Councilmember Peddles Phony Staffing Numbers

How many police officers has Measure Y provided us? There are three answers to this question: the honest one, the City's accounting answer, and councilmember Quan's fantasy.

The honest answer: None.
Oakland has only 694 police officers as of May 1, 2006, down 40 officers from when the council wrote Measure Y in July 2004. More police have quit and retired than the City has hired.

The City's accounting answer: 12.
These days, when a police academy graduates trainees, the City calls some of them Measure Y officers. That is, the City is dipping into the Measure Y tax fund to pay them. Since the City has fewer than the threshold 739 officers required by Measure Y, this is a violation of the ordinance, but Oakland is lawless at the top as well as on the streets. Anyway, the City has designated 11 officers and one sergeant as Measure Y police, according to the May 24 report from the city administrator's office. (Dated May 2 but was only released on May 24, it is available in Acrobat form here.)

Councilmember Quan's fantasy: "about 20."
Under the heading "Measure Y Violence Prevention Updates" in her May 26, 2006 newsletter, Quan asserts, "Chief Tucker this week reported that with the assignment of recent Police Academy grads, about 20 of the 56 beat Problem Solving Officer positions are filled."

Quan knows better than to rely on Chief Tucker, who is famous for shaky statistics. From one week to the next, depending on the neighborhood group or committee to which he is speaking, Tucker kicks his figures up or down. But hey, the number sounds good.

Quan goes on, "He [Tucker] also said that the new recruitment programs seem to be paying off. He expects at least 49 recruits in the upcoming academy, previously classes had about 30 cadets at most." In fact, the city administrator's report anticipates that future academies, including the next one scheduled to begin June 5, will have 42 recruits. And with dropout rates of up to 47%, it will be an improvement if the actual number of officers added on the streets is even 25.

In short, the councilmember cannot bring herself to deal with the big picture. Oakland is losing police not adding them; it has only half a police force in comparison with most major cities, adjusting for population; and Oakland needs at least 1,100 police officers. But even dwelling on the tiny news of the day, councilmember Quan cannot get the numbers straight.

Perhaps she made an honest mistake. Let's see whether she issues a correction and a re-assessment of her selective, Pollyanna reporting.

City Hall Tries to Circle the Wagons

Councilmember Quan has not responded to the preceding report, but Anne Campbell Washington in the city administrator's office did intervene (at Quan's insistence?) with a rejoinder, posted to an email group. Unfortunately, she only contradicted her own report. Campbell Washington wrote:

"The police staffing numbers attributed to Chief Tucker in Jean Quan's newsletter are correct. 24 of the 57 Problem Solving Officer positions are currently filled. 14 were already filled when Measure Y passed in November 2004. An additional 10 have been filled since the passage of Measure Y and are paid from Measure Y funds." (May 30, 2006 post to PSA4)

First of all, Campbell Washington contradicts her own May 24 Measure Y update, which attributes 11 problem solving officers plus a sergeant, not 10 police, to Measure Y money.

Now Campbell Washington wants to count 14 previously existing problem solving officers. However, councilmember Quan published her rosy report under the title, "Measure Y Violence Prevention Updates." Measure Y had nothing to do with these 14 officers.

The numbers still differ from the 20 police originally claimed by Tucker and Quan. At best, Campbell Washington tried to reconcile Quan's number with the City accounting figure. Everyone at City Hall is ignoring the fact that Oakland residents are paying extra Measure Y taxes but we have fewer, not more, police.

Another City fudge occurred in a June 27, 2006 report that boasted 45 trainees as a police academy began June 5, "the highest number of recruits for Oakland in any one academy." (http://clerkwebsvr1.oaklandnet.com/attachments/13831.pdf) However, four of the enrollees are being trained for the city of Fremont on a contract basis. Our estimate of 25 new officers when these trainees graduate in December stands.

Meanwhile, the notion of a problem-solving officer devoted to community policing has collapsed. As reported previously on this website, the PSOs are on ordinary patrol one day in five, and they are assigned to non-community policing work in their beats throughout the work week.