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Police Staffing Plummets in 2005 Almost a year ago the City of Oakland boasted in a press release, "Measure Y increased the authorized strength of the Oakland Police Department from 739 sworn officers to 802. To reach that target, OPD has accelerated its hiring and training programs." (Jan. 31, 2005) Talking up scheduled police training academies, the City concluded in triumph, "As many as 105 trainees / officers would be hired this year, to fill vacancies and increase sworn staffing."Critics doubted the boast. What about resignations and retirements, for example? Facts proved the skeptics right. A year later, the number of police hovers hovers around 700, no more than the 704 we had a year ago. In other words, for every new hire during the year, the City lost an officer. None of four police academies begun in 2005 was a full success. They started out half-full and suffered washout rates up to 47%. When the city council wrote Measure Y in July 2004, Oakland was only five shy of the 739 police officers required to collect Measure Y taxes. Instead of adding 63 officers with the tax money, the City has dozens less police!  In public the City acknowledges the target of 802 police but keeps postponing the date. For example: "The number of sworn personnel in OPD won't reach 802 until January 2008, in the best scenario," said OPD's commander of personnel. (Community Policing Advisory Board meeting of Dec. 5, 2005) While the City offers one excuse or another, the councilmembers collect the parcel and parking taxes in violation of Measure Y. Only a week or so ago, councilmember and mayoral wannabe Ignacio De La Fuente told KTVU news that Oakland plans to have at least 26 new police officers by the middle of 2006. (KTVU.com, December 30, 2005) Wow, 26 by July 1! De La Fuente only confirms that Oakland police academies are unable to recruit and train new officers fast enough to make headway against the rising tide of resignations. City Attorneys Say No New Police Required In contrast to the phony optimism of De La Fuente and other officials, City attorneys are candid about the swindle pulled off in the name of Measure Y. They filed papers in court declaring the measure "permits, but does not require, the City to hire 63 officers with Measure Y money." City attorneys are equally blunt about Measure Y's prerequisite of maintaining 739 officers with non-Y money. According to them, the council satisfies the requirement by making a meaningless budget "appropriation" on paper. The council uses police staffing money for anything it wishes, not for 802 officers, not even for 739. The City Administrator's report on income and spending for the first quarter of the fiscal year (July 1 to Sept. 30, 2005) states: "As 40 percent of the officers [trained in academies] will be deployed to Measure Y activities, the Agency is able to charge this percentage of the academy expenditures to Measure Y." (p. 13) So the number of police is falling, yet Measure Y money is paying for the training and, apparently, the continuing salaries of officers. This is exactly the bait-and-switch that Measure Y proponents denied would happen: Measure Y's new tax money helping to pay for fewer officers than were previously maintained out of the general fund. The freed-up money in the general fund wanders off to unknown other uses. Meanwhile, De La Fuente is laughing all the way to the bank. The KTVU report continues: "Referring to an anti-crime measure approved by the city's voters last year, De La Fuente said, 'We have the money for it now, and we're training as many officers as we can as fast as we can. I wish we could buy them at Costco.'" Buy officers at Costco – isn't that amusing? Nonetheless, the serious truth is that the City is unable to recruit and train police, perhaps because potential recruits hear about the abysmal morale in OPD. As retired homicide lieutenant Brian Thiem wrote: While officers in many other police departments enjoy a supportive work environment where teamwork exists from top to bottom, OPD has been transformed into a punitive environment where fear and lack of trust permeate the workforce. The workload and demands of Oakland officers far exceed those of any other department in the state, and probably all but a handful in the nation. While many other cities' politicians praise their police, Oakland's mostly criticize theirs. And we must not forget that most Oakland officers are working in an old, cramped building. Cars are high mileage and scarce. Technology is a decade behind. (Post to an email group, Dec. 29, 2005)Oakland has half a police department compared with Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and most major cities. Unfortunately, Oakland has a full city council, stuffed with politicians who speak falsehoods while they steer City funds to favored developers, nonprofit slumlords, and corrupt programs like PUEBLO. The councilmembers have driven our police department to the verge of collapse. Whatever their callous joking words, when it comes to safe, peaceful neighborhoods, councilmembers' actions show that they just do not care. Out on the streets, a couple of thousand thugs ruin daily life for the other 398,000 residents of the city. To date the other leading mayoral candidate, Ron Dellums, has not addressed the police staffing crisis. Second-tier candidate Nancy Nadel concentrates on criticizing police officers. – Jan. 10, 2006
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