Police Board Exposes Crisis and Scandal

"Citizen perception is widespread that Measure Y is not working and that the city is in a state of emergency. Taxes are being collected, but 16 months after the voters approved the ballot measure, the police force has fewer officers on staff than at the time of the election; no contracts have been signed with service providers needed to provide the jobs and anti-violence prevention and intervention programs; and violent crime, including homicides and brutal, strong-armed robberies are spiraling towards record levels."

These are the first words of the annual report submitted by the City's Community Policing Advisory Board, a panel of citizen volunteers appointed by the mayor and councilmembers.

The report states, "OPD is still alarmingly understaffed and struggling to reach the minimums authorized by the City Council (when it cut the force from 778 to 739 during the 2001-2002 budget cycle)." (p. 2) According to historical figures assembled by one board member, "The Oakland Police Department has slipped to its lowest staffing level [per population] in the past 25 years."

As for recruiting of new officers, the police academy that began last November with 27 enrollees is down to 16 – a washout rate of 41%. The academy that began just this past February with 24 has 17 trainees remaining.

One of the board's recommendations exposes yet another scandal:

"We recommend that OPD, the City Administrator, and the City Council agree to end OPD's responsibility for policing the Oakland Airport terminals. The officers assigned there are paid for by the Port of Oakland, but remain part of OPD's authorized force ... The return of these 27 officers to regular street duty would immediately alleviate some of the most critical staffing shortages OPD is currently experiencing. (Estimated cost due to loss of Port payments to the city: approximately $ 5 million annually.)" (p. 5)

For years the councilmembers have known about the airport policing deal, under which the City rents out its officers as security guards. Pretending to respond to the police staffing crisis, councilmembers said not a word about getting these 27 officers back on the streets. They preferred to sell out public safety for $5 million.

Despite candid acknowledgment of the public safety crisis in Oakland, the advisory board confines its recommendations to administrative adjustments. Some of them presume that the City continues to collect Measure Y taxes while it violates the staffing requirements of the ordinance. The board goes along with this outrage rather than protesting it.

How simple it would be if we residents only needed to propose effective policies and productive ways to rearrange bureaucratic positions. Instead, the problem is political: the councilmembers are addicted to handing out grants to favored social agencies and subsidies to insider developers.

To be sure, the chair of the advisory board, Don Link, participated in political action this winter. He attacked the historic "Enough Is Enough!" rally for public safety. The other members of the CPAB have not spoken out on their own.

To break the councilmembers' addiction to political pork, we must insist that the City give top priority to public safety and basic infrastructure. Until then, no more parcel taxes! In the meantime, thank you, CPAB members, for recognizing the facts – and if they mean anything, when will you respond with the daring and vigor that the situation requires?