City Council Cuts Police Force by 200

News reports that the city council laid off 80 police do not convey the full destruction of public safety in Oakland.

In fact, the councilmembers have reduced the police force by a minimum of 200 officers, while preparing to bring the total to 308. That's more than a third of the force.

Here are the cuts:

• 21 - A police academy was scheduled to produce 21 officers upon completion in October. The council has already stopped paying the recruits and told them its promise of a job will not be honored.

• 80 - Upon collapse of negotiations with the police union on July 13, 2010 (more on this below), the City laid off 80 officers.

• 85 - The council's budget for the two years beginning July 1, 2010 has no money for police academies, and therefore no replacements for officers who retire and resign. Based on historical attrition and using a conservative figure of 3.5 officers per month on average, the council has already decided to reduce the police department by another 85 officers.

• 27 - Even if negotiations with the police union had reached agreement, the council has said another 27 officers will be laid off in January 2011.

• 95 - The council, having no will to solve the fiscal crisis it has created, has decided to sacrifice public safety. That is the extortionist's proposal to voters this November for another Measure Y-style tax, only bigger and with no staffing guarantee. If the extortion fails, the council has said it will lay off 122 officers in January 2011 instead of 27, an additional 95 police.

The almost universally despised mayor, Ron Dellums, and the councilmembers have refused to look at any solution except creating an experimental metropolis with only a tatter of a police department. Oakland is already ranked the third or fourth most dangerous city in the country year after year.

• The City has not touched the Redevelopment Agency and its hundreds of millions of dollars. If it takes work in Sacramento, do it – Oakland is near bankruptcy right now.

• The City has not demanded a rollback of the budget set-aside for so-called Kids First, a vast collection of grants to private agencies.

• The City has not addressed the fact that the number of paper pushers and political operatives on the payroll has swollen over the last decade, while the number of police, street maintenance employees, and other workers performing basic services has stagnated and declined.

In the negotiations between City bosses and the police union, the officers tried to reach an agreement. The police accepted the pension demands made by the City. In return they asked for no layoffs for three years.

Oakland has only half a police department compared with most major cities. Two years ago a petition nearly went to the ballot that would have put a requirement of at least 1,075 police into the City charter.

We have maximum limits on chemicals in water. What is wrong with a minimum standard of public safety?

We have square footage requirements and many other rules in the building code for homes and offices. What is wrong with a minimum standard of public safety?

We have basic expectations that sewer water will flow through pipes, not flood the streets. What is wrong with a minimum standard of public safety?

Instead, the city council told the police that there will be fewer of them even if they give everything on pensions that the council demanded.

• Layoffs in January.

• More work for each officer as the department shrinks by attrition.

• Likely layoffs a year from now, and the year after that.

Why should police make concessions on their pension when the council shrinks the force anyway?

By standing firm against the council's outrageous demand for total surrender and endless layoffs, the police union tried to protect the residents of this city, not just their own interest.

Not one member of the Oakland city council has dared say a word about the fact that mayor Dellums promised to set an example by taking a 10 percent pay cut, then refused to do it.

But the councilmembers spin lie after lie while they destroy Oakland.