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.