new, fairer formula that will pay Social Security benefits in proportion to the share of a worker’s earnings that were covered for Social Security purposes. This provision is coupled with a benefit guarantee ensuring no benefit cuts relative to current law for all current and future retirees. Current WEP retirees will receive $150 a month in relief payments.

“The Public Servants Protection and Fairness Act garnered more support in Congress last year than any previous WEP reform bill. This year, I look forward to building on that momentum to advance the bill even further, and we’re off to a running start with 139 original cosponsors,” said Chairman Neal. “The WEP negatively affects nearly 2 million retired public servants across the country, including 83,000 in Massachusetts. Public employees like firefighters, teachers, and police officers should not miss out on the Social Security benefits they earned over decades of hard work. With this legislation, these valued members of our communities will have greater retirement security and peace of mind.”

Originally, the WEP was intended to equalize the Social Security benefit formula for workers with similar earnings histories, both inside and outside of the Social Security system. However, in practice, it unfairly penalizes many public employees. The much-needed reforms in this bill provide meaningful WEP relief to current retirees and public employees while treating all workers fairly.

“Members on both sides of the aisle can get behind this legislation and the solutions it puts forward,” added Chairman Neal. “I want to commend Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Kevin Brady for his longstanding work to address the WEP issue. I appreciate his commitment to fixing this problem, and look forward to working with him to move a solution through Congress expediently.”

The bill has been endorsed by the following organizations:

National organizations: Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), International Union of Police Associations (IUPA), National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), National Association of Retired ASCS/FSA Office Employees (RASCOE), National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO), National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), National Conference of State Social Security Administrators (NCSSSA), National Education Association (NEA), National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA), Public Retirees Alliance, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Social Security Works, United Postmasters and Managers of America (UPMA).

State and local organizations: American Federation of Teachers (AFT)–Massachusetts, Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE), Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA), Louisiana Association of Chiefs of Police (LACP), Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association (LSA), Mass Retirees, Massachusetts Coalition of Police (Mass COP), New England Police Benevolent Association (NEPBA), Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA), Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), Police Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), Retired Educators Association of Massachusetts (REAM), Texas Retired Teachers Association (TRTA), Western States Sheriffs’ Association (WSSA).

Congratulations Newly Appointed California Attorney General

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 16:33:45 GMT

For Immediate Distribution: Contact:

March 24, 2021 Jon Koriel

(714) 686-4097

JKoriel@FionaHuttonAssoc.com

Peace Officers Research Association of California Congratulates Newly Appointed California Attorney General

Professional Federation of Local, State & Federal Law Enforcement Associations Looks Forward to Collaborating with Attorney General Rob Bonta on Today’s Most Pressing Issues

Sacramento, CA — California Governor Gavin Newsom today named current Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-18) to serve as the state’s new Attorney General to replace former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who has been selected to serve in the Biden Administration as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The State’s new chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Rob Bonta, brings his experience as an Assemblymember representing the Bay Area and dedication to serving Californians through years of public service.

“We would like to congratulate and welcome the newly appointed Attorney General Rob Bonta. We look forward to working with him to address the many important challenges and opportunities facing California’s law enforcement community today.”

“Through continued collaboration with our state’s leaders, lawmakers and community members, PORAC remains committed to delivering improved policies that will raise recruitment standards, increase transparency and place officers in the best possible position to serve Californians. We look forward to working with Attorney General Rob Bonta to champion these issues and to ensure the practice of law enforcement reflects our shared California values.”

###

About the Peace Officers Research Association of California:

Biden Praises Heroism of Boulder Police Officer

Wed, 24 Mar 2021 15:31:50 GMT

Boulder Police Officer and father of seven Eric Talley “pinned on that badge in the morning didn’t know what the day would bring.” An American hero.

A Reflection on March 21st By Father Jayson Landeza

Sat, 20 Mar 2021 20:26:06 GMT

On Sunday, we remember the tragic events of Saturday, March 21, 2009, when Sergeants Mark Dunakin, Erv Romans, Dan Sakai and Officer John Hege were killed in the line of duty, protecting the residents of Oakland.

For many of us who were present that day and in the weeks to follow, these memories remain an indelible part of our lives, and are interwoven with our experiences as OPD family.

I remember receiving a call from dispatch informing me that Mark and John had been shot - I immediately drove to Highland Hospital to support our personnel and their families. As we were listening to OPD radio traffic, we heard “940B”, and frantic voices explaining what had transpired, and that two of our officers were headed to Highland Hospital, Code 3. Upon their arrival, we discovered that Dan and Erv had been fatally wounded.

Many of us began recalling our own personal memories and previous interactions with the guys. Mark and I would often see each other at support meetings for “Family and Friends of Murder Victims”, a group that met once a month at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland. OPD Captain Jim Emery, the Homicide Section Commander at the time (early to mid 2000’s), had asked that homicide investigators occasionally attend the meetings, and Captain Emery specifically requesting my presence there. Mark and I would often talk afterwards, and we shared our thoughts and reflections on what we had just heard.

A year before Mark’s death, and as a member of the Traffic Section (Motors), he was involved in a 901. As I rushed to Highland, and after being directed to the emergency room, I found a fully conscious and totally aware Mark, who couldn’t figure out why he was there! (His injuries were very minor). We waited for his wife Angela to arrive to reassure her that he was OK. They are both now rejoined in eternal life

Back to that week in March 2009 - while we were still in extreme shock and profoundly saddened at the death of our heroes, we knew that a fitting memorial service needed to be planned. Tributes from around the world began pouring in, and the PAB and OPOA were surrounded with floral tributes and hand-written letters, notes and posters, mostly from Oakland residents.

Although most of us were trying to hold it together and remain emotionally composed throughout that week, many of us lost it when 20 members of the Baltimore City Police Department, dressed in their Class A dress uniforms, came to the OPOA to pay their respects and offered assistance. Fellow law enforcement personnel from an agency across the country shared their grief with us. A few days later, over 20,000 gathered at the Coliseum arena and stadium to render their presence and support for OPD, our fallen and their families.

As we remember 3/21, it’s also a moment to remember all those members of our OPD family who have died in the line of duty, and whose names are etched on the Memorial Wall at the PAB. We will never forget these heroes.

This is also a chance for us to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation for your service to our Oakland community. As a resident of Deep East Oakland, serving as Pastor of St. Benedict Catholic Church on 82nd and Bancroft, I hear and see, firsthand, the Herculean tasks that you are called to fulfill and respond to on a hourly basis.

You are keenly aware of the many risks you face in this profession, as part of this agency, serving our community. Please know that you are in our daily prayers and blessings. I pray as well for your families - please be sure to let THEM know of your abiding love and support, as I hope they do for you. It’s important that we don’t take our lives, our relationships and our health (physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological, etc) for granted. Please be good to yourselves. We want you to have fulfilling lives and careers.

Rest In Peace, Mark, John, Erv and Dan, and all those who’ve given their lives in the service of our OPD family and our Oakland community. Heroes live forever.

Father Jayson Landeza

OPD Chaplain

Advocates urge CA lawmakers to help crime victims in wake of recent attacks on Asian American community

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 15:21:22 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- In recent months, weeks, and days we've seen victim after victim of Asian descent attacked in the Bay Area. Now though there is a push to help those victims.

"How do we turn the corner and actually talk about the mental health of our community, cultural competency, victim compensation; all things that we are just starting as policymakers to have a conversation on," said State Assemblymember David Chiu of San Francisco.

Frustration, Anger Grows Among Residents Over Weekend Oakland Sideshows

Thu, 18 Mar 2021 20:07:38 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — The frustration over weekend illegal Oakland sideshows has reached a tipping point among neighborhood residents who have grown tired of their sleep being disrupted by squealing cars and their safety being threatened by random gunfire.

Over the weekend, two sideshows carried over into the early morning hours of Sunday. Two young men were wounded while being among the bystanders watching a sideshow at International Boulevard and 98th Avenue.

Oakland Police Officers Urge City Council to Invest Oakland’s $192 Million Federal Rescue Funds in Protecting Our Community and Reducing Violent Crime.

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 15:24:36 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Oakland Police Officers Urge City Council to Invest Oakland’s $192 Million Federal Rescue Funds in Protecting Our Community and Reducing Violent Crime.

Council Should Address the 314% Increase in Homicides

OAKLAND – Two more homicides in Oakland last week. A transient was killed when he was set on fire and an elderly man was killed during a robbery. In response to the continued increase in violent crime, the Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan sent a letter to Council President Nikki Bas (the letter is attached) urging that Oakland’s federal stimulus funds be invested in our community to improve the lives of Oakland residents. The investment strategies:

Restore all public safety cuts to the police department, including traffic enforcement.
Prioritize and invest in Public Works’ effort to combat blight and dumping in our city.
Vaccinate every city worker, ensure they can return to work serving our citizens.
Immediately implement the fire department’s plan for MACRO (Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland) with paramedics and firefighters taking primary responsibility for mental health calls.

The letter was sent in advance of today’s Council Meeting at 1 p.m. (Access the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88330066369) discussing the funding.

The meeting coincides with the release of new crime statistics that demonstrate the continued increase in violent crime. The crime statistics are attached.

Click to Read Letter to Council President

Click the Link For Oakland’s crime statistics year to date.

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Suspect in death preyed on older Asians, police say

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 19:33:32 GMT

By Megan Cassidy

A man police said had a history of preying on older Asian people is facing murder charges after a 75-year-old man who was robbed and shoved to the ground in Oakland died Thursday from a traumatic head injury that left him brain-dead.

Alameda County prosecutors filed special circumstances murder charges against Teaunte Bailey, 26, of Oakland after Pak Ho died from injuries suffered in Tuesday’s attack, the latest case of violence against a person of Asian descent in the Bay Area.

Police say Ho, an Oakland resident, was walking in the area of Jayne Avenue and Perkins Street just before 7 a.m. Tuesday when Bailey robbed him and caused him to strike his head on the pavement.

Bailey, who police say has a criminal history dating to 2012, was booked into Alameda County jail Wednesday. His arraignment is scheduled for Friday morning.

Prosecutors on Thursday also filed charges against Bailey in a separate February case also involving an older Asian victim.

On Feb. 19, police responded to a senior living center on the 1200 block of Center street on a report of a robbery inside one of the apartments. Prosecutors allege that Bailey “violently shoved” the 72-year-old man, robbed him of his cell phone and made off with several items from his home.

In a news statement, Oakland police said officers learned that Bailey had a history of victimizing elderly Asian people.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said. “Our elders should be protected not the victim of a deadly assault. I am thankful that our officers were able to quickly respond and arrest Mr. Bailey.”

In addition to murder, Bailey is charged in the two incidents with second-degree robbery, evading an officer, residential robbery and assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury.

Bailey has a long criminal history in Alameda County that includes convictions for burglaries, assault and multiple parole violations, according to police and court records. He was on probation in Alameda County at the time of his latest arrest, after a strong-arm robbery that took place last year outside the same Center Street senior living center as the February attack.

Police say Bailey was driving a stolen Toyota Rav 4 in the area of the senior center on June 26 when he got out of the sport utility vehicle and tried to grab the belongings of two victims, identified in court records as Peiling Mai and Jianfeng Li.

As the victims struggled to keep their items, police said Bailey pushed both of them to the ground, repeatedly punched one in the face and ripped the second victim’s purse and shopping bag away. Bailey was arrested the next day after police found him in a vehicle that had been carjacked, authorities said.

Bailey was convicted on a felony assault charge and sentenced to a term of 64 days time served and five years of probation, according to Alameda County court records.

Last year, he pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of stolen property after he and a woman were arrested for robbing a victim in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood. He spent 179 days in jail before being released with an ankle monitor.

In that case, police said, Bailey was one of two people who on April 4, 2020, committed a robbery with a replica gun. San Francisco police arrested Bailey and Melissa Taylor, 24, of Oakland after a pursuit across the Bay Bridge, in which Taylor was the driver.

Police additionally found Taylor’s infant in the car, and booked Taylor on charges including robbery, child endangerment and evading a police officer.

San Francisco prosecutors charged both Taylor and Bailey with robbery. Bailey later pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property after prosecutors said witnesses said only the woman committed the robbery.

Taylor’s case is still awaiting trial.

“We had a weak case against Mr. Bailey and a much stronger case against his co-defendant,” said Rachel Marshall, a spokesperson for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. “As a result, we could not justify seeking his continued detention after six months when we lacked sufficient evidence to prove the charge at trial.”

Officials said Bailey was also recently arrested on several parole violations out of Alameda County, including in December 2019 and February 2020.

Bailey has at least two earlier convictions out of Alameda County: one for first-degree residential burglary on Jan. 11, 2013, and another for second degree burglary on Sept. 20, 2012.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy

Illegal Oakland Sideshow Takes Over Corner Near Police Headquarters

Sun, 07 Mar 2021 20:58:55 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Another weekend, another rowdy sideshow in Oakland. It didn’t take long for the police to get to the scene since it happened a mile away from police headquarters.

Witnesses said the sideshow drivers and the large crowd took over the intersection of Adeline and 5th Streets in West Oakland for about 30 minutes. Aside from the spectators, they said the drivers were putting on a show for the two Oakland police officers who were watching from 1,000 feet away.

Oakland plan to replace police with mental health workers moves forward

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 19:47:46 GMT

Sarah Ravani

March 2, 2021

Updated: March 2, 2021 7:52 p.m.

The Oakland City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to direct staff to design a pilot program to dispatch counselors and paramedics from the city’s Fire Department to mental health crises instead of police officers.

The plan is a shift from the original idea of contracting with community-based organizations to run the program independently.

The council also ordered the administration to explore options including contracting with Alameda County staff and health specialists or temporary staff within the Fire Department to run the program — called Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland, known as MACRO. In addition, the city administration will look into contracting with community organizations qualified in mental health outreach.

“We know that there are very high expectations for this program given the urgent need, and I hope that the city can deliver,” said Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas, who is also the co-chair of the city’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, which has a goal of cutting the police budget in half and shifting the money to social services.

Bas and Council Member Dan Kalb introduced the motion that was voted on. The city administration will give a progress report at the March 16 council meeting. At that time, they could also seek council approval on legislation needed to expedite the program.

25 Murders in 2021 is a 400% Increase Year Over Year

Tue, 02 Mar 2021 14:32:38 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

March 1, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Silence From Oakland’s City Council and Police Commission on the Mounting Toll of Violence on Oakland Residents.

25 Murders in 2021 is a 400% Increase Year Over Year

OAKLAND – Crime numbers released this morning showed that in February Oakland suffered ten (10) more murders, added to the already grisly toll of fifteen (15) murders in January 2021. Twenty-five (25) murders so far in 2021, is a 400% increase year over year. There were a further 103 injury shootings and an additional 153 shootings where a home or vehicle was struck. That works out as more than four (4) shootings a day so far in 2021.

“Oakland residents and police officers experienced another month of staggering bloodshed on our streets. All the while Oakland’s City Council and Police Commission never addressed the violence and just continued the ‘defund the police’ rhetoric.” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

The Oakland Police Department has already seen the disbandment of numerous police units, including traffic enforcement, all walking and bicycle units, and officers in community resource teams that address violence in specific Oakland neighborhoods.

Click the Link For Oakland’s crime statistics year to date.

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Reeling from a depressed economy and increased crime, Oakland Chinatown enters city's policing debate

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 23:11:51 GMT

Rachel Swan

Feb. 26, 2021

When a string of high-profile crimes rattled Oakland Chinatown in February, city leaders descended on the neighborhood, decrying hate and professing support for victims.

Mayor Libby Schaaf pledged to fast-track grants for security cameras. Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong assigned an officer to be a liaison to the Chinese-speaking community. For a couple weeks, Armstrong’s command staff seemed to constantly pop up in the area, always trailed by news media.

The one thing they didn’t promise was more police. And in a town where budgets are tight and residents are questioning the whole law enforcement paradigm, adding officers is anything but easy.

“So many stores around here are boarding up their windows,” said Calvin Tong, owner of the Sweet Booth, a boba shop in Pacific Renaissance Plaza. Standing behind the counter on Feb. 16, he pointed to stores that were swathed in wood panels, including the Bank of America next door.

Volunteers in blue vests wandered through the plaza that afternoon, hoping the display of uniforms would provide a sense of order. The lunch crowds had thinned out; the courtyard benches were mostly empty. A shopkeeper at an herb store blocked the doorway with racks of spices and dried fish. Across the street, at a popular banh mi sandwich shop, workers left money in the tip jar in case anyone tried to steal it.

“If they get an empty jar, they’ll give me trouble,” owner Anh Nguyen said with a wan smile.

At a time when so many things in society are fraying, Oakland Chinatown became a focal point, besieged by crimes of opportunity that seemed loosely related to the pandemic and the depressed economy. A few were caught on surveillance videos that went viral in early February. One showed an elderly man walking down Harrison Street when an assailant came up from behind and pushed him to the pavement. In another, a man grabbed money from the hands of a shopper at a store counter.

Crime has gripped this retail district before. Thieves occasionally target the neighborhood because many older adults tend to carry cash, said Carl Chan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce. But the recent series of attacks provoked an unusually strong reaction, fueled by two historical moments — a national reckoning over hate crimes against Asian Americans and a local battle over whether to slash the police budget.

“In Oakland, we became the epicenter of almost everything,” Chan said.

Social media complicated the situation by allowing the videos to loop over and over again, raw and unmediated. Within days, actors Daniel Dae Kim and Daniel Wu offered a $25,000 reward for information about the attacker who pushed the man on Harrison Street, seeing the incident as a symptom of systemic racism. The politics heated up in Oakland, where Chan and fellow Chamber of Commerce members called for better and more consistent policing. Other activists touted social programs — instead of law enforcement — as the key to public safety.

“‘Defund’ feels like a bit of a confusing message sometimes, but really the conversation is, ‘How do we have more resources ... to go into secure housing, and good jobs, and health care, and mental health?’” asked Alvina Wong, campaign and organizing director at the Asian Pacific Environmental Network. The group helped organize rallies to promote peace over the Lunar New Year, a holiday traditionally marked by large gatherings and street bazaars.

As the spotlight intensified, city officials found themselves in an awkward position. The administration had cut some police services in December, part of a citywide effort to patch a $62 million budget hole. Among the casualties were foot patrols in Chinatown, which caused such an outcry that Schaaf and Armstrong quickly dedicated two officers to work with non-English-speaking residents in Chinatown and nearby Fruitvale.

Eyes also turned to Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas, whose district includes Chinatown. A committed progressive, she pressed, unsuccessfully, for deeper police cuts when the council approved its budget in June. Bas co-chairs the city’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, which aims to halve the police budget and shift the money toward social services.

“It’s a challenging moment, certainly, with the crime that has been happening during this pandemic,” the council president said. “But I think it’s also a moment where we can come together and be creative.” She argued that communities are safer when the city invests in business districts, parks and other infrastructure, rather than adding police officers.

Some business owners see it differently.

“Of course we want more police,” said Sasha Leung, owner of a dress shop in Pacific Renaissance Plaza. She closes two hours early, at 4 p.m., in part because business dropped during the pandemic, but also to avoid being alone after dark.

Others, such as Police Commission Chair Regina Jackson, cautioned the city to distribute police equitably, rather than pushing resources toward areas that draw the most media attention. Jackson is also president of the East Oakland Youth Development Center, in a neighborhood scarred by crime and poverty — where many residents feel the city isn’t listening.

“I like where Chief Armstrong is going in terms of the liaison role,” Jackson said. “We just need a few more of them.”

Yet even as it’s thrust to the center of a citywide policy debate, Chinatown seems wounded by the wave of attacks in February, on top of months of economic stagnation. Storefronts are boarded up. Many shops have red “Save Chinatown” posters in their windows, each with a logo depicting the Year of the Ox, alongside police phone numbers to report assaults or robberies. Surveillance cameras hang from buildings.

Business owners raised more than $85,000 to hire private armed security guards to patrol Chinatown for the next few weeks, supplementing a strained police force and the volunteer teams of blue-vested ambassadors. Such community-driven safety measures have historical antecedents, Chan said.

He remembered a similar effort in 2010, after two teenagers beat an older Chinese man to death in front of the Fox Theater in Uptown. Less than three months later, Oakland laid off 80 police officeers — including one of two foot patrol officers in Chinatown — to cope with a widening budget deficit. Feeling embattled, merchants installed surveillance cameras throughout the district. Volunteer ambassadors cruised the sidewalks.

Chan’s voice breaks when he recalls the events of 2010. For months, he helped the family of the 59-year-old beating victim, Tian Sheng Yu, navigate an unfamiliar court system. In the ensuing years, Chan kept lobbying for community safety. Whenever a protest got out of hand downtown, leaving windows shattered in Chinatown, Chan stood before a scrum of TV cameras and begged the city for more protection.

He is wary of the movement to strip funding from the Police Department.

“I’ve talked to many organizations, businesses, and residents in Chinatown, and asked the same question — ‘Is it OK for us to request the help of the police?’” he said. “So far, the answer is ‘Yes.’”

San Francisco Chronicle staff photographer Stephen Lam contributed to this report.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Father of two shot to death in Oakland park where 60 children were participating in football practice

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 22:57:49 GMT

Lauren Hernández

Feb. 25, 2021

Updated: Feb. 25, 2021 11:28 p.m.

A father who was picking up his two young children from football practice at an Oakland park was shot to death at the gathering where 60 children, aged 5 to 14, had been finishing up their drills, a witness told The Chronicle.

The victim, a former coach of an Oakland youth football team, had just arrived at Concordia Park on 64th Avenue on Wednesday afternoon when shots rang out, said Walté Orr, the president and coach of the Oakland Dynamites Youth Football program.

Oakland plan to replace police with mental health workers in disarray

Fri, 19 Feb 2021 06:28:38 GMT

Rachel Swan

Feb. 18, 2021

Updated: Feb. 18, 2021 5:48 p.m.

As protests against police brutality swept Oakland last June, the City Council took a bold step toward rethinking public safety: It set aside $1.85 million for a new program to dispatch counselors and paramedics to mental health crises, instead of armed law enforcement officers.

Eight months later, the Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland program has yet to get off the runway. And on Feb. 17, two community-based organizations that were vying for the contract bowed out.

“This is very disappointing to say the least,” Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas wrote in a Feb. 18 email to city officials, announcing that the two groups — Bay Area Community Services and Alliance for Community Wellness, a.k.a. La Familia Counseling Service — had pulled their applications.

The city mental health program, billed as a temporary pilot originally set to begin in January, represents an experiment in redistributing police funding that is playing out in cities across the U.S. In Oakland, the effort is complicated by politics. A battle flared up earlier this month over which nonprofit would receive taxpayer funds to handle duties that have long fallen on sworn police officers.

The city’s Department of Violence Prevention spent months picking a contractor, beginning with a request for qualifications that the department released on Oct. 30, 2020. A panel of city staff and community members with expertise in behavioral health rated five applicants, and recommended the one with the highest score: Bay Area Community Services, a nonprofit that has served Oakland since 1953.

However, the council’s Public Safety Committee backed a different contender — the runner up, Hayward-based Alliance for Community Wellness — in a unanimous vote on Feb. 9. The decision came after several public commenters blasted Bay Area Community Services, arguing that it lacks strong community ties. Two days later, city staff revised the contract legislation to include both applicants.

Bay Area Community Services CEO Jamie Almanza addressed the criticisms against her organization in a Feb. 17 letter to the council, which the Chronicle obtained. It served as a notice of withdrawal.

“I find it my duty to respond to the stated opinions of individuals who may not know who BACS is, where we come from, where we are, and who we serve out of respect for our team who found last week’s meeting disrespectful, full of mistruth, and a false representation of true community work,” Almanza wrote.

The letter went on to recount the history of the organization, and describe numerous services it provides in Oakland for unhoused people and those suffering from mental illness.

That same night, the council received a second withdrawal letter from the remaining applicant, Alliance for Community Wellness CEO Aaron Ortiz. “After reflecting and discussing this contract with our stakeholders, La Familia has made the decision to withdraw our application to operate Oakland’s MACRO program,” Ortiz wrote.

On Feb. 18, city officials abruptly canceled a special council meeting to decide which organization should get the $1.6 million contract, which doesn’t include the city's startup costs.

That Thursday morning, during a meeting of the council’s Rules Committee, Bas scheduled an item to discuss the mental health program at the council’s March 2 meeting. Bas and Guillermo Cespedes, chief of the Department of Violence Prevention, said they would consider various options. They could even bring the program in-house and assign employees to run it, Bas said in an e-mail to the Chronicle.

“Our goal is to create the best program to serve Oaklanders,” Bas wrote in the email.

City Councilman Loren Taylor said he believed the council eroded public confidence when it went against the contractor recommended by city staff.

“From my perspective it’s pretty outrageous that we are delaying this long-anticipated and long-awaited pilot that everybody agrees is needed,” Taylor said, contending that the MACRO program would make public safety more innovative, responsive and efficient once it gets off the ground.

Taylor and Bas co-chair the city’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, which has a stated goal to cut the police budget in half and shift the money over to social services.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Oakland Chinatown turns to private, armed security

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 04:44:37 GMT

By Rachel Swan

Feb. 16, 2021

As Oakland Chinatown reels from a recent string of assaults and robberies — some of them captured in stark, instantly viral video footage — merchants are testing a controversial solution: armed security guards.

A six-person foot patrol roamed along 9th and Webster streets on Tuesday morning, each guard clad in a black uniform with a tactical vest. Three of them carried expandable batons and guns in leg holsters. Volunteer ambassadors in blue jackets also thronged the area around Pacific Renaissance Plaza, a cluster of shops on 9th Street with a courtyard in the middle.

Business owners raised more than $80,000 through a GoFundMe campaign to fund the guards from Goliath Protection Group, meant to supplement a police force strained by budget cuts. Violent crime is rising throughout Oakland, with 17 homicides so far this year — up from three by this time last year. The number of slayings in Police Area 1, a swath of downtown that includes Chinatown, doubled from one to two.

Calvin Tong, owner of The Sweet Booth, an ice cream shop in Pacific Renaissance Plaza, praised the private security force as a good start.

“Look,” Tong said, nodding toward the window as he cut a thick slice of avocado for a smoothie. Outside, a guard strode through the plaza, where several businesses had boarded their windows to prevent burglaries. “You see the gun he carries?” Tong asked with a smile.

Political pressure to ramp up public safety in Chinatown has mounted since early this month, when surveillance videos of robberies and attacks began surfacing on social media. City officials rushed to denounce the violence, while in the meantime, shopkeepers began arming themselves.

On Monday night, a man, apparently a store owner, fired several rounds at someone who allegedly tried to steal a camera from a woman on 9th Street. Nobody reported any injuries, but Carl Chan, president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, said residents were worried the alleged perpetrator might return the next day, seeking retaliation.

Chan acknowledged that armed guards may raise concerns for some people, including police. Though the department did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Police Officers Association President Barry Donelan contended it was ironic that, as Oakland seeks to cut its already-shrinking police force, “worried residents turn to armed unaccountable security guards.”

“But in my community they want it,” Chan said, referring to the businesses and senior citizens he represents. He said he believes Chinatown is a prime target because many shoppers are elderly, they tend to carry cash, and a sizable portion of the community doesn’t speak English — which makes them less likely to report crime. Some residents feared that robberies would surge during the Lunar New Year, which began on Friday.

Darrell Evans, CEO of Goliath Protection Group — the private security contractor based in Richmond — attended a rally on Saturday in Clinton Park, meant to denounce violence against Asian Americans and promote racial harmony. Evans said that, generally, he wants to see more police in Oakland.

“It’s always better when you have more people who are vigilant, looking out for things,” he said.

Mayor Libby Schaaf and Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong tried to address that problem last week by creating two positions for police liaisons to non-English-speaking communities in Chinatown and Fruitvale. Schaaf also promised to fast-track grants for more security cameras in Chinatown.

Ray Tong, a general contractor with Asian Health Services, had a different idea: donate air horns to merchants. He blasted one of the noisemakers outside a row of shops on Webster Street Tuesday, causing one bystander to shriek.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Two police officers who helped fight the Capitol mob have died of suicide. Many more are hurting.

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 17:29:54 GMT

Engulfed in the crush of rioters storming the Capitol, D.C. police officer Jeffrey Smith sent his wife a text that spoke to the futility and fears of his mission.

"London has fallen," the 35-year-old tapped on his phone at 2:38 p.m. on Jan. 6, knowing his wife would understand he was referencing a movie by that name about a plan to assassinate world leaders attending a funeral in Britain.

The text confirmed the frightening images Erin Smith was watching on live stream from the couple's home in Virginia: The Capitol had been overrun.

Six minutes after Smith sent that text, a Capitol Police officer inside the building shot and killed a woman as she climbed through a smashed window next to the House chamber.

Two police officers who helped fight the Capitol mob have died of suicide. Many more are hurting.

Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, 35, died by suicide about one week after he and hundreds of other officers defended the U.S. Capitol from an insurgent mob. His wife, Erin Smith, wants her husband's death to be declared a line-of-duty death.

Engulfed in the crush of rioters storming the Capitol, D.C. police officer Jeffrey Smith sent his wife a text that spoke to the futility and fears of his mission.

The text confirmed the frightening images Erin Smith was watching on live stream from the couple's home in Virginia: The Capitol had been overrun.

Six minutes after Smith sent that text, a Capitol Police officer inside the building shot and killed a woman as she climbed through a smashed window next to the House chamber.

Smith, also inside the Capitol, didn't hear the gunshot, but he did hear the frantic "shots fired" call over his police radio. He later told Erin he panicked, afraid rioters had opened fire on police, and wondered whether he would die.

Around 5:35 p.m., Smith was still fighting to defend the building when a metal pole thrown by rioters struck his helmet and face shield. After working into the night, he visited the police medical clinic, was put on sick leave and, according to his wife, was sent home with pain medication.

In the days that followed, Erin said, her husband seemed in constant pain, unable to turn his head. He did not leave the house, even to walk their dog. He refused to talk to other people or watch television. She sometimes woke during the night to find him sitting up in bed or pacing.

“He wasn’t the same Jeff that left on the sixth … I just tried to comfort him and let him know that I loved him,” she said. “I told him I’d be there if he needed anything, that no matter what we’ll get through it. I tried to do the best I could.”

Oakland Shootings: 6 wounded in the latest instance of gun violence on Oakland streets

Tue, 16 Feb 2021 04:11:10 GMT

KPIX News Story

Oakland Police Department Transitions from Interim Chief Susan Manheimer to Chief LeRonne Armstrong

Mon, 08 Feb 2021 02:59:38 GMT

As we transition to new leadership, the Oakland Police Department would like to thank Interim Chief Susan Manheimer who served 10 months with OPD. She brought stability and leadership during the most challenging time in the City of Oakland and in our entire country: the global pandemic-COVID-19, crime, economic downturn, protests, reimagining policing and more. Interim Chief Manheimer handled all with grace and competence and cared for our community and our department. Interim Chief Manheimer welcomes in newly selected Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong who said, “Interim Chief Manheimer came to OPD during a historical time bringing her experience and knowledge that helped stabilize and move the Department forward.”

Mayor Libby Schaaf said, “I want to thank Interim Chief Susan Manheimer for her warm and dedicated stewardship of OPD during this unprecedented year. Her work and leadership is deeply appreciated and we are all grateful for her service to Oakland.”

President of the Oakland Police Officers Association, Sergeant Barry Donelan said, “The last year was challenging for OPD dealing with a hundred year pandemic in addition to surging violent crime. We were fortunate to have Chief Manheimer at the helm of OPD. Her experience and commitment to Oakland residents and police officers alike guided us through tumultuous times. Chief Manheimer put out 100% effort everyday she was Chief and inspired every Oakland cop to do the same. We thank her for her service and welcome Chief Armstrong as Chief. We look forward to continuing to tackle Oakland’s public safety challenges with Chief Armstrong at the helm.”

Interim Chief Manheimer worked with City leadership and oversight through the Police Commission and our NSA Monitoring and Compliance Team to respond to the many challenges and demands.

Interim Chief Manheimer provided stability through the transition to a permanent Chief; restored relationships and trust with oversight and City leadership; and continued to move the Department forward towards compliance and Department goals.

The Oakland Police Department is extremely grateful to Interim Chief Manheimer for her tireless dedication and devoted service to our department and our community.

Oakland Names 20-Year OPD Veteran as Next Police Chief

Sat, 06 Feb 2021 04:59:46 GMT

The city of Oakland on Friday introduced its new police chief at a time when homicides are spiking in the East Bay city.

Mayor Libby Schaaf announced the hiring of Deputy Chief LeRonne Armstrong as Oakland's new top cop. Armstrong, who has been with the Oakland Police Department for 20 years, grew up in West Oakland and went to McClymonds High School.

"He is of Oakland and for Oakland. Born + raised, tried + true, and ready to lead as we reimagine public safety and build safety + security in all neighborhoods. It is my honor to announce LeRonne Armstrong as Oakland’s Chief of Police," Schaaf said on social media.

Oakland Police Officers Welcome New Chief of Police

Sat, 06 Feb 2021 04:54:06 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 5, 2020

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association: (510) 834-9670 or policeofficers@opoa.org

Oakland Police Officers Welcome New Chief of Police

OAKLAND – Today, it was announced by Mayor Libby Schaaf that Oakland Police veteran, LeRonne Armstrong, has been appointed as Oakland's next Chief of Police. Oakland Police Officers welcome the appointment of Chief Armstrong.

For much of the last year, the Police Department has been led by Interim Police Chief Susan Manheimer. Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan thanked Chief Manheimer for her service and welcomed Chief Armstrong’s appointment with the following statement.

"We are grateful for Chief Manheimer’s service and we look forward to Chief Armstrong’s tenure” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

In the last twelve months, the City of Oakland has seen an increase in violent crime while suffering the COVID-19 pandemic. Through it all, hardworking Oakland Police Officers have continued to come to work every day to serve the residents of our city.

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Oakland's interim chief retires after 10 tumultuous months on the job

Sat, 06 Feb 2021 04:48:03 GMT

The police chief who steered Oakland through a pandemic, a burst of homicides and a string of budget cuts retired on Friday, leaving behind a department mired in new allegations and a city divided over public safety.

Interim Chief Susan Manheimer held the city’s top law enforcement job during a turbulent 10-month period, in which she maneuvered between residents demanding faster responses to 911 calls, activists pressing to defund the department and politicians with competing agendas.

“It was a continuous and evolving string of challenges that built upon one another,” Manheimer said Friday morning, speaking on the phone from the parking garage of the Police Administration building. Mayor Libby Schaaf had just tweeted a video announcing Manheimer’s successor, LeRonne Armstrong, and Manheimer was preparing for lunch with colleagues to mark her otherwise low-key departure.

Schaaf appointed Manheimer in late March of 2020, shortly after regional leaders clamped down shelter-in-place orders. Though Manheimer had served for years in law enforcement as chief of San Mateo and in various positions at the San Francisco Police Department, some residents and politicians perceived her as an outsider in Oakland.

She was the second white woman in a row to lead a city of stark racial and economic disparities. Schaaf and the Police Commission fired her predecessor, Anne Kirkpatrick, without cause.

Manheimer saw herself as a stabilizing force, a role that became more significant as COVID-19 and civil unrest convulsed the city. She oversaw hundreds of officers who had to stay on the streets even as other city workers went home. As of Feb. 5, 86 police staff had tested positive for the virus, she said.

But the interim chief also faced scrutiny over her department’s response to demonstrations against police violence.

The Minnesota police killing of George Floyd in May triggered Black Lives Matter protests around the country and in Oakland, where activists had urged cuts to the police force for years. During some of the demonstrations in late May and early June, people set 137 fires and vandalized 200 businesses, Manheimer wrote in an open letter to the community. She said the department used smoke and gas to disperse crowds and “stem assaults on officers.”

In July, federal judge Joseph Spero issued a preliminary injunction that limited the Police Department’s use of tear gas and non-lethal munitions, as part of a lawsuit filed by the Anti Police-Terror Project and various people who participated in the protests.

Manheimer acknowledged the “righteous rage” of the demonstrators. However, she said that other people had used the protests as cover for violent disruption.

By mid-summer, cities across the nation were rushing to take action on police brutality and Oakland leaders wanted to set an example. The City Council formed a Reimagining Public Safety task force with a stated goal to cut the department’s $290 million budget in half.

For several months, Manheimer sat in on task force meetings where some participants accused the police of irresponsibly driving up spending with overtime, a complaint echoed by members of the City Council. But when City Administrator Ed Reiskin directed the department to cut overtime in December by disbanding units — such as motorcycle traffic enforcement, foot patrols and a detail that provides security when city workers clear homeless encampments —some city councilmembers were not satisfied, saying they had been shut out of the process.

“It was very frustrating that many tried to paint a picture of the Police Department frivolously overspending their budget,” Manheimer said. “That money was being spent on vital community services. I think that was the thing that was most irksome. There’s not an understanding by our leaders or by the Reimagining Committee that we are so understaffed and under-resourced that everything you cut impacts the safety in our community.”

The city reinstated its police homeless encampment detail, though other services remain suspended.

In January, Manheimer’s last month on the job, Oakland saw 15 homicides. It marked the deadliest start of the year in two decades and a rapid unraveling for a city that spent years chipping away at violent crime.

“We’re talking about real lives, not just statistics,” said City Councilman Loren Taylor, who co-chairs the Reimagining task force. His district includes a large swath of the flatlands in East Oakland, an area bounded by Interstate 580 in the hills and Interstate 880 near the industrial waterfront. Over the past year it became an epicenter of intertwined crises in Oakland: shootings, poverty and a relentless virus.

“Communities and neighborhoods are being traumatized, and we have to address that,” Taylor said. “It would have been a challenge for anyone, let alone an interim chief who doesn’t have the history, the background, the connection to community, everything else.”

Armstrong, who has worked closely with Manheimer throughout her stint as chief, has a strikingly different public image. He is Black, grew up in Oakland and is widely seen as someone with deep community roots.

Yet as he steps in, the Oakland police face at least two internal investigations. One centers on officers who may have endorsed or “been involved” with the social media account of a former officer who defended the Capitol takeover mob. Another concerns six Instagram posts that used racist content to denigrate police reforms.

John Jones III, a formerly incarcerated community activist who serves on the Reimagining task force, said he initially felt skeptical of Manheimer. About two decades ago, Jones was arrested in the Tenderloin by an officer who he said planted drugs on him. Manheimer was working the Tenderloin beat at that time.

Shortly after she took the Oakland job, the two met; Jones brought up the arrest and pointed to what he saw as an injustice. Manheimer said she made several calls to the San Francisco Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office, and that staff offered to work with Jones to expunge the conviction from his record.

Since then, “we’ve been in contact on a variety of issues,” Jones said. “To me, that’s important,” he added, noting that dialogue is the first step toward building trust.

Manheimer agreed.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Showdown Over Police Resources As Oakland’s Chinatown Sees Spike In Violent Robberies

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 14:44:58 GMT

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) – Residents and businesses in Oakland’s Chinatown say their neighborhood is under siege from increasingly violent robberies, but the response has turned into a showdown over police resources as the city faces a massive budget deficit.

Videos have surfaced of women having their wallets snatched inside stores and fights with robbers on the sidewalk have people scared.

Community leaders, along with police and city leaders and community members spoke out about the violence Wednesday, including one traumatized woman who had been robbed and shot in the head with a flare gun last month.

“Yes, they appear to be more violent, for whatever reason,” said Oakland Police Capt. Bobby Hookfin, the area commander for Chinatown. “And that’s why we need to stop this now, before something even more heinous occurs.”

Chinatown merchants are begging for more police patrols, which area Councilmember Nikki Fortunato-Bas seemed to support.

“The relationships that we have with our walking officers and our community resource officers really helps to create the foundation of a safe community,” Fortunato-Bas said.

But at the news conference, Mayor Libby Schaaf publicly called out Fortunato-Bas for partnering with Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan in trying to slash the police budget following the Black Lives Matter protests.

“I have not forgotten that this last summer they brought a proposal to cut $25 million from the Oakland Police Department as a political statement, not because of operational or financial needs,” Schaaf said. “If that proposal had passed, those walking officers would have been gone long ago.”

The police said they will reallocate resources to the area, but facing a city budget deficit of $62 million, no one seems to know where that might come from.

Hookfin said he will maintain the officers currently assigned to Chinatown but funding cuts are eliminating the police overtime that would normally be used to add extra patrols to an area of concern.

Desperate times often produce desperate measures and Chiu Szeto, a residents’ group board member, is advocating neighborhood watch patrols, even if they are armed.

“We need to form our neighborhood watch, whether it’s armed or not armed,” Szeto said.

When asked if he preferred an armed patrol, he said, “Yes, because the only thing the bad guy respects is when you have a gun.”

Oakland police seek help after home invasion robbery in broad daylight

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 14:24:37 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Some neighbors in Oakland area are on alert after an armed home-invasion robbery was caught on camera in the city's Fruitvale/Central area of the city.

Oakland police are using surveillance video in their investigation, showing suspects using semi-automatic handguns to force a man into a home.

The incident happened at about 1:40 p.m. the afternoon of Jan. 29.

A cell phone along with money and three firearms were taken by the suspects.

There were no injuries reported but Oakland police ask anyone with information that can help with the investigation to call 510-238-3326.

Oakland sees Deadliest January in two decades – 1400% Increase in Homicides.

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 19:33:21 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

February 1, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland sees Deadliest January in two decades – 1400% Increase in Homicides.

Fifteen (15) Murders in January Versus One Last January.

OAKLAND – Oakland Police Officers responded and investigated fifteen (15) homicides in January 2021. There was only one homicide for all of January 2020. Twenty years ago, January 2001, was the last January that Oakland suffered 15 homicides.

New crime numbers released this morning show a 1400% increase year-over-year in murders in Oakland. There were 64 shootings and murders in January alone, a 129% increase over a year ago. That works out as more than two shooting a day in January and a murder every other day.

“Hardworking Oakland Police Officers diligently strive to bring justice to the families of those affected by homicide. But as homicides increase, Oakland’s police officer numbers have decreased and the City Council has embraced a ‘defund the police’ strategy that is accelerating the city’s already high violent crime rate,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

In January, Oakland disbanded numerous police units, including traffic enforcement, the homeless detail, all walking and bicycle units, and officers in community resource teams that address violence in specific Oakland neighborhoods.

Click Link: Oakland’s crime statistics for January 2021 are attached.

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Oakland gun violence surges as police struggle with cuts

Sun, 31 Jan 2021 17:55:44 GMT

As disturbing as Oakland’s rising homicide rate is, the numbers tell only part of the story.

Oakland has had 14 homicides since the start of the year — that compares with a single homicide during the same time period last year.

If the homicides continue at the current rate, Oakland is looking at 168 homicides by the end of the year. In 2020 there were 102, and in 2019 there were 75.

The numbers are shocking, but they pale when compared with the number of people wounded.

According to statistics from Oakland’s Highland Hospital trauma unit, which handles most of the gunshot cases in Alameda County and some from Contra Costa County, 50 gunshot cases have been treated there so far this this year — at least one shooting a day.

Highland treated 415 gunshot cases last year and 283 in 2019.

On Jan. 23, a Saturday night, more than 1,000 vehicles roared through the streets of Oakland in illegal sideshows. The city’s ShotSpotter system recorded more than 200 rounds being fired in 39 incidents between 4 p.m. Saturday and 2 a.m. Sunday.

Given the recent cutbacks in police overtime and the dismantling of the traffic and sideshow squads to save money, Oakland had a reduced staffing of 42 officers and supervisors on patrol for the entire city Saturday night.

“All this is set against a backdrop of over $20 million in cuts from the Police Department this year, including all the overtime that went to enforcement operations like sideshow and violent crime operations,” interim Oakland Police Chief Susan Manheimer said.

Oakland City Council member Loren Taylor, whose east side district has been one of the hardest hit by the violence this year, said people don’t need to be shot to be wounded.

“You have the people in the neighborhoods who are not involved in this, but they still have to live with the trauma of bullets flying and shattered glass in their kid’s rooms,” Taylor said. “It has a devastating impact on all of their lives.”

Passing of Longtime OPOA Leader Lou Silva

Sun, 31 Jan 2021 03:21:50 GMT

Sadly, retired Oakland Police Officer Lou Silva passed away today.

While serving as an Oakland Police Officer Lou made a positive impact on the lives of not only Oakland residents but on the women and men of the police department via his service to the Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA). Lou was a longtime member of the OPOA Board of Directors and served multiple terms as OPOA Vice President.

Lou’s union service was not limited to Oakland. He served on the statewide board of the Peace Officers’ Research Association of California (PORAC) that represents 77,000 California Peace Officers. And, was elected Vice President of PORAC. He also served a term as a Commissioner on the California Peace Officer Standard and Training (POST) Commission.

To know Lou was to like him. He will be greatly missed by his family, friends and the those he served with for so many years in the Oakland Police Department. May he rest in peace.

VIDEO: Hundreds Flee For Safety As Gunfire Erupts At Oakland Sideshow

Wed, 27 Jan 2021 17:43:05 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Volleys of gunfire rang out at an illegal Oakland weekend sideshow, sending hundreds of spectators in a chaotic mad scramble for safety as vehicles raced away from the scene.

The wild scenario unfolded on the streets of Oakland where police were seeing an dramatic increase in the size and numbers of the illegal street sideshow gathering in recent weeks.

Oakland police released video of the massive sideshow on Twitter. The mobile street race stopped at Fruitvale Ave./International Blvd. and W Grand/Telegraph Ave. Gunfire echoed in the background at both stops.

“The Oakland Police Department has seen a troubling and significant increase in sideshow activity in our communities in recent weeks,” police officials posted. “Last weekend, an illegal sideshow took place that began on Saturday, January 23rd and extended into the early hours of January 24th.”

“We are asking our community to partner with us and provide key information that would assist us in identifying those participating in this dangerous and illegal activity, which includes participants discharging handguns and rifles, physical assaults, reckless driving and blocking roadways.”

Investigators said the incident began at around 11:45 p.m. Saturday night with a gathering of 500-600 cars and 800-1,000 spectators.

“OPS had no advance intelligence or information that this was to occur,” police tweeted. “The illegal sideshow participants drove recklessly throughout various areas of our city … Officers could see and hear gunfire from illegal sideshow participants.”

Investigators said officers collected over 200 spent shells in the wake of the sideshow.

No injuries were reported and Oakland police did not say if any arrests or vehicle seizure took place.

One dead, one hurt in West Oakland shooting

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 15:42:53 GMT

Officers canvass broad scene in the Clawson neighborhood

OAKLAND — Police were at the scene of a shooting in a West Oakland neighborhood that killed one person and injured another, authorities said Monday.

Just before 8 p.m., police responded to reports of ShotSpotter activity in the 2800 block of Filbert Street in the city’s Clawson neighborhood, an Oakland police spokesman said.

When officers arrived, they found an unconscious man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds as well as a struck vehicle and multiple rifle casings nearby.

After providing emergency life-saving measures, firefighters and paramedics helped transport the man to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Soon after, officers found a second man who was conscious and suffering from a gunshot wound to his wrist in the 3200 block of Linden Street. Officers provided treatment to the man and transferred him to paramedics. His condition was not immediately available Monday night.

Officers blocked off southbound traffic on Linden at 32nd Street, using crime-scene tape for multiple blocks nearby to canvass for additional evidence.

The killing is the 13th homicide investigated by Oakland police this year. Only one homicide was recorded in Oakland for all of last January.

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $10,000 in reward money for information leading to an arrest in the victim’s killing. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3821 or 510-238-7950 or Crime Stoppers at 510-777-8572.

For information leading to the arrest of a suspect, police are offering up to $5,000 in the injury shooting. Anyone with information may call police at 510-238-3426 or Crime Stoppers of Oakland at 510-777-8572.

Agentes del condado Alameda preocupados por falta de vacunas contra el COVID-19

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 16:18:43 GMT

Tras un mes desde el inicio de las vacunaciones, oficiales de policía y alguaciles del condado de Alameda dicen que aún están esperando ser incluidos.

Piden que las vacunas sean puestas a sus oficiales inmediatamente, ya que solo en el departamento de policía de Oakland han tenido más de 60 casos de COVID-19 y los números solo están incrementando.

“A sido más de un mes y los oficiales policías de la ciudad de Oakland no han recibido la vacuna”, dice el presidente de la asociación de policía Barry Donelan, agrega que lo más preocupante es que no hay un plan que los incluya al momento hasta donde conoce.

No COVID-19 vaccine for officers, deputies in Alameda County as violent crime surges

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 13:52:06 GMT

Officials say there are more than 1,500 officers and deputies who have been busier than ever as violent crime is surging, but none have gotten the vaccine.

ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Law enforcement unions in Alameda County want answers as to why their officers haven't gotten the COVID-19 vaccine. They say there are more than 1,500 officers and deputies who have been busier than ever as violent crime is surging, but none have gotten the vaccine.

A Month After the COVID-19 Vaccine was Rolled out, Alameda County First Responders Are Still Waiting for the Vaccine

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 00:21:00 GMT

Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of Alameda County Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (925) 463-3760 Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: dsaoffice@acsodsa.org Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

21 January 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

A Month After the COVID-19 Vaccine was Rolled out, Alameda County First Responders Are Still Waiting for the Vaccine Despite Not Receiving the Vaccine these First Responders Continue to Serve.

OAKLAND – The Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) and the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of Alameda County (ACDSA) warned that the 1500 first responders they represent still have not received the COVID-19 vaccine and that Alameda County has no plan to vaccinate these first responders who continue to serve their communities during the pandemic. “The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office is working to facilitate the vaccination of the county jail population against COVID-19, but the County Health Department has no plan to vaccinate the deputies or staff working in the jail.” said ACDSA President Kevin Lewis. “More than 90 Alameda County Deputy Sheriffs’ have tested positive for COVID-19, and one deputy has already died, but there is no plan to vaccinate these essential first responders.” “Oakland Police Officers have been testing positive for COVID-19 and getting sick at high rates” said Barry Donelan, OPOA President. “Sixty-two Oakland Police Officers have tested positive of COVID-19 but calls to county health to administer the vaccine to these first responders go unanswered.” Counties across the state have completed the vaccinations of first responders, to included law enforcement. But not Alameda County.

Both Deputies and Police Officers are frustrated that Alameda County Public Health has not provided the vaccine to all first responders. Oakland Police Officers and Alameda County Deputy Sheriffs have come to work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Officers and Deputies respond to 911 calls and provide public safety services in Oakland and throughout Alameda County. In Oakland they have already responded to 11 murders in the first 21 days of 2021. Donelan said “The very nature of the job means we can’t work from home. We are on the streets responding to calls for help. Unfortunately, when we arrive at calls, we are first responders that have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, so neither our citizens nor first responders are protected from infection.” “Our profession involves constant public contact. We cannot always be socially distanced as law enforcement. Therefore, we are potentially exposing our residents, our incarcerated population and ourselves to COVID-19 infection. Our high infection rates demonstrate the danger,” Lewis explained.

Let’s protect all first responders and those they serve. The ACDSA and OPOA urge Alameda County Public Health to vaccinate the county’s Police Officers and Deputy Sheriffs without delay. About the Oakland Police Officers’ Association: The Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) represents all sworn members at all ranks within the Oakland Police Department. Representing the hardest working Police Officers in America. The OPOA can be found on the Web at www.opoa.org.

About the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of Alameda County: The DSA of Alameda County represents Sergeants and Deputies within the Sheriff’s Office in matters relating to employment, working conditions and benefits. The DSA of Alameda County can be found on the Web at www.alamedadsa.com.

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A Sharp Rise in Homicides in Oakland

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 21:50:55 GMT

For Immediate Release: January 21, 2021

OPD NEWS: A Sharp Rise in Homicides in Oakland

The City of Oakland is facing a sharp rise in violent crime. Over the last seven days, we’ve had seven people tragically killed in Oakland. To date, our Homicide Division has already investigated 11 murders, compared to one at the same time last year.

The Department continues to direct resources to areas most impacted by violence and trauma to deter further violence. OPD’s Ceasefire Team is meeting with Mayor Libby Schaaf, the independent Department of Violence Prevention and community partners to identify additional strategies to focus the City’s attention towards reducing gun violence. Collectively, we are working to provide assistance and support to loved ones and traumatized communities.

The City of Oakland is determined to once again decrease shootings and homicides, as we did by 50% in just five years, the most dramatic decrease in a major city, according to the Giffords Law Center.

We are again asking our community to stand with us, “to put the guns down and end the violence.” We ask each of you, “if you know something say something.” Working together with the community we can help stop the tragic loss of life in our city. Anyone with information can contact the Homicide Section at (510) 238-3821.

Also, the Oakland Police Department and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering reward money for any information leading to an arrest in any or each of these cases. Reward money can be up to $10,000 for each arrest. Tip Line is (510) 238-7950.

#OPDCARES initiative is about working together as a community to help stop the tragic loss of life and reduce the level of violence in our city. Collectively, we want to ensure Oaklanders and our visitors are safe in our community.

Deputy, K-9 and suspect killed in shootout on Cal Expo grounds, Sacramento County sheriff says

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 15:29:23 GMT

A Sacramento County sheriff's deputy and a K-9 officer died after a shootout on Cal Expo grounds with a chase suspect who was also killed, Sheriff Scott Jones said early Tuesday morning.

Around 10 p.m. Monday, deputies tried pulling over a driver, who the sheriff said was a parolee, at Arden Way near Morse Avenue. The driver initially stopped, but then took off in his vehicle — prompting a chase, the sheriff said. The suspect eventually crashed his car, ending the chase on the Cal Expo grounds near the horse track.

The sheriff said the suspect refused to comply with commands to roll down his windows or exit his vehicle.

Deputies and backup officers then devised a plan, Jones said, to deploy less-lethal force and shot out the suspect's back window, but the suspect still did not comply with commands to surrender.

At that point, deputies deployed a K-9, and the suspect immediately opened fire, killing the dog. The suspect then continued firing shots at deputies, Jones said.

Largest Statewide Law Enforcement Association in the Nation Responds to Protestors Storming the U.S. Capitol Building

Wed, 06 Jan 2021 23:43:15 GMT

For Immediate Distribution Contact:

January 6, 2021 Ian Anderson

(818) 268-6488

ianderson@fionahuttonassoc.com

Largest Statewide Law Enforcement Association in the Nation Responds to Protestors Storming the U.S. Capitol Building

Peace Officers Research Association of California Condemns Violence, Calls for a Return to Civil Discourse

Sacramento, CA — Today, as protestors breach the United States Capitol Building, delaying confirmation by the House and the Senate of the results of the November 3rd general election – injuring multiple police officers and threatening the safety of our elected leaders in the process – the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) is condemning the violence as an affront to our democracy and calling for a return to civility in the expression of political opinions.

“Today’s violent breach of the U.S. Capitol Building is reprehensible and belies the values and traditions upon which this country was built,” said Brian Marvel, President of the Peace Officers Research Association of California. “Respect for the rule of law and those sworn to uphold it are at the foundation of our democracy. We stand in solidarity with the men and women in law enforcement who are on the front lines of defending and upholding the law of the land. Regardless of where we stand politically, we are all Americans, and must return immediately to the civil discourse that is the heart of our great American experiment.”

###

About the Peace Officers Research Association of California:

COVID Cuts: Oakland Police Union Warns Of Possible Cuts Amid City’s Budget Crisis

Wed, 06 Jan 2021 15:05:33 GMT

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) — Oakland officials are facing a $62 million shortfall due the to COVID pandemic this year, with the city administrator saying there must be cuts to all departments to balance the budget, including the police department.

Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Administrator Ed Reiskin sent a letter to city employees last month saying without massive cuts, “…the General Purpose Fund will be insolvent before the end of the fiscal year… Even the City’s emergency reserve will be completely exhausted.”

But the police officers’ union is pushing back, warning that crime in the city has been on the rise since the start of the pandemic and that now is not the time to cut officers on the streets.

The Oakland Police Officers’ Association took out a full-page ad in the East Bay Times on Tuesday that points to the number of murders year over year as an example of how violent crime skyrocketed in Oakland in 2020. The ad reminded residents about the surge in murders that went from 75 in 2019 to 102 last year.

Union president Barry Donelan says officers want to make sure Oakland residents understand exactly what’s happening in their community.

“Stay-at-home orders and people’s situations are driving some of the crime. There’s a lot of desperate people out there,” said Donelan.

The union says as the city tries to close a $62 million budget gap, the police department could see cuts of about $15 million.

Preliminary proposals call for disbanding the traffic enforcement division, eliminating all foot and bicycle patrols and canceling the spring 2021 police academy for new officers.

“We’re concerned about our ability to address this violent crime as we move into 2021 with even less resources than we had in 2020,” explained Donelan.

Oakland City Council members say they understand the police unions concerns, but with declining revenue due to the pandemic, the money just simply isn’t there.

“All the money that we have been spending has been going to some service, whether it’s public safety, parks, human services, etc. So it’s going to be painful either way,” said Oakland City Council member Loren Taylor.

Taylor says his goal is to work with the police department to identify places where they can reduce the budget without jeopardizing public safety.

The level of crime here and the increase in the last year is so significant that we have to bring it to the fore and inform our residents about how dire it is,” said Barry Donelan, President of the Oakland Police Officers Association.

Oakland resident Bruce Vuong didn’t need the ad to see the rise in crime around his auto repair shop in the Fruitvale District.

“I’ve seen it come, I’ve seen it go, but the city of Oakland is probably the worst I ever seen,” he said. “At nighttime when I go home, I’m afraid for my life.”

A surveillance camera at one business in the area captured video of a group of pimps fighting in the street. The fight ended when one individual let loose with an AK-47.

City Councilman Noel Gallo said the city has become lawless. He pointed to a huge homeless camp on a sidewalk that doesn’t even have tents anymore. They’ve actually built makeshift buildings.

Gallo admitted the financial situation isn’t good, but said cuts need to reflect the city’s priorities.

“We’ve created so many new departments, with so many new committees, commissions, advisory groups left and right that require money,” he said. “My role is very clear and the number one issue is to protect the people on the street.”

Mayor Schaaf said the police cuts will come from special programs and overtime, not the cops on the street. But she said police and fire take more than half of the city’s General Purpose Fund, so there is no way to make significant cuts without affecting those departments. Without those cuts, the financial consequences would be unimaginable.

“We do not like making any cuts, particularly in a time like this when people need public services more than ever,” said Schaaf. “But if we don’t make hard choices now, we will have heartbreaking choices later.”

The police department isn’t the only city department facing budget cuts that could impact safety. The fire department will likely be affected by the budget deficit as well.

As KPIX 5 reported Monday, city staff has proposed that three of the city’s 25 fire engine companies be put out of service, which would result in longer response times.

The city says closing three engine companies would likely cause 14 calls per day to be diverted. Some argue that puts all city residents at risk of not getting help quickly.

New OPOA Advertisement Calls Upon Residents to Speak up About Skyrocketing Violent Crime

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 04:28:44 GMT

Oakland Police Union Says City Getting More Dangerous as Cops, Services Cut

New OPOA Advertisement Calls Upon Residents

to Speak up About Skyrocketing Violent Crime

“The citizens of Oakland need to wake up City leaders to what is happening in the streets, which is bloodshed, sadness, broken lives, and fear”

OAKLAND – The Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) warned that murders, violence, assaults, and dangerous sideshows will likely increase in 2021 as the city continues to cut police and public safety budgets.

In a new series of paid advertisements, the OPOA called upon Oakland residents to speak up to City leaders to ensure their own safety after the dramatic rise in violent crime in 2020.

“The violence in 2020 was unrelenting,” said Sgt. Barry Donelan, OPOA President. “The numbers of Oakland Police Officers are falling. We strive to serve the citizens, but there are so few of us and the demands of violent crime are so huge.”

Donelan said in 2020 crime statistics should concern every Oakland resident:

Oakland saw 102 murders (a 38% increase over 2019). There were 594 homicides and firearm assaults (a 65% increase over 2019). A further 407 (68% increase over 2019) occupied homes and vehicles were shot up in Oakland. Carjacking increased by 46% in 2020.

Oakland Police Officers recovered 1,254 firearms from Oakland’s streets last year, a 44% increase over 2019. “These are weapons that cannot now be used on our streets, but we are only touching the surface,” Donelan said.

These crime figures should be shocking to the Mayor, City Council, and Police Commission, Donelan added. “City leaders have been safely in their homes during the pandemic on Zoom calls, so they don’t see or feel the violence that our residents and officers experience every day.”

“The citizens of Oakland need to wake up City leaders to what is going on in the streets, which is bloodshed, horror, broken lives, sadness, and fear,” he said.

Donelan said new cutbacks from the City are most likely going to make matters worse. He cited new City cuts that:

Disband the Traffic Enforcement Division
Eliminate all walking, bicycle, and horse officers patrolling both downtown and in the neighborhoods.
Eliminate 8 Community Resource Officers (about 25% of the department's community policing officers, impacted beats are not yet determined).
Eliminate Youth and school services, including the OK mentoring program, PAL, and Police Explorers
Cut 25% of officers assigned to Operation Ceasefire.
Close the Alcohol Beverage and Tobacco Unit that regulates liquor stores
Cancel the Police Academy scheduled for Spring 2021

Donelan and the OPOA advertisement urges citizens to take action: “Let the City Council, Mayor and Police Commission know you value your safety, your family’s safety, and our community’s safety, to ensure Oakland Police Officers are there when you need us,” the advertisement says.

Click for Crime Statistics Click for Gunfire Summary Click for OPD Recovered Firearms

Oakland Police Union Says City Getting More Dangerous as Cops, Services Cut

Mon, 04 Jan 2021 22:08:34 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

January 5, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Oakland Police Union Says City Getting More Dangerous as Cops, Services Cut

New OPOA Advertisement Calls Upon Residents

to Speak up About Skyrocketing Violent Crime

“The citizens of Oakland need to wake up City leaders to what is happening in the streets, which is bloodshed, sadness, broken lives, and fear”

In a new series of paid advertisements, the OPOA called upon Oakland residents to speak up to City leaders to ensure their own safety after the dramatic rise in violent crime in 2020.

Donelan said in 2020 crime statistics should concern every Oakland resident:

“The citizens of Oakland need to wake up City leaders to what is going on in the streets, which is bloodshed, horror, broken lives, sadness, and fear,” he said.

Donelan said new cutbacks from the City are most likely going to make matters worse. He cited new City cuts that:

Disband the Traffic Enforcement Division
Eliminate all walking, bicycle, and horse officers patrolling both downtown and in the neighborhoods.
Eliminate 8 Community Resource Officers (about 25% of the department's community policing officers, impacted beats are not yet determined).
Eliminate Youth and school services, including the OK mentoring program, PAL, and Police Explorers
Cut 25% of officers assigned to Operation Ceasefire.
Close the Alcohol Beverage and Tobacco Unit that regulates liquor stores
Cancel the Police Academy scheduled for Spring 2021

Click for Crime Statistics Click for Gunfire Summary OPD Recovered Firearms

E mail the City Council Click to Email the Mayor Click to Email the Police Commissio n

council@oaklandca.gov officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com RJackson@oaklandcommission.org

###

Sad milestones in Oakland as deadly violence explodes in 2020

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 14:39:36 GMT

A 'perfect storm' of factors led to more than 100 killings, part of an increase in homicides seen across the East Bay

What’s in a number?

Larry Reid, the president of the Oakland City Council and a member of the council for nearly the past quarter-century, took a moment to contemplate the question. And the number:

One hundred.

In Oakland this year, 100 homicides were committed before December even arrived. By the first week of 2020’s final month, 100 of them were classified as murders. At year’s end, the totals read 109 and 102, respectively.

“Insanity,” Reid said. “It means insanity on the streets of Oakland. And I think that insanity will continue. That scares me.”

Oakland’s deadliest year in close to a decade stood out as the most noteworthy East Bay crime trend in 2020, even as homicide spikes happened in other cities, and aggravated assaults — particularly from domestic violence — went up throughout the area.

Richmond’s homicide total was 22, its highest figure since 2016. Berkeley suffered five homicides, including the fatal shooting of a UC Berkeley student, one year after not recording any. Hayward police investigated 11 homicides, more than twice as many as the five they investigated in 2019.

Yet nowhere in the East Bay did the violence spike as ferociously as it did in Oakland, the Bay Area’s third-largest city with a population of more than 400,000 people.

“It’s been a lot of things,” Oakland police Lt. Frederick Shavies, the commander of the department’s homicide section, said. “And they’ve all made for a perfect storm.”

The result was the city’s first triple-digit homicide and murder total since 2012. The city recorded 131 and 126, respectively, that year. In 2019, there were 78 homicides and 75 were classified as murders. In 2020, Oakland recorded its 79th homicide in September.

“We haven’t seen this kind of pace,” said Oakland police Sgt. Barry Donelan, the president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, a 20-year veteran of the department. “Not like this.”

In the wake of the 100th murder, Donelan condemned Oakland’s City Council for what he called “ignoring” the violence in Oakland, and the City Council pushed back, saying it was doing all it could amid reduced revenue in the wake of the pandemic. The sniping cast a light on what Donelan, a 20-year-veteran, said is a “chasm” between the two sides that “doesn’t help. It’s always been there, but I’ve never seen it this way. What the council perceives and what it is that’s going on in the streets is as wide as its ever been.”

Still, law enforcement and city officials agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges they could not have foreseen at the end of 2019, including for the current and upcoming city budgets.

“We obviously have challenges in terms of funding this year because of the recession we’re in. And so everything is, you know, under a microscope because of the reduced revenue we have coming in, so that’s the reality,” Oakland Councilmember Dan Kalb said in a statement earlier this month. “But standing up to violent crime, attacking violent crime, reducing violent crime is the top priority among City Hall and those of us in the council, and we will continue to make it a top priority using a variety of strategies.”

Jurisdictions from throughout the East Bay have also noted that the number of guns available has skyrocketed in the past year. Shavies said Oakland police had a 30% increase in the recovery of guns used in crimes.

“We’ve had the real danger of the pandemic and all that it has entailed,” Shavies said. “Adding to that is the anxiety and dismay people are feeling as they lose work or lose their businesses. So there’s a real sense of desperation. Add to it that you’ve got more and more guns on the street.”

In recent years, the Oakland Ceasefire operation has helped take guns off Oakland’s streets and reduce the number of shootings by reaching out to people suspected or targeted in shootings, warning them of potential harm and offering them solutions. In 2020, the organization — composed of community groups, clergy and social workers who partner with police — earlier this month met for the first time since since February, Shavies said.

“It’s been hard to message folks the way we have in the past, especially those who are involved in group and gang violence,” he said. “That’s chiefly the pandemic at work.”

The pandemic also contributed to the overall rise in domestic battery and other aggravated assaults throughout the area. Aggravated assaults were up 19% in Oakland, and assaults with firearms were up 71% as of December 29. The same crime also was up 18% in Richmond and 10% in Antioch through November, as well as 17% in Berkeley through Christmas.

“I believe it’s the combination of everything,” Richmond Police Chief Bisa French said of the trend. “There’s a sense of hopelessness. People have lost their jobs and don’t have direction. There’s lots of idle time, and people are tired of being cooped up. It’s caused a lot of family disturbances.”

The hope, French and others said, is that COVID-19 will become a pandemic of the past in 2021, and that as life slowly returns to normal, it will have the domino effect of lowering violent crime.

Other observers believe it will not be so easy.

“A lot of these young people don’t have sense to respect their life, your life or anyone else’s life,” Reid said. “A lot of these people yell and scream anytime a police officer arrives at a scene, or they want to defund the police. We have council members that don’t understand what’s happening on the streets. Unless all of this changes, I worry that next year will be just as bad as this year.”

Staff writer Annie Sciacca contributed to this story.

‘They Punched Me': Oakland Woman Says She Was Mugged by 2 Youths

Thu, 24 Dec 2020 19:08:56 GMT

The woman said Oakland police told her the attackers were likely 12 and 14 years old

By Melissa Colorado • Published December 23, 2020 • Updated on December 23, 2020 at 6:33 pm

An Oakland woman said she was mugged in broad daylight by two people she thought were teenagers. She said she later found out they may be tweens.

The woman, identified as Iona, said she was attacked Monday afternoon near Jack London Square in Oakland. It was an attack that lasted seconds, but in her mind it felt like hours.

"They punched me. I fought back with them," Iona said.

'We plan to fight': Oakland divided over $62M budget cuts, likely to impact police, public safety

Thu, 24 Dec 2020 18:43:44 GMT

Mayor Schaaf says no police or firefighters are being laid off, but the cuts could impact special units and response time.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The city of Oakland says it could run out of money by June 2021, the end of its fiscal year, if it doesn't make cuts now.

"Every day that we delay taking action, means the cuts will be have to be deeper later," explained Edward Reiskin, Oakland City Administrator.

Defund the police? Oakland’s budget shortfall could force cuts

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 15:58:29 GMT

Rachel Swan Dec. 20, 2020 Updated: Dec. 20, 2020 9:17 p.m.

For months, Oakland leaders have considered cutting the city’s $290 million police budget in half, a goal set to meet the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement and turn a department haunted by past misconduct into a national model.

Now, as city officials struggle to fill a widening budget hole, a memo by the interim police chief provides the first glimpse of what a more modest cut might look like.

It could mean that activists get some of their demands met, such as relieving police of their duty to provide security when city workers clear homeless encampments. But it could also mean freezing youth mentorships, ending foot patrols of the bustling Uptown district, and paring back a celebrated program to curb gun violence.

In the Dec. 14 memo obtained by The Chronicle, interim Police Chief Susan Manheimer laid out a blueprint for a leaner police force, with about $22.4 million stripped. The document is addressed to City Administrator Ed Reiskin, who asked every department to create a plan to reduce spending by up to 20% through June, when the City Council will pass its next budget.

The chief makes her misgivings clear at the top of the document: “Note that OPD is not recommending or proposing any of the service cuts in this memo,” Manheimer wrote. In an interview, she cautioned that the memo is a draft and that it will probably be revised several times.

But on Friday, the Police Department made its first cut, eliminating details that put extra officers in areas with high rates of violent crime. Other forms of “discretionary” police overtime — for services such as motorcycle traffic cops and investigations of fatal crashes — could be next on the chopping block, the chief said.

“We at Oakland Police Department absolutely understand that we need to do our part to reduce expenditures and we embrace that,” Manheimer said in a text message. “The sad part is that we know that each of these critical overtime and program cuts reduce vital prevention, intervention, and safety services to those we serve.”

The interim chief’s list of possible cuts also includes a police detail that focuses on sideshows, in which drivers take over an intersection or freeway to do stunts and flaunt muscle cars for spectators. Additionally, the department could cut costs if it stopped deploying officers to monitor protests and gatherings, according to the memo, or by shrinking Ceasefire, a mediation program for alleged gang members.

First used in Boston in the 1990s, the model has been credited with cutting gun violence in many cities. Targets of the program are offered counseling and services while being warned that continued misbehavior will prompt a police crackdown.

A study by the Giffords Law Center found that the program helped decrease homicides in Oakland before the pandemic. Reducing Ceasefire by 25% would save about $900,000 in six months, Manheimer said.

The need to stanch the city’s $62 million budget shortfall has complicated an already tense effort to improve policing in Oakland. After nearly two decades of federal court oversight, stemming from a 2003 civil rights settlement over four West Oakland officers who allegedly beat and planted evidence on residents, the police force has yet to complete several mandatory reforms.

At the same time, the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has garnered popular appeal for once-radical ideas on disbanding law enforcement. In July, the City Council formed a Reimagining Public Safety Task Force to defund the police and reinvest the money in social services.

But the 17-member task force has produced many ideas and little agreement. And polling indicates that residents of the neighborhoods most affected by crime — and police brutality — appear to support the goal the least. Task force members who represent these neighborhoods have urged their peers to test-run alternatives before slashing the police force in half.

After the coronavirus pandemic forced schools and businesses to close, violence spiraled for six months in Oakland. A wave of homicides left 101 people dead, as police also found themselves overwhelmed by sideshows and protests. And then there was the virus itself: As of Sunday, department has had 64 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

“We will take overtime dollars, and spend them, because we are so short-staffed in our patrol force,” Manheimer said.

Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, a group that has long pressed Oakland to reduce its police budget, said she is disturbed to hear that City Hall was dictating the cuts.

She said Reiskin, the city administrator, “should be having this conversation with the task force.” Brooks for years has pushed Oakland to shift money and responsibilities from the police and instead hire unarmed civilians to do the work.

“It’s not just about cutting dollars,” she said. “It’s about what are we replacing it with.”

The co-chairs of the task force, City Council members Loren Taylor and Nikki Fortunato Bas, declined to comment on the budget negotiations. So far, the administration’s efforts to rein in Oakland’s fiscal crisis have not required council approval.

Even so, Bas noted that all city departments “need to be held accountable” and said aggressive spending on police drove the current deficit.

The city ended its fiscal year in June with a $30 million shortfall. The gap doubled by December, largely because the Police Department exceeded its budget: According to a report from the city’s finance director, the department spent $19 million on overtime it had not anticipated.

Barry Donelan, president of Oakland’s police union, declined to comment.

Last Monday, Reiskin sent a memo to all city departments announcing a hiring freeze, a moratorium on temporary workers and a halt to conferences, travel and professional training. He also asked each agency to submit budget plans for two scenarios — a 10% reduction and a 20% reduction — by Jan. 6.

Without “immediate and significant expenditure reductions, the General Purpose Fund will be insolvent by the end of the fiscal year, meaning the City will not be financially capable to address emergencies, let alone many general services,” Reiskin wrote.

Manheimer said the potential cuts listed in her memo will probably change over the next few weeks as the mayor and city administrator weigh in.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

Oakland Sees Mounting Plague of Gun Violence Deaths in 2020 as COVID Pandemic Rages

Sun, 13 Dec 2020 14:41:25 GMT

KPIX Reporter Da Lin puts Oakland's violent crime, and homicides in particular, in context.

OAKLAND (KPIX) — When it comes to crime and safety, Oakland is a tale of two cities.

Police say their figures show that, collectively, the Lake Merritt, downtown, uptown and West Oakland neighborhoods experienced 12 homicides in the first 11 months of 2020.

Oakland formed a task force to help defund the police. Now some members want the city to reconsider

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 16:15:59 GMT

Five members of 17 on task force urge waiting until better solution is found

By Rachel Swan

When Black Lives Matter protests shook the ground beneath Oakland City Hall this summer, the City Council laid out an ambitious goal: cut the $300 million police budget in half, and invest the savings in social services.

Now, some of the people picked to devise an action plan want the city to change course. In a joint letter, five Black members of Oakland’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force say they don’t want to see the number of police reduced until the task force comes up with a comparable or better solution.

If that means keeping the force intact while test-running another type of response, the group says, so be it.

The five signatories — John Jones III, Keisha Henderson and Ginale Harris of East Oakland, and Antoine Towers and Carol Wyatt of West Oakland — introduced their letter Wednesday night, during a scheduled meeting of the 17-member task force.

“Black lives are being lost (and) harmed at an alarming rate in our city,” said the letter, written just as Oakland logged 100 homicides for the year so far — the highest number since 2012.

“Even more lives will be lost if police are removed without an alternative response being put in place that is guaranteed to work as good as or better than the current system,” it continued.

The letter raises a series of philosophical questions about the movement to defund police. Will slashing a budget be enough to curb police violence against Black people? And what are the consequences of having fewer officers on the street?

Harris’ voice shook as she spoke at the meeting Wednesday night.

“People aren’t fighting for equity, they’re fighting for ‘defund the police,’ ” she said. “Well, let’s fight for the equity piece, first.”

Policing in Oakland could look dramatically different if officials implement the ideas on the task force’s draft list of recommendations. They include: a hiring freeze, eliminating the Internal Affairs Division, replacing the police who investigate domestic violence calls with civilian clinicians, shifting traffic enforcement over to the Department of Transportation, and transferring the 911 dispatch over to the Fire Department or city administrator.

While the idea of cutting police funding gained traction after the widely televised reactions to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, it’s now complicated by a surge in homicides in Oakland, particularly in the flatland neighborhoods below Interstate 580. In polls and at public meetings, residents of these largely Black and Latino areas have demanded fairer and more consistent policing.

Task force members who represent these areas say the rest of the group isn’t listening. The task force is tense by nature, with 17 appointees hailing from all parts of the city, and several advisory boards that add dozens more participants. Meetings tend to be chaotic, as the group’s hired facilitators struggle to keep the project on track.

“The five of us gathered because we were frustrated that ... at a time when the violence, and specifically the homicide in East Oakland was increasing, there appeared to be an unwillingness to have a conversation about it,” said Jones, a co-author of the letter who lives in East Oakland’s Allendale district.

Jones, 46, embodies all sides of the current policing debate. A community activist who spent years incarcerated, he remembers being roughed up by an Oakland police officer at 12 years old, while playing baseball with friends outside their apartment complex at 92nd Avenue and Holly Street. The officer slammed Jones against a wall and muttered a racial slur.

But Jones is also a single father raising two of his three children in the Allendale, where police choppers hover overhead on a near daily basis, cars routinely turn donuts at the intersection of 38th Avenue and Brookdale, and gunfire crackles through the night. Jones said he worries whenever his 18-year-old son leaves the house, and not because he fears a deadly encounter with the police.

The letter proposes six new “guiding principles” for the task force, which was initially scheduled to deliver recommendations to City Council in December, a deadline that was later extended to April. The group’s principles would likely go up for a vote of the entire task force at the next scheduled meeting in late December.

Aside from advocating for a detailed evaluation of any plan that purports to replace traditional police officers, the set of principles also calls for a cost analysis. If the plan saves money, that savings should be directed toward public safety before it’s invested in any other type of service, the letter says.

City Councilman Loren Taylor, who cochairs the task force and whose district is in East Oakland, said he supports the ideas of the letter, even if they conflict with the original mandate to strip half the police budget.

If the task force adopts the new principles and uses them to invent a new, more just form of law enforcement that doesn’t substantially cut funding from the police, “in my mind, that’s a success,” Taylor said.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan

“More lives will be lost if police are removed without an alternative response being put in place that is ... as good as or better than the current system.”

Letter from five members of the Oakland task force

Oakland records 100th murder in 2020, highest total in eight years

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 16:08:04 GMT

Oakland reached a grim milestone Monday night, one that hasn't been seen since 2012.

As KCBS Radio reporter Holly Quan tells us, the city recorded its 100th murder at a time when police say nightly gunfire is out of control.

Oakland POA: City Hits Grim Milestone With 100th Murder In 2020

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 17:18:33 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — The Oakland Police Officers Association on Tuesday said that the city tallied its 100th murder victim in a single year for the first time since 2012, despite concerted efforts by police to stem the rising tide of street violence.

The Oakland Police Officers Association released a statement regarding the grim milestone that, according to FBI crime reporting, that the city “suffered murder #100 for the year” after one person was killed and two others wounded Monday evening in an East Oakland shooting.

In a separate incident early Monday, an 8-year-old boy watching television at a relative’s East Oakland apartment was wounded in the leg by a stray bullet.

The OPOA announcement noted that 2012 was the last year Oakland surpassed 100 murders and stated that 2020 “has seen a 63% increase year-over-year in shootings and murders in Oakland.”

The police officers union later clarified to KPIX 5 that Oakland was currently at 100 murders and 107 homicides total.

The Oakland POA announcement called out the city’s elected officials for not doing enough to stop the increase in street violence.

President of the Oakland Police Officers Association Barry Donelan said city leadership needs to step up.

“Get engaged. Be collaborative on a crime plan. Support the officers, support members of the community, the victims in our society that we’re out here trying to help everyday instead of sitting behind your Zoom computer,” said Donelan.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf released a statement of her own in response.

“Every life lost is a tragedy that rocks our community with grief. Our community worked too hard to cut gun violence in half and we cannot backslide towards the trauma of that era ever again,” Schaaf’s statement read. “We are doubling down with our violence prevention teams and with our law enforcement partners to save every precious life in Oakland and end the violence.”

District 5 city councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents Fruitvale, says he is worried about the rise in violence, about complacency and about 100 murders a year feeling normal again.

“I see more people involved in more stupid things that I haven’t seen in many, many years,” Gallo told KPIX 5 during a Zoom interview. He also said there is a fine needle to thread with neighbors and businesses about police presence that even he runs into.

“My small businesses complain about what’s going on on the street, but then I ask the police to come walk and be on their motorcycle and then within an hour, they’re complaining to me again saying, ‘Why did you bring the police? Because they’re scaring away all the customers,'” explained Gallo.

Oakland police officials have said the department is striving to reduce violence in the city, including through the “OPD CARES” initiative that has increased the number of officers patrolling on foot, in cars and on dual-purpose motorcycles and bicycles to bolster safety.

“The traumatic impact violence is having on our community is sort of a double whammy,” Interim Oakland Police Chief Susan Mannheimer said in early October when addressing the rise in violence. “It is the same community that is experiencing the highest levels in crimes of violence and gunfire as are being hit so hard with the COVID-19 disease and pandemic.”

Some Oakland residents have suggested cabin fever due to the pandemic is getting the best of some of their young neighbors.

“Everybody had to stay inside and then when they come out, they’re overanxious,” explained Oakland’s Brenda Delavallade.

Mannheimer said some prison inmates who were released early because of COVID-19 are back in the neighborhood without the appropriate resources to help them re-settle. Also, gang rivalries are rekindling, she said.

“We have seen an uptick in the ongoing feud between groups and gangs around territory,” she said.

Police said they are also working with federal agencies including the FBI to try to reduce the violence.

Andria Borba contributed to this story.

The Bloodshed Continues on Oakland Streets with Oakland’s 100th Murder of 2020.

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 20:58:02 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

December 8, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Bloodshed Continues on Oakland Streets with Oakland’s 100th Murder of 2020.

OAKLAND – Last night Oakland suffered (UCR ) murder #100 for the year:

#100 - On Monday December 7th at about 8:49 PM, Oakland Police Officers responded to a shooting in the intersection of Enos Ave and MacArthur Blvd. Officers located two victims on scene, and one was deceased. A third victim self-transported to hospital.

Oakland’s 100th murder capped a week that saw an eight-year-old shot and suspects attempting to murder two California Highway Patrol Officers. 2012 was that last year Oakland surpassed 100 murders. This year has seen a 63% increase year-over-year in shootings and murders in Oakland. Despite the terrible toll of violence, there is silence from city hall.

“Oakland’s elected officials are ignoring the tidal wave of bloodshed, murder, and violence that their citizens and the police officers are experiencing daily,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Oakland Police Officers are working hard to stem the bloodshed, fight crime and serve our community, all amid a pandemic. Oakland Police Officers have taken over 900 guns off the street and responded to over 500 shootings this year alone.

“Oakland Police Officers are dedicated public servants, working hard, with little support, to address the out-of-control gun violence in our city” Donelan said.

Click for Crime Statistics Click for Gunfire Summary OPD Recovered Firearms

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One dead in triple East Oakland shooting & Police union lambasts city council for ignoring the violence

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 20:48:53 GMT

OAKLAND — In the wake of the city’s 100th murder Monday night, the police union on Tuesday accused the City Council of “ignoring the tidal wave of bloodshed, murder and violence” that citizens and police officers “are experiencing daily.”

The statement was released by Sgt. Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, who also referred to statistics that show a 63 percent increase in the city over last year in murders and non-fatal shootings.

“Despite the toll of violence, there is silence from city hall,” Donelan said.

Monday night’s shooting in East Oakland claimed the life of a 26-year-old Stockton man and left another man and a woman wounded.

With the killing, Oakland police have now investigated 107 homicides this year of which 100 are classified as murders, authorities said. The last time Oakland recorded 100 murders or more was in 2012 when 125 of the city’s 131 homicides were classified as murders. For all of 2019, Oakland had 78 homicides of which 75 were considered murders.

The name of the man killed has not been released.

The man wounded is a 22-year-old Stockton resident who was in the same vehicle as the man killed, authorities said. He is in critical condition at a hospital.

The woman wounded is a 19-year-old Vacaville resident, authorities said. She got her own transportation to a hospital where she is in stable condition. Police have not yet said how she was involved in the shooting.

The shooting happened about 7:49 p.m. Monday in the area of Green Acre Road and MacArthur Boulevard not far from Interstate 580. Community members initially flagged down officers at Enos Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard.

Officers found the two wounded Stockton men inside a vehicle that had been riddled with bullets. The 26-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene and the other man was taken to a hospital.

Soon after, officers learned the woman victim had turned up at a hospital in a different vehicle.

Police have not yet said why the three shot were in Oakland or what the motive is for the shooting. They have also not yet said if the woman knew the two men.

No arrests have been announced.

Streets in the area, including an on-ramp to I-580, were shut down while officers canvassed the area and technicians recovered evidence.

Arrests made in shooting at CHP officers in Oakland

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 18:17:14 GMT

Two suspected gang members were arrested in Hayward

OAKLAND — Two reputed Hayward gang members have been arrested on suspicion of shooting at two California Highway Patrol officers Tuesday morning in East Oakland, police said Wednesday.

The men, both in their 20s, were arrested Tuesday night at the Hayward home of one of the suspects. Police declined to release their names pending a review of the case by the district attorney’s office.

In a statement Wednesday, interim Oakland Police Chief Susan Manheimer said, “These officers and our community were put in great peril, and we appreciate the important information we received from our community which led to the arrest of these two extremely dangerous individuals. We are thankful that no one was injured and greatly appreciate the hard work and dedication of the men and women who risk their lives to keep our community safe.”

Chief Chris Costigan of the CHP’s Golden Gate Division said the agency was “pleased to hear” about the arrests. “We are extremely grateful for our professional relationships with the Oakland Police Department, the Hayward Police Department, and all our law enforcement agency partners,” he said. “It is through teamwork and collaboration such as this that we are able to routinely solve crimes, apprehend criminals and keep our communities safe.”

Police said they recovered a semi-automatic pistol believed to have been used in the shooting.

The shooting happened at about 1:40 a.m. Tuesday after two uniformed CHP officers saw a Mercedes sedan speeding on eastbound Interstate 580, in excess of 100 mph at times. It later turned out the car had been stolen in Hayward on Sunday but the officers did not know that at the time.

The officers pursued the Mercedes off the freeway at 98th Avenue.

One of the occupants began shooting at the officers from the vehicle in the area of 98th Avenue and Lawlor Street. The officers and their vehicle were not hit by the gunfire and the officers did not return fire.

The Mercedes crashed in the area of the 8500 block of Thermal Street and the two men fled on foot from the vehicle.

The suspects were able to evade an extensive search by air and ground officers and were eventually able to make it back to Hayward.

Investigators developed evidence that led them to the home. With the assistance of Hayward police and its SWAT team, the suspects were arrested at about 10:40 p.m. Tuesday. They were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and are being held without bail.

California rolls out new app to alert you of potential COVID-19 exposure

Mon, 07 Dec 2020 18:07:24 GMT

By MAGGIE ANGST | mangst@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: December 7, 2020 at 9:32 a.m. | UPDATED: December 7, 2020 at 9:55 a.m.

As California’s latest coronavirus surge spreads at a record-setting pace, state officials on Monday unveiled a new cell phone app aimed at helping Californians track their exposure to the virus.

Starting Thursday, Californians will be able to opt into the new app — dubbed CA Notify — and receive notifications on their cell phones informing them if they have been in close proximity to someone who has tested positive for the virus.

California joins more than a dozen states, including New York, Michigan and Washington, to launch exposure notification apps in recent months.

“Throughout this pandemic, we have tapped California’s talent pool to fight this virus and that includes working with tech innovators like Apple and Google,” Newsom said in a news release. “… The process is private, anonymous and secure, and is one of the many tools in the state’s data-driven approach to help reduce the spread.”

The tool, which uses Bluetooth technology to exchange random codes between phones, was developed in partnership with Google and Apple and piloted on the campuses of the University of California, San Diego and the University of California, San Francisco. State officials vow that the tool protects users’ data privacy and does not reveal a user’s identity or location.

If a person tests positive for COVID-19, the California Department of Public Health will send a text with a verification code that the person will then need to plug into the CA Notify app. Once the code is entered, it will trigger an alert through the CA Notify app to the phones of people who may have been within 6 feet of that individual for 15 minutes or more in the past 14 days.

State officials say the new app will help curb the alarming rate of spread of COVID-19 across California by giving residents more timely information about exposure in order to make more responsible decisions around quarantine and testing.

“Every day that is saved in alerting others of a possible exposure is a day that a possibly infectious person can begin self-quarantine and reduce the spread,” California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said in a news release. “This technology is another way for Californians to take proactive steps to keep themselves, their loved ones and their communities safe.”

Cases and hospitalizations have spiked at an alarming rate in California since the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. For the first time, the state is averaging 20,000 cases per day over the past week, a rate five times higher than at the start of November. More Californians are hospitalized with COVID-19 than ever before, numbering nearly 10,000, as of Saturday, with more than 2,200 in the ICU, according to the latest data from the state.

As of Monday, the rate of tests coming back with positive results over the past seven days is average 10.7% — more than double the positivity rate seen just one month ago.

In order to receive notifications, Californians must download the CA Notify app from the Google Play Store and allow notifications of the app through the phone settings.

Gun crime in East Bay cities has police and officials seeking to keep perpetrators off the streets

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 20:18:06 GMT

Law enforcement officers throughout the East Bay are furiously trying to deal with a shocking rise in gun crimes and a revolving door in the judicial system that releases people arrested in possession of deadly weapons back to the streets.

“This has been building up for some time, but now it has become a real problem,” Oakland Interim Police Chief Susan Manheimer said.

“We’ve recovered over 1,100 guns so far this year, a 38% increase over last year,” she added. “Homicides are up 86% since the COVID shutdown in March and ShotSpotter reports are up 80%. All major cities are seeing this,” she said of the crime landscape across the country.

“It’s off the hook,” Hayward Police Chief Toney Chaplin said.

Hayward has had 10 homicides so far this year, twice the number in 2019.

“And we are seizing guns at the rate of 21 a month since the COVID shutdown began,” Chaplin added.

Manheimer said she, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, the District Attorney’s Office, the Alameda County Probation Department and some judges have been meeting to try come up with a way to hold violent and gun-related offenders more accountable.

“We had a four-hour meeting with one of the judges the other day, where we showed them how we tracked back 15 violent offenders who were released and then committed another violent crime,” Manheimer said.

“One of the cases we brought forward was an individual arrested twice in July and then again in August, and got out on zero bail for the automatic gun possession,” she said. “We knew he was such a risk we started following him and viewed him commit two shootings. He is now in custody.”

Zero cash bail was an emergency policy the state Judicial Council put into effect in April that eliminated cash bail on a number of low-level crimes. The goal was to reduce jail populations to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

The zero-bail order was repealed in June, but Alameda County is among many continuing the practice.

“The key issue is that gun crime is spiking on the streets of Oakland, and when we arrest individuals with assault weapons, that can actually fall under the zero-cash-bail program in Alameda County, and they’re being let back out,” Manheimer said.

“Even in cases where the bail is $500,000, under the current system you can pay that down through a bail bondsman ... and you can be back out on the streets for less than 10% of bail for very significant crimes,” she said. “We want to have those arrested with fully automatic assault rifles held accountable and in custody.”

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley appears to be on board as well.

“The D.A.’s office has been part of the working group since its start, and we have led efforts to exempt illegal possession of firearms, especially possession of assault weapons, from the zero-bail formula. This change is clearly crucial to public safety,” O’Malley said.

Meanwhile, gun use has become increasingly common in crimes.

One of the most talked-about examples of the challenge police face is the swarm of armed people who attempted to break into a marijuana operation in a residential section of 92nd Avenue in East Oakland on election night.

The ensuing melee left one suspect dead and three Oakland police officers injured. Nine firearms were recovered at the scene.

Twenty people were arrested on charges ranging from minor, such as obstructing law enforcement, to more serious, like carrying a concealed weapon and assault with a deadly weapon.

According to information correlated by the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, a federal, state and local public safety program that assists law enforcement agencies, all 20 of the men and women arrested were free within 48 hours.

“So everybody is pretty much out and back on the streets,” Alameda County Sheriff’s spokesman Ray Kelly said.

The 92nd Avenue incident was just one in a string of armed election-night swarmings during which 20 to 50 carloads of people hit big-box stores, pharmacies and marijuana dispensaries from San Lorenzo to Richmond.

And while most of the arrests on the night of the caravans were for nonviolent offenses, police say that when 50 to 100 people swarm into a parking lot, things can turn deadly, so they can’t just charge in to break things up.

“A lot of these individuals are armed and hopped up, so you can wind up creating an even more dangerous situation,” Kelly said.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KGO-TV morning and evening news and can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call 415-777-8815, or email pmatier@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @philmatier

'It's a tragedy': Oakland crime spikes amid pandemic with worst homicide rate in 7 years

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 03:50:40 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Like major cities across the country, Oakland has seen a major uptick in crime in the past six months, especially when it comes to homicides.

"Every funeral home's got youngsters in it," said Todd Walker, a longtime Oakland community activist, coach and funeral director. He's seeing a crisis, especially among young people, within a pandemic.

Oakland poll finds people feel unsafe, want to defund police, but still want plenty of officers

Wed, 11 Nov 2020 23:37:42 GMT

Phil Matier

Despite a growing loss of confidence in law enforcement and apparent support for defunding police, a majority of Oakland voters still want the number of officers to stay the same or even increase — support that includes 70% of the city’s African American voters, according to a recent poll commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce.

And while 33% of the African Americans surveyed said their trust in police had decreased in the past year, 54% of respondents said their opinion of police had stayed the same while 11% said their trust in police had increased.

By comparison, 48% of Latino voters said they had lost trust in the police and 38% wanted the police force reduced. However, 45% of Latino voters wanted the police force to stay the same or grow.

“I can’t say that I’m surprised by the results,” said East Oakland Councilman Loren Taylor, co-chair of the city’s Reimagining Public Safety task force. “People don’t feel safe, and right now — if there is trouble, the only options for people are 911 or the police.”

The questions were part of the Chamber of Commerce’s annual Pulse of the City poll of voters. The poll was conducted Oct. 18-21 by the research firm FM3 and has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

The Oakland Police Officers’ Association Thank Residents for Voting YES on Measure S1 And Ask the Police Commission What is the Plan to Fight Violent Crime

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 18:22:38 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

November 9, 2020

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association: (510) 834-9670 or policeofficers@opoa.org

Full-Page Ad in Tuesday’s EAST BAY TIMES Attached

The Oakland Police Officers’ Association Thank Residents for Voting YES on Measure S1 And Ask the Police Commission What is the Plan to Fight Violent Crime

Oakland crime statistics released today show a 56% increase year-over-year in shootings and murders in Oakland.

Oakland – After a week that included 6 more murders, 4 Oakland Police Officers injured (3 hospitalized) by armed robbers, Oakland Police Officers are asking the City’s Police Commission what is the plan to fight violent crime?

The Oakland Police Officers Association in a full-page ad running in tomorrow’s EAST BAY TIMES newspaper, thanked Oakland residents for supporting Measure S1, strengthening the City’s Police Commission and asked the Police Commission for a plan to address out of control violent crime.

“The increase in violent crime in Oakland is alarming. Now that Measure S1 has passed, Oakland’s Police Commission should stop the bickering and give us a plan to fight Oakland’s violent crime.” said Sergeant Barry Donelan, President of Oakland Police Officers Association. He continued “92 murders are unacceptable. We need a plan to stop the bloodshed.”

The full-page ad says, “Thank you Oakland residents for joining with your Police Officers to pass measure S1.” S1 passed with 81% of the vote. The ad details the increased violence. Then the ad says verbatim “Now that measure S1 has passed, help us by asking Oakland’s Police Commission to stop the bickering and give us a plan to fight Oakland’s ESCALATING VIOLENT CRIME.” A phone number and emails for the Police Commission are included. A phone number and emails for the Police Commission are included.

So far in 2020 there have been 92 (UCR ) murders in Oakland compared to 75 for all of 2019.

Click Here to View the Ad

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Clyburn: 'Defund the police' slogan hurt Democratic candidates

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 18:06:48 GMT

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Sunday that the "defund the police" slogan hurt Democratic candidates in the recent election.

Clyburn told NBC News's "Meet the Press" that he didn't know if the slogan "cost all the seats" Democrats lost but noted he "really believes that's what cost" Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.) his seat to Rep.-elect Nancy Mace (R-S.C.).

The majority whip also attributed Democrat Jaime Harrison's loss to the phrase, saying "that stuff hurt" him in his race against Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

"That's why I spoke out against it a long time ago," Clyburn said. "I've always said that these headlines can kill a political effort."

Oakland sees major increase in deadly shootings this year

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 04:03:40 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – As 2020 comes to a close, the City of Oakland finds itself on track for a major increase in deadly shootings.

On Monday, the union that represents Oakland police is calling on the police commission and City Council to come up with a plan to put a stop to it.

It was a violent weekend in Oakland, including three deadly shootings within a 24-hour period.

“We not only had three murders in a span of 12-hours but just this week we had a total of 6-murders and a further 11 shootings right across the city. So we are seeing a significant escalation in violent crime in Oakland,” Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan said.

In Oakland, Councilman Larry Reid found out the presidential race wasn’t the only excitement

Mon, 09 Nov 2020 17:32:54 GMT

For outgoing Oakland City Councilmember Larry Reid, election night 2020 began quietly enough, as he and others gathered at a storefront at Durant Square to follow the returns on his daughter Treva Reid’s run to replace him — then he looked out the window.

“It was just crazy,” Reid said. “About a hundred cars came pouring into the parking lot, and all these young people are just all over the place.”

Their target was a cannabis store that Reid had seen get hit in May during the looting that followed the George Floyd demonstrations.

This time, however, there were no demonstrations to otherwise occupy the police, and within minutes squad cars arrived. In the ensuing mayhem, most of the would-be looters jumped back into their cars and took off. Others stashed their loot under a pair of cars and ran, leaving the cars behind to be impounded by the police.

Oakland Police Chief Candidates Offer Vision For Regaining Trust In Community

Fri, 06 Nov 2020 19:08:39 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — The City of Oakland is moved forward Thursday night with selecting a new police chief. It comes at the same time the current interim chief is warning about caravans of opportunistic thieves breaking into businesses across the East Bay.

The Oakland Police Commission asked questions of the four Oakland Police Chief candidates for two hours on Thursday night in virtual town hall. The goal was to allow the public to hear from the candidates and weigh in on the decision to select the next chief, which falls to the police commission and Mayor Libby Schaaf.

A collision in Oakland: Move to defund police meets a homicide...

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 22:12:49 GMT

Violence takes toll

Support for Oakland’s pledge to cut police budget in half dwindles as homicides surge

The pastor knew this scene too well: A body on the asphalt. Lines of yellow tape. Children pointing at police choppers, low overhead. Jose Rojas sighed wearily. “I pray for this city every day,” he said.

It was the afternoon of Oct. 14, and the pastor recognized the slain man as 19-year-old Jorge Martinez, his former Sunday school student. The teenager and a few other young men had started fighting on 84th Avenue near Birch Street, a pocket of East Oakland where kids zip around on bicycles and neighbors lean over picket fences. One man whipped out a gun and began shooting.

After the Accident: ‘I Don’t Have Words to Say Thank You’

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 14:21:54 GMT

Meet retired Oakland Police Officer Kevin Murphy who is profiled by Kaiser Permanente publication Look insideKP Northern California for his recovery from a devastating car accident. Kevin demonstrates the strength, determination and a will to succeed that is embedded in every member of Oakland's Finest.

Judge Proposes Deal to Get More Help for Oakland During Protests

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 14:08:59 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A federal judge offered to tweak an injunction against the Oakland Police Department Tuesday after the city’s policing partners refused to provide aid during protests unless restrictions on tear gas and rubber bullets were lifted.

“On one hand I insist when you do policing, you do it with certain constitutional norms,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero said during a virtual court hearing Tuesday. “On the other hand, I can’t be blind to the fact that mutual aid partners are saying no.”

Three months ago, Spero issued a preliminary injunction barring Oakland police from using rubber bullets and limiting the use of tear gas and flash-bang grenades to only when necessary to protect people or property after verbal warnings are given and when other techniques have failed to eliminate the threat.

The injunction also requires Oakland to abide by its 2013 crowd control policy, which requires it to brief mutual aid partners on what weapons are banned by city policy, such as rubber bullets, and to ensure law enforcement partners agree not to use less-lethal weapons unless authorized by the Oakland police commander in charge.

After the injunction was issued, Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern and other local police agencies said they would no longer send officers to help Oakland during protests because the injunction limited their ability to protect officers and do their job.

Earlier this month, Oakland asked Spero to alter the injunction, arguing the city could not ensure public safety during large-scale protests without assistance from the sheriff’s office and neighboring police departments.

On Tuesday, Spero said the mutual aid partners’ refusal to provide aid confused him because his injunction only applies to the city of Oakland. Outside law enforcement agencies would face no consequences for using weapons or tactics banned by the court, but Spero could penalize Oakland for not informing those partners of the need to abide by Oakland’s policies and command structure during protests.

The stance taken by mutual aid partners “smacks of politics,” Spero said, but it also puts him “in a pickle” as he tries to find a way to ensure Oakland can get essential aid during protests while protecting demonstrators’ First Amendment rights.

Attorneys for the Anti-Police Terror Project and protesters who sued the city in June say Oakland has a duty to ensure its partners provide support, even if that means suing the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and neighboring police departments for failing to provide mutual aid as required by state law.

Spero bristled at that suggestion, saying he cannot order Oakland to litigate its rights against parties not before him.

“Can you envision the order,” Spero asked. “Go sue the governor or go sue the sheriff because they haven’t provided assistance.”

Civil rights lawyer Dan Siegel urged the judge not to bow to pressure by the sheriff’s office to weaken an injunction aimed at preventing the kind of excessive force his clients say they were subjected to during protests in May and June.

“The sheriff, by attempting to put pressure on the city of Oakland, is essentially putting pressure on you to alter your views on what must be done to protect the public and require policing in a constitutional manner,” Siegel said.

David Pereda of the Oakland City Attorney’s Office argued that although Oakland has chosen to ban certain tactics and weapons like rubber bullets, that doesn’t mean other police departments are violating the law by using them.

“We can’t assume these other agencies’ policies or tools are unconstitutional,” Pereda said.

Spero considered letting mutual aid partners bring banned weapons, such as rubber bullets, to Oakland protests with the understanding that they could only use them for self-defense.

“I’m not so worried about them bringing them into the field as I am about them using them,” Spero said.

The judge proposed letting Oakland replace part of his injunction that requires it to ensure mutual aid partners do not use rubber bullets and other banned tactics “except in exigent circumstances” with merely abiding by Oakland’s existing policy, which bans the use of certain weapons and tactics “if possible.”

Spero said Oakland would need to document its efforts to obtain mutual aid partners under the stricter language of the injunction and demonstrate why it needs to switch to a looser standard to obtain adequate personnel to protect public safety.

The judge gave the city and plaintiffs until 5 p.m. Wednesday to reach an agreement on language for a modified injunction, saying he will issue his own order on Thursday if no agreement is reached. Both parties asked the judge to resolve the dispute in time for Oakland to prepare for potential demonstrations on election night, Nov. 3.

Judge Spero issued an amended injunction Wednesday after both sides told him they could not agree on language for a modification. The amended injunction makes clear that officers can still use “reasonable or necessary force as allowed by law” in self defense or defense of another person.

It also allows OPD to obtain mutual aid partners pursuant to the terms of its 2013 crowd control policy if it cannot get enough mutual aid officers under the stricter terms of the court’s injunction. The chief must file a report within two days after a protest to justify the need for obtaining mutual aid under the looser standard.

Civil rights lawyers also asked Spero to fine the city $100,000 for violating the injunction during protests in August and September, and to ban the city from using smoke grenades.

Earlier this month, protesters claimed police fired smoke grenades directly into crowds without warning, hitting at least one protester in the head, and crowded demonstrators into tight spaces without routes of escape in violation of the court order. They also claim officers were not wearing face masks as required by the injunction.

Spero took the arguments under submission.

Alameda County District Attorney Calls on Oakland Police Officers to Do Her Job Too

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 17:06:18 GMT

In Phil Matier's column in today's San Francisco Chronicle about the continued unabated violence in Oakland. The Alameda District Attorney responded to the fact that Oakland Police Officers arrest suspects for violent crime and "....[they] back out in less than a day,” by calling on Oakland Police Officers to do the District Attorney's job and seek higher bail keeping suspects in jail.

The District Attorney says:

“The D.A.’s office advocates for law enforcement to reach out to a duty judge at time of arrest to set bail on these gun possession cases or gun violence cases,”

She wants Oakland Police Officers to do her job too? Hardworking Oakland Police Officers are struggling to protect our residents as violent crime in Oakland sky rockets. Police officers are arresting suspects for violent crime.

How about the District Attorney keep these violent offenders in jail! The District Attorney can end zero bail for violent crime, charge suspects who are responsible for gun violence, and then actually prosecute them. That’s the District Attorney’s job!

Oakland police working to “bring safety to our neighborhoods”

Sat, 24 Oct 2020 04:20:42 GMT

OAKLAND — Efforts to stem the spike in violence and return safety and calm to besieged neighborhoods will continue unabated, police officials said Friday as they announced arrests in several killings and displayed firearms they called “weapons of war” that have been seized in connection with those cases.

Interim Chief of Police Susan Manheimer called the increase “unprecedented” and vowed to “bring safety to our neighborhoods.” Speaking to the media at police headquarters in front of a table holding 16 firearms, Manheimer said the arrests and gun seizures were part of the “incredible efforts” the department is making. She told the community, “You are not alone. We will stand with you.”

Oakland killings rise 36%; surge in gangs’ heavy guns

Sun, 18 Oct 2020 00:47:30 GMT

Pandemic cutbacks slow success of special police unit

By Megan Cassidy and Rachel Swan

Santos Gomez Lopez peered over her tall picket fence, taking in a grim but familiar scene. Police cars were parked haphazardly outside her house in East Oakland, where a triple shooting occurred hours earlier. A body was lying on the sun-baked asphalt, covered in yellow tarp.

Officers had secured a perimeter along the 1900 block of 84th Avenue, hanging caution tape to deter onlookers, who came anyway. Word spread quickly after one man died in a spray of bullets shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday. Another died of his wounds later in the hospital, while a third was injured.

Deafening Silence from City Hall as Oakland Murders in 2020 Surpass Total Number of Murders for Each of the Past Three Years.

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 18:12:05 GMT

Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

October 5, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Deafening Silence from City Hall as Oakland Murders in 2020 Surpass Total Number of Murders for Each of the Past Three Years.

OAKLAND – Over the weekend Oakland suffered (UCR ) murder #75 for the year:

#75 - On Friday October 2nd at about 11:22 PM, Oakland Police Officers responded to a report of gunshots in the 2100 block of MacArthur Blvd. Upon arrival, officers located a male adult with a gunshot wound to the head, he was pronounced at the scene.

Oakland reported 75 murders for all of 2019. Oakland now has more homicides than each of the last three years. Crime statistics show a 45% increase year-over-year in shootings and murders in Oakland. There were 15 murders in September alone. This level of violent crime with almost three months left in 2020 puts Oakland on pace for a potential decade high number of annual murders. But there has been little response from city leaders.

“A dramatic increase in violent crime has been met with deafening silence from City Hall. Many of Oakland’s elected officials are ignoring the tidal wave of bloodshed, murder, and violence that their citizens and the police officers are experiencing daily,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Oakland’s leaders have sat on their hands while violent crime soars. By contrast, Oakland Police Officers are hard at work trying to stem the bloodshed, fight crime and serve our community, all amid a pandemic. In doing their part, Oakland Police Officers have taken over 700 guns off the street and responded to over 300 shootings this year. Oakland’s unappreciated officers are also making progress in solving many of the avalanche of recent murders. Here is a snapshot of the progress on some recent homicide cases:

#74 - Possible Suspect Identified.

#72 - Suspect Charged.

#71 - Possible Suspect Identified.

#68 - Possible Suspect Identified.

#67 - Suspect Charged.

#65 - Possible Suspect Identified.

#64 - Suspect Charged.

#62 - Suspect Charged.

#61 - Suspect Charged.

#60 - Suspect Charged.

#59 - Charged, Weapon Recovered.

#57 - No Suspects Identified (Spilled over from Illegal Street Party in #56)

#56 - No Suspects Identified. Ballistics shows 15 guns used.

#55 - Suspect Charged, Weapon Recovered.

#54 - Suspect Charged.

#53 - Suspect Arrested, Weapon Recovered.

Oakland Police Officers are working hard to protect our city despite the challenging environment. Donelan and the OPOA’s wrote a letter to city leaders last week demanding action to address the violence (letter attached). But to date, the response has been silence.

“City leaders should stand with Oakland’s hardworking police officers and address the violence afflicting Oakland residents. Oakland’s leaders need to do their jobs as Oakland’s Police Officers are bravely doing theirs everyday” Donelan said.

Latest Crime Stats

Letter to Council Members and Police Commissioners

###

Teen gunned down in East Oakland is latest loss for team, community

Mon, 05 Oct 2020 20:51:28 GMT

The coach was at home, settling in to watch a movie, when he grabbed for his buzzing phone. A text message appeared: Aaron Pryor, a star running back for Skyline High School, had been shot dead 100 yards from his home in East Oakland.

Joe Bates, head coach of the Titans, had been here before. In 2017, his assistant coach was shot and killed in San Francisco after he confronted two men who were harassing his female friends. Months later, a wide receiver was gunned down during an argument in West Oakland.

Bates grew up in the flatlands of East Oakland. He knew all too well the grim ritual of caution tape, candlelight vigils, thoughts and prayers.

Pandemic partly blamed for return of steep rise in Oakland killings

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 15:39:15 GMT

OAKLAND — With three months still to go in 2020, Oakland has already seen more homicides than in each of the previous three years, an alarming trend police and community advocates are attributing in part to the coronavirus pandemic.

The shooting deaths of a 17-year-old boy and 29-year-old man this past week raised the total number of confirmed homicides to at least 79 so far this year, 15 in September alone, according to a count by this news organization. The count reflects all killings by another person, including those that police categorize differently as “justified,” “accidental” or “by negligence.”

Oakland saw 75 homicides in 2018 and 76 in 2017.

Oakland Police Officers Demand Action from City Council & Police Commission as Murders, Violence Spike in New Crime Stats.

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 20:24:17 GMT

September 28, 2020 Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Phone: (510) 834-9670

Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

Oakland Police Officers

Demand Action from City Council & Police Commission as Murders, Violence Spike

in New Crime Stats.

Two Killed, Two Wounded in East Oakland while Downtown Rioters Physically Attack OPD Officers

16-Year-Old Boy Gunned to Death in Broad Daylight

OAKLAND – In a blistering letter, the Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) demanded immediate actions from Oakland City Council and Police Commission, saying they are allowing violence and murders to spin out of control in Oakland and have failed to call for an end to violence.

The letter was sent in advance of a rare joint session of the Council and Commission at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 29 (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86487030367). The meeting coincides with the release today of new crime statistics that demonstrate the substantial increase in violent crime.

New crime statistics show a 42% increase year-over-year in shootings and murders in Oakland. So far in 2020 there have been 71 (UCR) murders in Oakland compared to 53 at the same time in 2019. Oakland crime statistics year-to-date are attached along with a summary of reports of gunfire.

“The City Council and Police Commission sit safely at home viewing the world through Zoom, but the reality of Oakland streets is marked by blood, murder, and violence. That is what the citizens and the police are experiencing,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

He pointed to the failure of the City to replace officers who have left or retired as well as city policies prohibiting police from stopping suspects on probation or parole.

Donelan and the OPOA’s letter to the City was highly critical of Council and Commission members who didn’t speak out against protesters that violently attacked police Friday night Sept. 25 while two people were shot to death and two others wounded by gun violence.

“We can’t be helping murder and violence victims at the same time we are being attacked in downtown Oakland by activists with bottles cans and dangerous objects,” he said. “Where is the leadership in Oakland to denounce this violence against community members and the cops?”

“We expect leadership from Oakland officials, but to date there has been nothing but silence. Silence is complicity,” he added.

Donelan said Oakland is a very dangerous point as inmates from jails and prisons have been released due to COVID-19 and they are adding to the already violent and dangerous situation.

“The City’s leaders must stand up and decry the violence. They must be willing to join the police officers and address the overwhelming violence in our community. That is their job and they must take responsibility for it,” Donelan said.

Donelan laid out three steps the City Council and Police Commission can take now to address the violence and work with the Oakland Police Department. The OPOA letter demands:

1. The Council and Commission call for a halt to the violence on the streets against residents and police officers alike.

2. The Alameda County District Attorney charge those arrested from perpetrating violence in our community.

3. Review the City’s and Commission’s own policies to assess the real impacts on violence and address the police department’s continued attrition of officers through transfer to other cities and retirement.

Donelan urged the Council and Commissioners “to leave the comfort of your computers and home offices. Please join Oakland Police Officers, shoulder to shoulder, on the streets of Oakland as we responded to violent crime and the devastation it creates in our community.”

Click for Link to Letter to Council and Commission

Click For Link to Crime Stats

Click For Link to Gunfire Report

###

With anger at police high, officers face greater danger

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 15:47:40 GMT

CHICAGO — A man walks up to a squad car and opens fire on two sheriff’s deputies sitting inside. Two police officers are shot after responding to sounds of gunfire during a protest.

The shootings — one in Los Angeles and the other 2000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away in Louisville, Kentucky, less than two weeks later — are stark reminders of the dangers law enforcement officers face at a time when anger toward them in the wake of police killings of Black Americans, such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, has boiled over.

Police say 'autonomous zone' blocked emergency response to brutal assault; citizens’ group disagrees

Mon, 21 Sep 2020 17:07:11 GMT

Minneapolis (KSTP) -- 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS obtained surveillance video that captures the owner of a small business on Chicago Avenue being assaulted in the heart of a four-block area often referred to as an “autonomous zone” near George Floyd Square.

The barricaded zone is a one-block radius from the intersection of Chicago Avenue South and East 38th Street, flanked on the north and south by 37th and 39th streets and on the east and west by Elliot and Columbus avenues.

PORAC Responds to Shooting of Two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputies

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 16:28:54 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Chris Steele

September 15, 2020 Communications Manager

(916) 928-3777

media@porac.org

PORAC Responds to Shooting of Two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputies

Both officers were shot at a Metro station in Compton Saturday evening

SACRAMENTO, CA — The political climate surrounding law enforcement has taken a

disturbing turn as two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputies were nearly

assassinated by a lone gunman Saturday night at a local Metro station, adding to the litany of

ambushes of police officers in 2020.

Surveillance video taken from the Metro station shows the man approaching the passenger

side door and firing several times from close approximately of the officers. The suspect then

ran off on foot.

One deputy, a 31-year-old female, was shot in the jaw and arms and is in stable condition.

The other deputy, a 24-year-old male, was shot in the forehead, arm and hand and is described

as alert. Neither of their names have been released to the public but both were sworn in just

14 months ago.

Thus far, 37 officers have been reported feloniously killed in 2020, seven more than at this

time last year.

The attack on these two deputies has left us disappointed and dismayed. It was a cowardly

attack on officials just doing their jobs, protecting their community.

What’s even more disgusting was the small crowd that congregated outside St. Francis

Medical Center in Lynwood, who chanted anti-law enforcement slogans and death to the

Deputies, as both deputies were being treated.

PORAC wishes these two wounded heroes a speedy recovery. PORAC stands with every

California Peace Officer to assure the public that our nation’s law enforcement professionals

are working hard to protect our communities while building respect and trust.

PORAC staunchly condemns the continued attacks and attempts on the lives of police officers

nationwide. We are calling for an end to the war on cops. There is currently a $100,000 reward offer for any information leading to the gunman’s arrest. Contact Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators with your tips at 323-890-5500.

###

Oakland City Council task force aims to cut police department's budget 'to invest in community'

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 03:16:28 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- An Oakland City Council task force is considering cutting the police department budget in half after their first meeting on Wednesday.

The total budget of the department is $300 million which means that 44 percent of Oakland's general fund is spent on policing.

2 Los Angeles County deputies are out of surgery after ambush shooting in Compton

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 01:42:11 GMT

The two Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies who were shot and critically injured Saturday night are out of surgery, according to a LASD spokesperson.

"It looks like they're going to be able to recover," Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Sunday afternoon.

"We'll see what the long-term impact is. We don't know that yet, but they survived the worst," Villanueva said during a community dialogue event.

The deputies, one male and one female, were "ambushed" as they sat in their vehicle, police said.

Oakland Police Officers’ Association Recommends a YES Vote on Measure S1 to Strengthen Oakland’s Police Commission

Wed, 09 Sep 2020 17:58:53 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 8, 2020

Contact: Oakland Police Officers Association: (510) 834-9670 or policeofficers@opoa.org

Link to Full-Page Ad in Wednesday’s EAST BAY TIMES Below

Oakland Police Officers’ Association Recommends a YES Vote

on Measure S1 to Strengthen Oakland’s Police Commission

Oakland – Inviting Oakland residents to work in collaboration with its police officers to

decrease violent crime in Oakland, the Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA)

released today an advanced copy of its full-page ad running in tomorrow’s EAST BAY

TIMES newspaper in support of Measure S1 to strengthen the City’s Police Commission.

“In order for Oakland’s police to provide the highest level of service to the community, we

need to become ‘active participants’ in the conversation,” said Sergeant Barry Donelan,

President of OPOA. “We believe supporting the Police Commission measure is a good first

step toward rebuilding public trust and confidence with the community we serve.”

The full-page ad begins with a headline that says “Oakland Residents You Are Being

Heard,” and goes on to list how much violent crime has increased thus far in 2020. “OUR

COMMUNITY desperately needs MEANINGFUL DIALOGUE about how to effectively

deal with the rising violence in Oakland,” the ad states.

The ad says verbatim ‘YOUR POLICE need to do more than talk about change. We need to

embrace it.’

“It’s time for Oakland’s police, its leaders and the community to work together to create

positive change,” Donelan said. “We are, in essence, inviting Oakland to make us

‘community partners’ and true partners compromise for the good of everyone involved.

That’s what OPOA is hoping to achieve by supporting this measure,” Donelan added.

Measure S1 in Oakland’s General Election was placed on the ballot by the Oakland City

Council and strengthens the independence of the Oakland Police Commission by modifying

the powers, duties and staffing of the Oakland Police Commission and the Community Police

Review Agency.

Here is a link to the ad in the EAST BAY TIMES:

https://files.constantcontact.com/bcccf957101/a250f037-e3d0-414a-94c9-56139af78002.pdf

###

Demonstrations in Oakland 'differentiating themselves,' police chief says as some protest peacefully, others cause harm

Fri, 04 Sep 2020 17:19:44 GMT

"What happens after dark, frankly, is another matter," she said.

St. Louis couple tells of terrifying encounter with intruder who killed police officer

Mon, 31 Aug 2020 18:24:12 GMT

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) — A St. Louis couple say they are surprised they’re alive after they ran away from the gunman who had invaded their home. Minutes later, the man fatally shot a police officer.

Steve and Mimi Haag described the episode that led up to Saturday evening’s attack on Officer Tamarris L. Bohannon, 29, who was responding to their 911 call in the Tower Park Heights neighborhood of south St. Louis.

No mutual aid by Bay Area law enforcement agencies during Oakland protest

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 19:13:17 GMT

Oakland police officers were on their own during Wednesday night’s protest.

A federal order played a key role in why law neighboring police agencies did not back up OPD on this one.

There was no mutual aid by Bay Area law enforcement agencies in Oakland when the vandalism started during the Jacob Blake shooting protest.

California Law Enforcement Unites to Call for a Collaborative, Holistic Approach to Public Safety Legislation

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 23:35:01 GMT

For Immediate Release: August 25, 2020

Contact:

Ian Anderson

(818) 268-6488

ianderson@fionahuttonassoc.com

California Law Enforcement Unites to Call for a Collaborative, Holistic Approach to Public Safety Legislation

SB 731 and SB 776 Need More Time to be Vetted, Researched and Amended to Ensure the Best Outcome for Californians

Sacramento, CA – Today, the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), California Police Chiefs Association (Cal Chiefs) and California Association of Highway Patrolmen (CAHP) have come together to voice concerns about SB 731 (Bradford) and SB 776 (Skinner). Together, these organizations represent the voices of more than 80,000 officers and more than 930 public safety associations throughout the state.

California law enforcement remains committed to delivering proactive, meaningful reforms to the practice of community policing that will help restore trust in law enforcement, improve public safety outcomes and place officers in a better position to serve our communities. We proactively put forward our recommendations in comprehensive reports, including the PORAC Policy Platform and Cal Chief’s Platform: CA Leading the Way.

Eager to capitalize on the energy of this moment and the incredible media scrutiny of law enforcement to deliver a “win” for their constituents, many of our state’s legislators rapidly introduced more than two dozen bills in these last few months of a truncated legislative session. All of which were aimed at fundamentally changing the practice of law enforcement in California. Many of those bills are poised to become law, and California’s law enforcement community looks forward to working together with our elected leaders to ensure those new laws are implemented effectively, including:

AB 1506 (McCarty): Will require the Attorney General to investigate all officer involved shootings resulting in the death of unarmed individuals.

AB 846 (Irwin/Burke): Requires refining the inclusion of implicit and explicit bias into peace officer psychological evaluations.

AB 1196 (Gipson): Bans the use of the carotid restraint.

Recognizing that public safety laws are incredibly complex and merit far greater attention than the legislature can possibly devote before session ends, many bill authors responsibly decided to hold back their legislation to allow greater time for vetting, research and analysis.

Of the remaining bills seeking to change the practice of law enforcement, our organizations agree in principle with what SB 731 and SB 776 are seeking to accomplish. Unfortunately, these two proposed bills were crafted virtually overnight and in silos – and would have unknown impacts to public safety, some of which could place both officers and members of the public in real danger. With only a few short days left in this legislative session, time is running out to ensure we fully understand how these bills will impact the safety of our families, communities and officers. Californians deserve better than this rushed and haphazard approach to an issue so fundamental to our daily lives as public safety. We continue to offer to work with each bill author to find a solution that will achieve the best outcome for all Californians. Until then, PORAC, Cal Chiefs and CAHP urge our elected leaders to oppose these bills as written.

Our organizations respectfully submit the following concerns about SB 731 and SB 776 from California’s men and women in law enforcement:

SB 731 (Bradford):

Removes qualified immunity protection for all public employees and employers – a legal protection afforded to all public servants that is designed to protect the innocent, all but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law. Because of its far-reaching and unknown impacts, city and county governments have also voiced opposition to this proposal.

Establishes a new oversight commission of members whose qualifications are inherently based on negative encounters with peace officers — vesting the Board with complete investigatory authority to overturn local agency and District Attorney recommendations and discipline.

“We absolutely support changing the licensing protocol and establishing a process to ensure we have only the best working as officers,” said Cal Chiefs President Eric Nuñez. “However, if we expect our peace officers to continually place themselves in harm’s way to protect our families and communities, they must operate with the peace of mind that as long as they are reasonably acting within the law, they will not be penalized for performing their duties.”

SB 776 (Skinner):

Includes extremely vague and overly broad language that will cost millions – requires the release of thousands and thousands of files, even for the most minor events without complaints, creates new financial penalties for cities up to $1,000 per day and requires the retention of files for 30 years.

Would require the public disclosure of non-sustained complaints against officers – publicly shaming and potentially ruining an innocent officer’s life.

“Peace officers should not have to defend themselves with the public, or with their family and friends, if the investigation has already shown that they did their jobs correctly,” said CAHP President Rick LaBeske. “People are innocent until proven guilty in this country, and that includes peace officers. We would ask that only sustained complaints be released.”

“We completely understand and share the desire of our elected officials to improve community policing practices to better serve our communities, but there is still much work that needs to be done,” said PORAC President Brian Marvel. “As our state legislators move these bills through the legislative process, and as the ongoing dialogue about public safety reform continues, our overarching message to them is simple – tell us what you want from law enforcement, and then let’s work together to find common ground that keeps our communities and peace officers safe. We’re here to serve you.”

###

New Oakland Police Initiative Takes on Rising Violence in City

Sat, 15 Aug 2020 03:17:25 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Oakland Police kicked off an initiative to stem the rising violence in the city Friday afternoon that focuses on community policing, police officials said.

OPD Cares Kicked off at 3 p.m. at 8500 International Blvd. Police encouraged members of the community to join in. Part of the initiative involved officers on foot and bicycle patrol, in patrol cars and on motorcycles to provide safety. The department uses its mobile command center as a resource center, serving neighborhoods, with officers handing out masks.

Oakland Interim Police Chief Susan Manheimer visits scene of weekend homicide as killings spike

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 17:41:41 GMT

The chief visited with the mother of a recent East Oakland homicide victim and vowed to crack down on violent crime and increase resources. Manheimer and several members of her command staff walked the Holly Street neighborhood where a man was found shot to death inside a crashed car early Sunday morning. A bullet hole, which narrowly missed a window, was still visible in the side of a home. There have been five homicides in the city since Aug. 6.

Supporting law enforcement nothing to apologize for

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 14:09:13 GMT

There is never an inappropriate time to support law enforcement. The Boston Bruins apparently need a refresher on this concept as we’ve seen their resolve weaken on a couple of notable occasions this summer.

Email to Oakland officials after damage done during protests draws interesting response

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 04:10:02 GMT

Oakland - After the front window of his restaurant was smashed during last month’s demonstrations, Oakland restaurateur Chris Pastena shot off an email to the entire Oakland City Council.

The responses? Mixed.

Oakland victim’s family: Slain ‘Lil Jeff’ mattered

Sun, 02 Aug 2020 23:04:35 GMT

OAKLAND — There were no marchers, no chanting, no raised fists on the quiet West Oakland street. Just the sound of a mother’s voice on the verge of tears.

“When one of our young Black men or Black women are killed, it should affect the community. This continues to happen in our community over and over. Black lives matter. All lives matter. Jeffery Chambers’ life mattered,” his mother, Dorothy Grant, told the few assembled reporters.

Demonstrators Clash Over Protest Methods; Oakland Mayor Warns Trump Is Stoking Violence

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 14:48:08 GMT

Portland Police Union Head Slams City Officials: They 'Have Condoned the Destruction and Chaos."

Wed, 22 Jul 2020 14:40:39 GMT

Oakland Mayor Schaaf casts tie-breaking vote to reject OPD cuts

Wed, 22 Jul 2020 14:25:45 GMT

OAKLAND — Saying that “Oakland must create a new system of public safety and justice based on real numbers that do not mislead the public,” Mayor Libby Schaaf cast the tie-breaking vote Tuesday night to defeat a budget plan to slash funding from the Oakland Police Department.

Oakland City Council looks to make further cuts to police department budget

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 18:01:53 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – After cutting $14-million from the Oakland Police Department’s budget for the fiscal year that runs through next June, Oakland’s City Council will now look at cutting even more at its meeting on Tuesday.

But police officers are putting on a full court press to prevent that.

3 Homicides in Less Than 48 Hours as Oakland City Council Weighs Police Cuts

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 17:49:33 GMT

Three people died in three homicides in Oakland in less than 48 hours, police said Monday.

A man was fatally stabbed Friday morning in the 1500 block of Ninth Street. Friday night a female employee shot to death a male employee in the 500 block of Julie Ann Way. The shooting was reported at 10:36 p.m.

Saturday night a man died in a shooting that was reported at 10:21 p.m. at School Street and Pleitner Avenue near Curt Flood Field.

Oakland Police Officers Concerned at Violent Crime Increase: New Statistics Show a 22% increase in Shootings and Murders

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 18:06:06 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oakland Police Officers Concerned at Violent Crime Increase: New Statistics Show a

22% increase in Shootings and Murders

Three New Murders This Weekend in 36 Hours

OAKLAND – Oakland Police Officers see impact on public safety after another bloody weekend on our City’s streets. This weekend saw three (3) murders in 36 hours along with half dozen shootings.

New crime numbers released this morning show a 22% increase year-over-year in shootings and murders in Oakland. So far in 2020 there have been 257 shootings and murders in Oakland - that works out as more than one person shot per day.

“Oakland Police Officers are striving to deal with a significant upsurge in violent crime. As the Oakland City Council weighs further cuts to public safety, they should look away from the safety of their zoom meeting computer screens, get out on the streets with our citizens, and take account of the bloodshed going on and the impact of violence on residents and businesses. Our City’s most vulnerable communities are impacted,” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.

Donelan noted there is a reduction in some property crimes due to shelter in place but, said violent crime is surging, according to the new statistics.

###

Rest in Peace Representative John Lewis

Sun, 19 Jul 2020 00:32:40 GMT

The women and men of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association are saddened to hear of the passing of Representative John Lewis, civil rights icon, hero and legend. Standing up to racial injustice his entire life while reminding us all about the power of peaceful, nonviolent protests. May he Rest In Peace.

Chief Best discusses defunding while City Council deliberates plans to defund Seattle PD

Fri, 17 Jul 2020 02:17:21 GMT

SEATTLE - Today the Seattle City Council held its first hearing on how to cut the police department budget by 50 percent - it's a move Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best insists will 'decimate' public safety and community safety.

Oakland police warn of murder surge. Critics see the politics of fear

Tue, 14 Jul 2020 17:41:26 GMT

With pressure intensifying to slash Oakland’s police budget in half, the department released a startling message early this month that seemed to complicate the debate.

More defunding of Oakland police would hurt most vulnerable

Sun, 12 Jul 2020 22:23:30 GMT

OAKLAND - Layoffs a decade ago caused a significant increase in crime. In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, a “Defund the Oakland Police Department” campaign started again.

NYPD retirements have nearly doubled last year's rate

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 19:37:44 GMT

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Seven On Your Side Investigates found NYPD officers are retiring at close to double the rate they were at the same time last year. The police union says some officers are tired of trying to sort out mixed messages and are looking elsewhere.

Oakland Police See Spike in Homicides

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 19:09:19 GMT

Oakland, CA — The City has seen a recent spike in homicides, between June

24 to July 2nd, seven lives have been lost to violence.

The Oakland Police Department asks our community to join us as we voice a

call to action to “Put the guns down”. As a community, we must come together

to reduce violence and improve safety.

On July 2, 2020, at 4:58 PM , officers responded to a report of a shooting in

the area of 72nd Avenue and International Boulevard. When officers arrived

on scene they located an adult male suffering from gunshot wounds, the victim

was pronounced deceased at the scene.

On July 1, 2020, at 7:34 PM , officers responded to the 2500 block of

Embarcadero on a report of a shooting. When officers arrived on scene they

located an adult male suffering from gunshot wounds. The victim was

pronounced deceased at a local hospital.

On July 1, 2020, at 12:11 AM , officers responded to the 2500 block of

International Boulevard on an alert from a ShotSpotter activation, regarding

gunshots. When officers arrived on scene they located an adult male suffering

from gunshot wounds. The victim was pronounced deceased on scene.

On June 29, 2020, at 2:54AM , officers responded to the 7700 block of Krause

Avenue on a report of a stabbing. When officers arrived on scene they located

an adult male suffering from fatal stab wounds. The victim was pronounced

deceased on scene.

On June 28, 2020, at 2:08 PM , officers were dispatched to the 1200 block of

42nd Avenue to investigate a report of a fire. OPD officers and the Oakland

Fire Department located several burned tents. Officers located a deceased

female inside one of the burnt tents. On July 1, 2020, the Oakland Police

Department’s Homicide Unit deemed this investigation a homicide.

On June 28, 2020, at 1:19 AM , officers responded to the 3500 block of

Dimond Avenue on a report of a shooting. When officers arrived on scene they

located an adult male suffering from gunshot wounds. The victim was

pronounced deceased on scene.

On June 24, 2020, at about 2:05AM , officers were dispatched to the 9100

block of E St regarding a shooting. When officers arrived on scene they

located an adult male suffering from gunshot wounds. The victim was

pronounced deceased on scene.

The Department is seeing a sustained level of inner group and renewed

conflicts with gangs and groups, generating gunfire not only at each other but

also shootings at residential homes and cars.

The Oakland Police Department Ceasefire Team, the Department of Violence

Prevention and Community Partners continue to work towards reducing gun

violence and improving public safety.

We ask our community to partner with the Department and the City to reduce

violence by helping to provide information: “If you know something, say

something.” If you were a witness or have information regarding a crime,

you can remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers of Oakland TIP

LINE (510) 777-8572.

The Oakland Police Department’s Homicide Section (510) 238-3821.

We encourage our community to opt into our camera registry program

https://www.oaklandca.gov/services/register-your-security-

camera?_ga=2.97709471.1425431140.1580770016-296443967.1572396264

Get involved in a community lead group, together we can all make a

difference.

*ShotSpotter is an advanced system of sensors, algorithms and artificial

intelligence that detects, locates and alerts police to gunshots in real time.

Once the analyst confirms the sound was gunfire, police are notified.

For more information, please contact the Media Relations Office at (510) 238-

7230 or opdmedia@oaklandca.gov or Visit Nixle.com to receive Oakland

Police Department alerts, advisories and community messages, or follow OPD

on Twitter, @oaklandpoliceca.

# # #

Stray Bullet from Celebratory Gunfire Lands In Oakland Teen’s Bedroom

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 17:25:24 GMT

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) — It’s not unusual for the Garcia family to hear celebratory gunfire and illegal fireworks on a daily basis at their Oakland home. But this past week, the disturbance came dangerously close.

When 14-year-old Aisha Garcia woke up Friday morning, she found pieces of the ceiling on her bedroom floor.

Oakland police on protests: 137 arson fires, more than 200 businesses looted, vandalized

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 16:27:32 GMT

Oakland police deployed smoke, gas and non-lethal munitions over four straight days of demonstrations that broke out following the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, interim Police Chief Susan Manheimer wrote in a letter to the community late Wednesday.

Joint Statement from Law Enforcement Unions on the Death of George Floyd

Thu, 28 May 2020 04:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 28, 2020

Joint Statement from Law Enforcement Unions on the Death of George Floyd

Joint Statement of San Francisco POA,

San Jose POA, and the Oakland POA

San Francisco (CA) The Board of Directors of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, San Jose Police Officers' Association, and the Oakland Police Officers' Association issued the following statement regarding the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota:

“What we saw on that video was inconsistent and contrary to everything we have been taught, not just as an academy recruit or a police officer, but as human beings. Reverence for life in every incident a police officer encounters must be the floor and not the ceiling. We cannot see any law enforcement or self-defense rationale for what occurred. We are equally disturbed by not seeing any of the other officers on scene intervene to prevent this tragedy. What’s depicted in that video is not who we are as law enforcement professionals. We actively train and seek training, to safely manage similar situations we encounter to ensure safe resolutions. On the very same day of Mr. Floyd’s death, there were literally millions of encounters and interactions with public safety professionals throughout our country that were peaceful, respectful, and problem-solving oriented. We will not let the failures shown in this incident tarnish the hard work and sacrifice of those officers who get it right on a daily basis. Our deepest sympathies go out to Mr. Floyd’s family, their pain and grief must b e unbearable.”

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OPOA / OPD 2020 Memorial

Tue, 26 May 2020 04:00:00 GMT

Despite the Coronavirus the OPOA / OPD Memorial took place with social distancing in mind. View the video below.

Produced and edited by Bryan Hubbard

Filmed by John Kabasakalis at kabacam.com

Music Credits:

Layers Expanding Time by Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka.

Amazing Grace by Joey and Rory Inspired.

‘A Debacle’; Former Oakland Police Chief Blasts Police Commission Over Proposal For Stricter Powers

Sun, 10 May 2020 04:00:00 GMT

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) — Two Oakland city councilmembers are proposing giving full control of the Police Department to the city’s police commission, and are facing pushback from the mayor, the police union and the fired former police chief.

Oakland Police Officers Express Disgust at Council President Rebecca Kaplan Using the COVID-19 Pandemic to Facilitate a Political Power Grab.

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 02:17:32 GMT

Today Oakland residents’ shelter in place. Sadly, some Oakland citizens and Police Officers are battling COVID-19 infections. Two Oakland Police Officers are recovering from serious injuries sustained in a gun battle with a kidnapping and attempted murder suspect. And, every Oakland Police Officer risks their health as they do their part to keep Oakland safe during this pandemic. Meanwhile, Oakland’s City Council President, safe in her home and behind a computer screen does a power grab for Oakland’s unelected and unaccountable Police Commission.

Even the Oakland Chamber of Commerce has taken the dramatic step of issuing a stark and immediate rebuke to Rebecca Kaplan for attempting to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic and ram through major policy changes with a complete lack of transparency. The men and women who work to keep Oakland safe applaud the Chamber of Commerce and join their efforts to urge an open and democratic approach to police oversight.

Oakland Police Officers President Barry Donelan stated. “With Oakland’s first responders straining to serve a City on lockdown, President Kaplan is using the cover of a pandemic to ram through huge structural change with no transparency, debate or scrutiny. Kaplan’s behavior is disgraceful and has nothing to do with addressing the immediate needs of Oakland’s working families, the unemployed or those who are food insecure. This is just a political power grab by Kaplan taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis for political opportunism.”

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Hundreds Gather At Illegal Oakland Sideshows In Violation Of Shelter-In-Place Order; 3 Arrested

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 04:00:00 GMT

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Hundreds of young people gathered on two East Oakland street corners Sunday evening, cheering on illegal sideshows and violating the shelter-in-place order, according to dozens of social media posts and videos.

Editorial: Who’s monitoring the monitor of Oakland police?

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 04:00:00 GMT

The firing of Oakland Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick has raised legitimate questions about the efficacy of the oversight on the department. Was the commission justified in forcing her ouster without a stated cause? And, perhaps even more pointedly, has the department’s longtime federal monitor, Robert Warshaw, been operating with a level of fairness and transparency that the people of Oakland deserve?

Oakland police chief’s firing was months in the making

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 18:23:52 GMT

The reasons for Oakland Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick’s shocking dismissal became clearer Friday, as the head of the city’s Police Commission said she and colleagues determined the chief was withholding information from the oversight authority and failing to increase compliance with federally mandated court reforms.

Council must stop using police as political targets

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 03:44:47 GMT

By Barry Donelan

On Monday, Oakland police alumna Danielle Outlaw began her new job as Philadelphia police commissioner. She takes over America’s fourth largest police force, with over 6,500 cops. But Outlaw’s law enforcement career started here, serving the citizens of Oakland for almost two decades.

Outlaw was not the only recent Oakland police success story. Last month, Capt. Sekou Millington left to become police chief in Tracy. And, among rank-and-file officers, Freddy Williams received a prestigious Jefferson Award for public service. Williams not only serves on the streets of Oakland, but he volunteers mentoring children of incarcerated parents.

These stories epitomize the dedication and professionalism of the women and men serving as Oakland police officers. But these successes stand in contrast to the portrayal of Oakland’s finest by some members of the City Council.

Police officers are on the front lines dealing with Oakland’s rising crime, an opioid epidemic that has officers administering Narcan for overdoses in the field, and a homeless crisis that everyone talks about, but Oakland police officers are dispatched to.

Twenty years ago, when I graduated from the Oakland Police Academy, the force was 739 strong; today that number is 729. Crime rose in 2019, but Oakland, for the first time in five years, ended the year with fewer officers than it started.

After Oakland’s 75th homicide of 2019, at Starbucks in Montclair, the local council member’s reaction was to declare that she had no interest in politicizing the death of her constituents. But Council member Sheng Thao’s parochial response was to call for the police to remain in one police area and not respond to residents in other areas of the city calling for help.

Oakland elected officials side with vocal anti-police factions to blame police officers for every ill. Yet they ignore the impacts of their own policy decisions.

Oakland police officers led the way in implementing solutions to Oakland’s long-term financial retiree health liabilities. Our decisions helped improve the city’s credit rating, saving the city hundreds of millions of dollars. The council responded by providing retroactive tax cuts to multimillion- dollar marijuana operations.

As officers struggled with surging crime, this council’s response was a policy, opposed by the Police Department, to protect convicted criminals from the police. When officers are ordered to conduct sideshow enforcement operations, this council criticizes the cost and bemoans the impacts of car stops on individuals who do not live in Oakland but come to our city and put lives at risk.

Oakland police officers are hardworking, committed public servants. They are serving in an understaffed police department that is struggling with crime. Nevertheless, outside of Oakland, we are lauded for our professionalism and innovation.

Oakland police officers outpace other law enforcement agencies in implementing advanced constitutional policing policies and set a national standard in advancing police reforms and accountability. Although we continue to learn from missteps, unlike the Oakland City Council, we own our mistakes and strive to improve.

Oakland’s council members should stop blaming police and consider working with them. Council members should consider listening to the police officers who respond to our residents’ calls for help. Only by working together can we address the public safety problems of our city.

Barry Donelan is a sergeant with the Oakland Police Department and president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association.

Oakland Police Union Blasts Recommendation To Fire Officers In Fatal Shooting

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 18:12:21 GMT

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The union that represents Oakland police officers issued a statement on Thursday criticizing the Oakland Police Commission’s recommendation that five officers involved in the fatal shooting last year of a homeless man with mental issues be fired.

New Oakland Police Officer Works With Program He Went Through To Help Kids In Need

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

This week's Jefferson Award winner's childhood experience with a long time Bay Area nonprofit has inspired him to help others in his community, both as a police officer and a volunteer peer counselor.

Oakland Police Officers To Deliver Christmas Cheer To Families In Need

Tue, 24 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Oakland Police officers gathered early Tuesday to spread Christmas cheer, as they prepare to distribute meals and gifts to families in need

Could Oakland look to cruise ships to house the homeless?

Sun, 22 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

An Oakland City Council member’s plan to house up to 1,000 homeless people on a cruise ship in the bay could actually set sail. City Council president Rebecca Kaplan suggested the idea at a committee meeting last Thursday, and by Tuesday’s City Council meeting, a company had already expressed interest in providing its ships, she said.

Oakland Police Officers Oppose Cuts in City Services so Council can Provide Tax Breaks for Cannabis Industry

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

December 9, 2019

The Honorable Rebecca Kaplan

President Oakland City Council

Dear Council President Kaplan,

I am writing to you as President of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) to advise you that Oakland’s Police Officers oppose the City Council’s plan to provide tax breaks to the cannabis industry because its fiscally irresponsible.

Oakland Police Officers partnered with the City to address the financial crisis of underfunded employee benefits. Leading the calls for action was the Alameda County Grand Jury that raised the alarm on the imminent financial danger. The actions of your Police Officers tackled the problem, protected city services and ensured the City Council was able to unanimously pass a balanced budget. Now, you have abandoned that prudence and decided to use residents’ tax dollars to subside cannabis entrepreneurs. This is outrageous and irresponsible.

The City Council’s cannabis tax break plan harkens back to the Congress and President’s huge corporate tax cuts that ignored the plight of working Americans and fueled outrageous corporate profits. I am perplexed by the fact that a “progressive” Oakland City Council would cut services to Oakland residents and lay off City employees to provide tax cuts to already rich cannabis entrepreneurs. Moving forward, I would expect big tobacco and the likes of Uber to show up at Oakland City Hall seeking their subsides too.

Yours sincerely,

Barry Donelan

President

Oakland Police Officers’ Association

Cc: Mayor Libby Schaaf [via email]

Oakland City Council Members [via email]

Sabrina Landreth, Oakland City Administrator [via email]

President Joseph Bryant, SEIU Local 1021

President Michael Patterson, IEBW Local 1245 [via email]

OPOA Board of Directors [via email]

Oakland Officers Sue City After Firing Over Shooting Of Homeless Man

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 04:00:00 GMT

OAKLAND (KPIX 5) — Five Oakland police officers were given termination notices after a controversial 2018 officer-involved shooting that killed a homeless man. Now the officers are filing a civil lawsuit against the city and the Police Commission to get their jobs back.

Read More

Oakland Officers Sue City After Firing Over Shooting Of Homeless Man

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Oakland Police Officers Exonerated Yet Fired; File Lawsuit Demanding That Oakland Comply with City Charter.

Mon, 12 Aug 2019 04:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 12, 2019

Contacts: Oakland Police Officers’ Association: (510) 834-9670 or policeofficers@opoa.org

Rain Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver PC: (925) 609-1699 or ctichenor@rlslawyers.com

Oakland Police Officers Exonerated Yet Fired; File Lawsuit Demanding That Oakland Comply with City Charter.

OAKLAND – Five Oakland Police Officers have filed a lawsuit in Alameda Superior Court demanding that the City of Oakland and its Police Commission comply with the City’s Charter and Municipal Code. These five Police Officers – exonerated by six separate investigations into their conduct during a March 2018 officer involved shooting – have been notified that despite the unanimous investigatory conclusion that their use of force was lawful the City intends to terminate their employment.

The Oakland Police Commission’s own investigative arm, the Community Police Review Agency, the Oakland Police Department Internal Affairs Division, the Department’s Criminal Investigation Division, the Department’s Executive Force Review Board, the Chief of the Police and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office all reviewed and exonerated the use of force by Oakland Police Officers on an armed suspect in March 2018 – unanimously concluding that the Police Officers’ actions were reasonable and lawful. Yet, the Police Commission decided to ignore the facts and findings of all these investigative bodies and fired these exonerated Police Officers. The Police Commission’s actions are politically motivated untethered to the law or the facts. The Police Commission’s blind dash to condemn these brave public servants led it to violate the investigatory and disciplinary process as set forth in the City Charter and Municipal Code.

Attorney for the Police Officers Harry Stern, partner in the law firm Rain Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver, explained “The court action filed today is a demand for justice. The City of Oakland and its Police Commission abandoned their own rules to unjustly terminate these fine officers. These officers’ response to a citizen’s call for help regarding an armed suspect in a residential neighborhood was admirable, reasonable and lawful. Their actions have been fully investigated and unanimously exonerated after over a year of review. The Police Commission ignored the findings of multiple investigations, including their own, and in a blatant display of bias, trampled these officers’ rights by unjustly firing them for merely doing their duty. We are going to court to right this wrong.”

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan said “The petition filed in court speaks for itself. These officers were investigated, exonerated and then unjustly fired. It is disappointing that these officers have to go to court to force our employer to follow its own rules and do the right thing.”

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Oakland Police Officers Exonerated by Five Separate Investigations – Fired by Oakland’s Police Commission.

Thu, 18 Jul 2019 04:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 18, 2019

Contact: Oakland Police Officers’ Association: (510) 834-9670 or policeofficers@opoa.org

OAKLAND – The Oakland Police Commission’s own investigative arm, the Citizen Police Review Agency (CPRA), the Oakland Police Department Internal Affairs Division, the Police Department’s Executive Force Review Board, the Chief of the Police and the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office all reviewed and exonerated the use of force by Oakland Police Officers on an armed suspect on March 11, 2018. Yet, the Police Commission decided to ignore the facts and the findings of all these investigative bodies, including their own, by moving to fire these officers for protecting the residents from an armed suspect. Today, the Police Commission’s findings against the officers are being released to the public – but the City has so far refused to share those findings with the impacted officers.

After learning of the Police Commission’s inexplicable decision to fire these officers, and its decision to publicly release the purported basis for that decision without first informing the impacted officers, Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan said “This is outrageous. Five different reviews of this shooting, including by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and the Police Commission’s own investigative arm, exonerated the officers. These Police Officers responded to a citizen’s call for help concerning an armed suspect in their neighborhood. The officers tried to defuse the situation but the armed suspect engaged our officers putting their lives and the lives of our residents in danger. The Police Commission ignored these facts and a multitude of investigations to reach a predetermined and unjust outcome. The Commission’s decision is obviously born from a desperate politically-driven need to prosecute police officers regardless of the facts. Oakland Police Officers work hard for justice and equity in our community, but clearly receive neither from the City’s own Police Commission.”

Donelan continued, “Oakland Police Officers are America’s hardest working Police Officers. Despite this injustice, Oakland Police Officers continue to come to work every day committed to protecting our residents.”

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Oakland Police Officers Are Exonerated for the Third Time in Officer Involved Shooting but the Officers Still Remain on Leave.

Mon, 06 May 2019 04:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 6, 2019

Contact: Oakland Police Officers’ Association: (510) 834-9670 or policeofficers@opoa.org

OAKLAND – The Citizen Police Review Agency (CPRA), the investigative arm of Oakland’s Police Commission, conducted an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the officer involved shooting of an armed suspect on March 11, 2018. In its recently issued 49-page report, the CPRA found that as to each of the Officers that discharged their weapons, that “Force was used, but it was justified under the Fourth Amendment and OPD rules” and fully “exonerated” each of them. The CPRA’s investigative exoneration of the officers parallels the findings and conclusions of the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and the Oakland Police Department who also exonerated the officers after extensive independent investigations. Despite three independent investigations with no finding of fault, these exonerated officers remain off-duty on involuntary leave.

After learning that the officers were again exonerated, Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan said “These Police Officers responded to a citizen’s call for help about an armed suspect in their neighborhood. The officers tried to defuse the situation but the armed suspect engaged our officers putting their lives and the lives of our residents in danger. For over a year this incident has been the subject of public debate that resulted in the unfair criticism and ridicule of these Officers. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office exonerated the officers, the Oakland Police Department exonerated the officers and now the independent investigative arm of the Police Commission has exonerated the officers. While these officers who risked their lives, suffered the public abuse of critics, cooperated with multiple investigations, and have been completely vindicated, inexplicably they have not been returned to duty.”

Donelan continued, “Oakland Police Officers are America’s hardest working Police Officers. Hardworking Oakland Police Officers understand that they labor under more scrutiny by more entities and oversight than almost any other Police Department in America, but Oakland’s finest take pride in serving and protecting the residents of our City every day.”

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Alameda District Attorney Files Multiple Felony Charges against a Suspect with History of Violence Who Stabbed an Oakland Police Officer.

Mon, 29 Apr 2019 04:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 29, 2019

Contact: Oakland Police Officers’ Association: (510) 834-670 or policeofficers@opoa.org

Alameda District Attorney Files Multiple Felony Charges against a Suspect with History of Violence Who Stabbed an Oakland Police Officer.

OAKLAND – On April 25th after finishing his shift, and while walking to his car, an Oakland Police Officer was accosted and stabbed multiple times by an armed suspect. Our officer sustained serious wounds but thankfully due to the quick actions of responding Oakland Police Officers, who drove their injured colleague to Highland Hospital, and with the care and expertise of Highland’s medical staff, our brave member is on the road to recovery.

Thank you to the Oakland Police Officers assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division and the Alameda County District Attorney because today District Attorney Nancy O’Malley acknowledged the seriousness of the attack by charging the suspect with a multitude of felony crimes. The charges include:

Attempted Murder of a Police Officer – 187(a)/664 PC.

Using a Deadly Weapon in the Commission of a Crime – 12022(b)(1) PC.

Inflicting Great Bodily Injury – 12022.7(a) PC.

Committing a Crime While on Felony Probation – 1203(k) PC.

Vandalism (two counts) – 594(a) PC.

This violent suspect was no stranger to the criminal justice system and the fact that the suspect was roaming the street of Oakland is a cause for concern for both Oakland Police Officers and our residents.

After learning that the suspect was charged, Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan said “Our injured officer showed great courage in the face of a potentially deadly attack. Our responding officers and investigating officers demonstrated their professionalism and diligence in aiding their colleague, arresting the suspect, and ultimately presenting the case to the District Attorney for charging. I am satisfied that the District Attorney saw this assault for what it was, a cowardly unprovoked attack that severely injured a Police Officer. Assaulting Police Officers cannot be tolerated in civil society.”

Donelan continued, “This attack on an Oakland Police Officer marks a troubling and unacceptable national trend of increased attacks on Police Officers. Men and women join the law enforcement vocation to protect and serve, not to be targets for attack. The serious charges filed in this case will hopefully not only ensure justice is served but send a clear message to any would be attacker that assaulting Police Officers will not be tolerated and has harsh consequences. We wish our injured member a speedy recovery.”

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‘My heart still feels broken’: Oakland mourns four police officers slain 10 years ago

Thu, 21 Mar 2019 04:00:00 GMT

OAKLAND — A decade has passed since four Oakland police officers were gunned down in what was marked then as the biggest single-day loss of life for law enforcement since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, yet on Thursday the collective pain from that massacre was still fresh.

Oakland Police Officers Step up to save their City but, City Council President Rebecca Kaplan rebukes them.

Mon, 28 Jan 2019 05:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 28, 2019

Contact: Oakland Police Officers’ Association: (510) 834-9670 or policeofficers@opoa.org

Oakland Police Officers Step up to save their City but, City Council President Rebecca Kaplan rebukes them.

OAKLAND – Tuesday morning the Oakland City Council Finance Committee, will consider a plan to protect the City’s long-term financial health by addressing the City’s unfunded liabilities. Oakland’s unfunded liabilities have been a growing 860-million-dollar problem until help arrived in the form of Oakland’s Police Officers.

Given the urgency and size of the problem, Oakland Police Officers stepped up to restructure their labor contract, despite it being closed. Oakland’s finest provided fundamental structural change the City needed, and saved our City in excess of 300 million dollars. Not one Oakland Police Officer voted against this plan.

Unfortunately, the same is not true of the Oakland City Council. Council President Rebecca Kaplan voted against the plan, turning down in excess of 300-million-dollars in savings to the City and rejecting equity in benefits between Oakland Police Officers and other City Employees.

Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan stated, “Yet again Oakland cops stepped up big for our City. Many City leaders collaborated with us in this crucial endeavor. However, City Council President Rebecca Kaplan did not. She voted against our efforts to protect the City’s finances. It is apparent to us that Kaplan’s distaste of the Police trumps protecting the city’s financial health.” Donelan expounds on his point in a newspaper op-ed (see link below & the following pages).

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/01/25/opinion-police-stepped-up-to-help-oakland-avoid-fiscal-crisis/

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Police stepped up to help Oakland avoid fiscal crisis

GRAND JURY HAD WARNED OF FUTURE BANKRUPTCY AS UNFUNDED LIABILITY FOR RETIREE HEALTHCARE GREW TO $860 MILLION

Oakland city staff have warned for years of the financial cliff ahead due to mounting debt for underfunded employee retirement benefits, but city leaders have done very little about it.

These warnings were magnified in July by an Alameda County Grand Jury report that Oakland’s unfunded liability for retiree health care coverage had grown to $860 million. The alarming report criticized the city for not putting money aside to fund the benefits and allowing the annual cost to grow unchecked to $40 million per year.

The report concluded in stark terms: “The city must immediately develop a long-term, multifaceted plan to address (unfunded retiree healthcare benefits) or accept that municipal bankruptcy is an option in the future.”

After the report was published, city staff again in October warned the City Council’s Finance Committee of the fiscal danger if these unfunded liabilities were not addressed. Astonishingly, the warning was met by silence from council members.

Faced with a looming fiscal crisis, city staff asked Oakland’s police officers for help. Despite having a closed labor contract, but well aware of the urgency, Oakland police officers stepped up to tackle this crisis. The sheer size of the problem was not lost on us. The impacts on city services of doing nothing would be catastrophic.

A deal, including reductions in police officer benefits, totaling over $300 million, and concessions to the city was put to Oakland police officers. Of 750 officers, of all ranks, not one voted against these concessions. Instead, they banded together to help the city we love.

After voting to tackle this massive problem, Oakland police officers were dismayed to watch what happened next when the agreement was presented to the City Council. The city administrator, finance director and human resources director outlined how Oakland police officers had stepped up to help the city at a time of critical need. As each spoke, they were shouted at by people in the public gallery.

Scores of Oaklanders lined up during public comment to decry our plan and deride Oakland police officers. Leading the naysayers was Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, who ignored that officers had come to the city’s rescue. And a prospective City Council member, who has since been sworn in, took to social media to denounce our plan.

Oakland police officers not only respect people’s free-speech rights but have sworn to uphold them. Oakland’s finest are all too familiar with the anti-police rhetoric that comes out of City Hall. However, when Kaplan, the incoming City Council president, with many years on the council and who should know the state of the city’s finances, decries our efforts in a time of crisis, it makes every cop wonder what is to become of the city’s fiscal health.

Kaplan was the lone vote (among eight council members and 750 cops) to oppose our deal. She voted against an agreement to save the city more than $300 million, create equity in benefits between new police officers and every city employee and avoid financial Armageddon for the city of Oakland.

Her distaste of Oakland’s finest trumps protecting the city’s financial health. Her vote and her comments were met with cheers by the audience, but they left every Oakland police officer wondering about the commitment of Oakland’s elected officials to our city.

On Tuesday, the Oakland City Council Finance Committee revisits the unfunded liabilities issue. This time, it will be armed with a plan, structural change and a huge concession — all courtesy of Oakland’s police officers.

I suspect there will be speeches congratulating themselves on a job well done. Oakland cops, on the other hand, will be responding to emergency calls — all the while knowing who really saved the city.

Barry Donelan is a sergeant with the Oakland Police Department and president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association.

Police stepped up to help Oakland avoid fiscal crisis

cbateson@vcsinc.com (Chris Bateson) — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 05:00:00 GMT

Oakland city staff have warned for years of the financial cliff ahead due to mounting debt for underfunded employee retirement benefits, but city leaders have done very little about it.

Read More

Police stepped up to help Oakland avoid fiscal crisis

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 05:00:00 GMT

Police stepped up to help Oakland avoid fiscal crisis

GRAND JURY HAD WARNED OF FUTURE BANKRUPTCY AS UNFUNDED LIABILITY FOR RETIREE HEALTHCARE GREW TO $860 MILLION

Oakland city staff have warned for years of the financial cliff ahead due to mounting debt for underfunded employee retirement benefits, but city leaders have done very little about it.

Barry Donelan is a sergeant with the Oakland Police Department and president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association.

Oakland Police Officers Met with Silence From Oakland Council Member Sheng Thao After Asking her to Reconcile Her Recent Rhetoric on Crime with Her Year of Inaction on Crime.

Wed, 09 Jan 2019 05:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 9th, 2019

Contact: Oakland Police Officers’ Association: (510) 834-9670 or policeofficers@opoa.org

Oakland Police Officers Met with Silence From Oakland Council Member Sheng Thao After Asking her to Reconcile Her Recent Rhetoric on Crime with Her Year of Inaction on Crime.

OAKLAND – It took Oakland’s 75th murder of 2019, at the Montclair Village Starbucks on New Year’s Eve, for Oakland City Council Member Sheng Thao to finally address the rising crime rate in Oakland. Unfortunately, her recent rhetoric on crime is not matched by action on crime during her first year in office.

In response to Council Member Thao’s tough talk on crime over the past week, and in the run up to the Council Member’s town hall meeting on crime later today, the Oakland Police Officers’ Association wrote to her seeking to reconcile her statements on crime with her record on crime in 2019, her first year in office. The letter is attached. The letter was sent Monday, January 6, 2020 and the Council Member has yet to respond to the simple question posed by Oakland Police Officers.

As Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan explained, “During Council Member Thao’s first year in office she has presided over Oakland’s crime rate increasing in almost every category, while allowing the Oakland’s Police Officer numbers to shrink for the first time in five years. All we sought was an explanation. However, we have been met with silence from the Council Member and her staff.”

These crime statistics along with others are also available on the City of Oakland website:

https://www.oaklandca.gov/resources/oakland-crime-statistics

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Attack an Oakland Police Officer and You Will Go to Jail.

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 05:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 7, 2018

Contact: Oakland Police Officers’ Association: (510) 834-9670 or policeofficers@opoa.org

Attack an Oakland Police Officer and You Will Go to Jail.

OAKLAND – On July 23rd, 2018, amid Oakland’s grief and uproar at the savage murder of Nia Wilson on a BART Station Platform, community members took to the streets with a sense of shared loss and solidarity with Nia’s family. As thousands gathered in downtown Oakland to remember Nia and march, Oakland Police Officers were there too, to protect our residents and keep the peace.

However, not everyone present was there to remember Nia and march in her honor. Giovonni Gaines was allegedly there to carry out a premeditated attack on Oakland Police Officers. Gaines allegedly came to downtown Oakland, not with a candle of remembrance, but with improvised explosive devices. Ultimately, at least one of Gaines’ devices was detonated injuring uniformed Oakland Police Officers. While Gaines avoided arrest that evening, Oakland Police Officers were determined and relentless in their pursuit of this suspect ever since.

Last week, Oakland Police Officers and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Agents finally arrested Gaines. Gaines’ arrest was the result of a painstaking investigation. Members of the investigative team worked tirelessly to bring Gaines to justice, and their determination paid off with his arrest. Gaines faces both federal and state criminal charges.

In response to the arrest of Gaines, Oakland Police Officers’ Association President Barry Donelan said, “Coming to Oakland to perpetrate attacks on Oakland’s finest, will not be tolerated. Those contemplating such action should be put on notice that they can run from justice but ultimately will just go to jail tired.”

Donelan continued, “Thank you to the FBI for their assistance and very well done to each and every Oakland Police Officer who worked on this successful investigation. Their diligence and hard work makes everyone wearing the blue uniform proud.”

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PORAC Calls Lethal Force Legislation a Dangerous Rush to Judgement

Tue, 03 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Contact: Michele Cervone (916) 448-3444
mcervone@aaronread.com

Sacramento: PORAC has supported policies in the past to increase transparency and enhance community trust. However, Assembly Bill 931 deceptively pretends that creating a checklist of what constitutes necessary force instead of reasonable force is something more than irresponsible legislation. The end result is that the public will be placed at greater risk.

PORAC believes strongly that we must work collaboratively with legislators, stakeholders and members of the community to do everything possible to make the streets of California safer. We care deeply about our neighbors for whom we have taken a pledge to protect and serve and we believe the individual safety of every person with whom we come in contact is paramount.

The authors of AB 931 suggested that they wanted law enforcement input in the writing of their bill. Unfortunately, law enforcement was not invited to the discussion when the bill was drafted and we have learned about it only by watching their press conference.

Since we have not actually seen the complete language and can only go by what the authors explained is the content of their bill, we are concerned that this reactionary legislation will handcuff peace officers and their abilities to keep communities safe. Uses of force incidents occur quickly, and while we have always supported greater training and body cameras, this legislation takes a dangerous new step. The legislation will require officers in every rapidly advancing, extraordinarily dangerous situation to employ a checklist that ultimately places everyone at risk.

Regardless of our early concerns, we intend to engage in the process and meet with the authors and legislators to hopefully create policy that protects the public, respects the rights of every individual and provides an understanding of the dangers associated with enforcing our laws and protecting the public.

The Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) was incorporated in 1953 as a professional federation of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. Today, PORAC represents over 70,000 public safety members and over 930 associations, making it the largest law enforcement organization in California and the largest statewide association in the nation.
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County Employees Pension Rights Protected In Significant Appellate Court Victory

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Legacy members of the County retirement systems in Alameda, Contra Costa and Merced counties obtained a tremendous victory from California’s First Appellate District on Monday in a closely watched case challenging certain provisions of the Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (“PEPRA”). Rains Lucia Stern St. Phalle & Silver Partner Timothy Talbot successfully argued the case before the Court of Appeal on behalf of labor associations and employee members of the three County pension systems. The Court of Appeal’s decision in Alameda County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, et al. v. Alameda County Employees’ Retirement Association, et al. (2018) A141913 acknowledges the importance of promised pension benefits to legacy employees.

PEPRA imposed significant changes to public employee pension benefits. While most of the changes applied only to new employees hired on or after January 1, 2013, the three County retirement systems in the case claimed the changes also applied to legacy employees who were hired before PEPRA became operative. The PEPRA provisions at issue excluded certain items of compensation from being included in the calculation of a retiring employee’s pension benefit, including “on-call” or “standby” pay and “terminal pay.” “On call” or “standby” pay is compensation provided to employees who are required to remain ready to work at a moment’s notice. “Terminal pay” refers to the cash-out of an employee’s unused leave at the time of retirement.

Following the California Supreme Court’s 1997 decision in Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs Assn. v. Board of Retirement, a number of lawsuits were filed challenging the calculation of pension benefits. The parties, including the retirement systems, entered into court-approved settlement agreements that resolved the disputes as to what pay items were included or excluded from the calculation of pension benefits. Those settlement agreements generally included on-call pay, standby pay and terminal pay as items to be included in the calculation of pension benefits. The three pension systems determined the actuarial cost of including the pay items in the calculation of pension benefits and added the cost to the required employer and employee contributions. For more than a decade after entering into the settlement agreements, the retirement systems published information on how these pay items would enhance pension benefits and paid pension benefits to retirees based on the inclusion of the pay items.

When PEPRA was subsequently enacted, the three County retirement systems implemented PEPRA’s exclusion of these pay items for all members – including legacy employees who werepromised pension benefits based on the inclusion of the pay items identified in the settlement agreements. The Contra Costa Deputy Sheriffs’ Association (“CCCDSA”) filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the exclusion of these pay items from the calculation of pension benefits for legacy employees. The CCCDSA argued that legacy employees acquired a constitutionally protected right to pension benefits calculated on the inclusion of the pay items that were subsequently excluded by PEPRA. While the exclusions could be applied to new employees, PEPRA could not impair the pension benefits promised to legacy employees under the “California Rule” unless the impairment related to the material operation of a pension system and was accompanied by a comparable new advantage. Other public employee associations later filed suit in other jurisdictions. Cases filed in Alameda and Merced counties were consolidated into Contra Costa County Superior Court under the lawsuit initiated by CCCDSA.

The trial court ruled that the County pension systems could not include the disputed pay items in the calculation of pension benefits prior to PEPRA and therefore legacy employees never had a “vested” right to the inclusion of those pay items in the calculation of their pension benefits prior to PEPRA. According to the trial court, PEPRA did not “change” the law in this regard and did not impair a constitutionally protected pension benefit. The trial court ruled that the disputed pay items were lawfully excluded by the various retirement systems. The trial court also ruled that the inclusion of these items by way of settlement agreements between the retirement systems and various public employee associations were invalid, in that these agreements were contrary to the law.

The Court of Appeal overruled the trial court on various points and remanded the case for further proceedings. The Court of Appeal found that “on call” and “stand by” pay were lawfully included in pension calculations prior to PEPRA and that legacy employees acquired a vested constitutional right to pension benefits based on those pay items. The Court of Appeal also determined that PEPRA’s exclusion of those pay items impaired the vested benefit. However, because the trial court did not undertake the required vested rights analysis to determine if the impairment was reasonable, the Court of Appeal directed the trial court to conduct a systematic vested rights analysis with respect to on-call and standby pay and provided specific guidance on how to do so. In discussing what it considers to be the proper constitutional analysis, the Court of Appeal declined to follow the controversial appellate decision in Marin Assn. of Public Employees v. Marin County Employees Retirement Assn., which is pending review by the California Supreme Court. The Alameda Court of Appeal was critical of the Marin court’s failure to weigh the justification for the impairment against the actual disadvantage to legacy employees. According to the Alameda Court of Appeal, because no corresponding new advantages were provided to legacy employees, “the detrimental changes can only be justified by compelling evidence establishing that the required changes ‘bear a material relation to the theory…of a pension system,’ and its successful operation.” (Original emphasis.) The Alameda Court also stated that the analysis must focus on the impacts of the identified disadvantages on the specific legacy members. Mere speculation is insufficient.

With respect to “terminal pay,” the Court of Appeal agreed with the trial court that County retirement systems could not include “terminal pay” in the calculation of pension benefits prior to PEPRA. However, recognizing the moral significance of the promises made to legacy employees, the Alameda Court of Appeal held that all existing legacy employees who were promised the inclusion of terminal pay in the calculation of their pension benefits pursuant to court-approved settlement agreements had a valid “estoppel” claim for their continued inclusion. As the Alameda Court of Appeal stated: “all legacy members should be entitled to include terminal pay in compensation earnable to the limited extent such pay was designated as pensionable by their relevant Post-Ventura Settlement Agreement.” “[T]he equities in this case tip decidedly in favor of allowing an estoppel claim to proceed.”

For the legacy employees in the three County retirement systems, the Alameda decision establishes that on-call and standby pay could be included in the calculation of pension benefits prior to PEPRA and that PEPRA’s elimination of those pay items for legacy employees may be constitutionally impermissible. The trial court will need to conduct a vested rights analysis and perhaps take additional evidence to resolve the question.

As for terminal pay, the Alameda decision indicates that all employees who were told by their County retirement systems that terminal pay would be included in the calculation of their pension benefits as a consequence of the court-approved settlement agreements are entitled to those benefits as promised.

Finally, with respect to the Marin decision, the Alameda decision rejects the assertion that the focus should be on whether the pension benefit, itself, is “reasonable” in the abstract. Rather, the Alameda holding places proper emphasis on whether the challenged modification to vested pension benefits is reasonable. While the Alameda Court of Appeal decision does not completely reject the Marin decision, the Alameda case affirms the requirement that the detrimental impact on employee pension benefits must be considered as part of the vested rights analysis. While the Alameda decision provides relief and peace of mind to the impacted employees, the California Supreme Court will have to decide the proper application of the California Rule as framed by the Marin decision. The outcome of Marin could have a dramatic impact on pension rights for ALL California public employees.