Oakland police chief LeRonne Armstrong on Tuesday praised a new proposal by the mayor to unfreeze dozens of positions and beef up his department’s staffing after a wave of killings and organized robberies across the city.
The chief’s comments came amid a heated debate over the role of police in Oakland, and the number of officers needed to stem a rise in homicides.
A steady run of departures has left the Oakland Police Department with 676 officers — more than 70 fewer than at this time last year. It’s also two fewer officers than is needed for the department to meet a key staffing benchmark that allows it to use certain taxpayer money for violence prevention work.
“I thank Mayor (Libby) Schaaf for her proactive approach to assisting the department in helping us identify potential opportunities for resources with additional academies, hopefully unfreezing positions,” Armstrong said. “That is the smallest staff that we’ve had in several years.”
He also said the department would place a new emphasis on trying to hire officers currently working in other departments, and who want to transfer to Oakland.
Armstrong’s comments came a day after Schaaf reversed course on a police hiring freeze and vowed to boost police funding to combat violent crime. The focus on policing has been renewed amid recent high-profile killings and thefts in the city.
Schaaf gave scant details of her plan this week, saying she would make public Friday a proposal to free up dozens of police positions that she said had been frozen. She also proposed funding another police academy and increasing the number of active police officer positions.
She added that the city’s MACRO program — which aims to address non-violent 911 calls — would not be affected by her proposal.
“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.”
Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas, however, said the department already was authorized to employ 737 officers this year, and filling those positions should be the department’s “top priority.”
“I really think it’s important that we focus on filling those vacancies, and really ensuring that we’re getting the results that we need from police during this incredibly difficult time,” Bas said. She declined to comment further on Schaaf’s announcement, because the mayor has yet to release details of the plan.
Each change would require approval by the City Council. A special meeting is scheduled for Dec. 7.
The debate comes amid a contentious fight over the role of policing in Oakland.
The department’s current budget rose more than $38 million over the previous two-year budget cycle. The City Council ultimately refused to give more than that to the department as the mayor had been seeking, but it put $18 million toward non-police violence prevention programs.
The potential move toward boosting police staffing signals a disturbing about-face for the city, said Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project. She said she wanted to see more money invested in violence prevention and housing work, rather than in patrol officers.
“Libby Schaaf has continued to ignore the voices of tens of thousands of Oaklanders, and double down on investing in a failed strategy that’s going to continue to get people killed,” Brooks said.
The latest departures have left the city under a key benchmark to spend money for the Measure Z parcel tax, which was approved in 2014 to fund violence prevention work. The city must maintain at least 678 sworn officers before the money can be used — two more than the department currently employs.
Armstrong said 26 officers are expected to graduate from a police academy in late December — all of whom would be sent to patrol duty, to fill police beats that have gone vacant.
Another academy of 39 recruits began a couple of weeks ago and is expected to wrap up in April.
While waiting for those officers to hit the streets, Armstrong said that “tactical teams,” consisting mainly of SWAT-trained officers, could continue to be deployed throughout the city on weekends to guard against further organized robberies of retail shops and marijuana dispensaries.
Armstrong also voiced support for the department’s Ceasefire program, which seeks to prevent violence by employing violence interrupters and offering people at risk of committing crime help with housing and job assistance.
The pandemic significantly impacted the program’s staffing. However, Armstrong said the department recently restored a handful of people to the program.
Source: www.mercurynews.com