ENSURING THE SAFETY OF RESIDENTS
RATIONALE:
OPD has been consistently operating with a staffing deficit. Not only does OPD fall short of its current staffing levels, the city’s overall police staffing levels are insufficient for a city of our size. Ten years ago, Oakland had a population of less than 400,000 residents. Since then, our population has grown by 10% to 440,000 and we have less than 700 officers. To ensure the safety and well-being of our communities, Oakland urgently needs both a higher staffing level and increased efficiency out of the officers we have.
KEY STRATEGIES:
1.1 Increase academies and improve graduation rates; adequately budget for academies and improve recruitment strategies to reach higher-quality cadets.
1.2 Increase lateral hires from other police departments
1.3 Implement competitive retention strategies for OPD officers that align with industry best practices
1.4 Retain OPD officers by eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy (including duplicative and inefficient processes) and investing in technology solutions to improve their efficiency and effectiveness
1.5 Modify burdensome policies while maintaining necessary oversight and control
1.6 Deploy technology to reduce time out of the field (e.g., AI, voice recognition, improved database systems)
1.7 Better use Police Service Technicians and other non-sworn staff to offload less sensitive activities
At a Glance
RATIONALE:
City Hall must renew its focus on ending the Negotiated Settlement Agreement (NSA) which will allow the Oakland Police Department to reduce extensive administrative demands and direct more resources toward improving public safety while still maintaining strong accountability. By quickly meeting the settlement’s conditions, the city could exit federal oversight and free officers from some of the time-consuming paperwork, helping address the critical understaffing and slow response times currently plaguing Oakland. Maintaining robust oversight measures by the Office of the Inspector General and the Police Commission would ensure that past abuses do not recur, preserving essential reforms and community trust. This balanced approach—relieving administrative burdens yet retaining strong accountability practices—would better equip OPD to protect the public, engage with residents, and address persistent crime more effectively.
KEY STRATEGIES:
2.1 Communicate transparently to the community on all NSA related items, including associated budget expenditures.
2.2 Hold command accountability meetings that are open to the public, where the command-level staff from each Police Area provide updates on their crime statistics, complaints received, and any civil rights violations
2.3 Support & adequately resource the Inspector General in assuming oversight duties that were previously assumed by the Federal Monitor.
2.4 Explore creation of a peer intervention program that mirrors New Orleans Police Department’s EPIC project which fosters high-quality ethical policing and was lauded by their former federal monitor for changing the culture of NOPD when under a consent decree
2.5 Establish OPD Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) jointly agreed to between the Mayor, City Administrator, Police Commission, and Police Chief and evaluate OPD and the Chief of Police’s performance against them
RATIONALE:
The recent devastating fires in Los Angeles sent a strong warning to the City of Oakland. Oakland faces a significant risk due to low staffing levels within the Fire Department, a situation exacerbated by recent station closures. These closures have led to increased response times, jeopardizing public safety. Fire stations are vital to the safety, health, and resilience of any community. While budget constraints may increase pressure to consider closures, the long-term risks to lives, property, and public confidence far outweigh the short-term financial savings.
KEY STRATEGIES:
3.1 To restore fire stations, the city must consider all alternatives including all non-essential expenses.
RATIONALE:
To address the problem of long wait times when Oaklanders dial 911, we must offload nonviolent calls to other responders (e.g., MACRO),increase the number of 911 dispatchers available to answer calls and increase the availability of officers to respond. MACRO should be pulling away calls, and yet residents who call 911 for assistance are forced to wait on hold for up to 20 minutes or longer; this is completely unacceptable. What’s more – after enduring these long wait times, too many callers are then informed that no officers are available to respond to their emergency.
KEY STRATEGIES:
4.1 Continue aggressive recruitment effort of 911 dispatchers and expedite dispatch training to ensure new hires can answer calls as quickly as possible
4.2 Refocus MACRO program on its original purpose of offloading 911 calls from OPD queue
4.3 Swiftly implement community ambassador program across the city
4.4 Invest more heavily in 911 Operator support, including mental health resources to minimize attrition
RATIONALE:
Lawlessness will continue unless we hold those who commit violent crimes against Oaklanders accountable for their actions. This requires improved clearance of violent crime investigations.
We cannot allow those who prey on Oaklanders and put the lives of Oaklanders in danger to have little, if any, consequence. Today, they have better odds of winning a coin flip than being held accountable for their actions. Under my leadership that will change. As Mayor, I will double the violent crime clearance rate through additional staffing (sworn and non-sworn), technology investments (e.g., surveillance technology and criminal investigations database), and an overhaul of the Crime Investigations Division (CID)’s processes and procedures.
KEY STRATEGIES:
5.1 Increase CID’s capacity by prioritizing the filling of Investigation staff vacancies and augmenting sworn staff with non-sworn staff
5.2 Dedicate additional resources to supporting OPD in closing out investigations of serious crimes over the next 3 months
5.3 Implement force multiplying technologies including enhanced video surveillance, automated license plate readers, drone technology, and artificial intelligence
5.4 Partner with CrimeStoppers of Oakland to increase rewards for those who provide information leading to conviction for serious crimes in Oakland
5.5 Increase funding for relocation of witnesses as well as those who are involved in violent lifestyles, but ready to start a new productive life somewhere else
5.6 Pursue grants and outside funding opportunities to increase National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) Gun Tracing efforts in Oakland
5.7 Engage with the courts to rationalize the bail schedule
RATIONALE:
Too much money is spent on unproven programs and services while the effective ones are underfunded. Fortunately, many of these programs have had rigorous evaluations that demonstrate their effectiveness and overall success . We must allocate more staffing and investment into programs like our Ceasefire Program, Urban Peace Movement, Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS), the “Our Kids” OK Program, Youth Alive and some restorative justice programs, while removing funding from those programs that are not proving their worth.
KEY STRATEGIES:
6.1 Increase integration of Ceasefire intelligence into other departmental activities, regardless of Bureau/Division
6.2 Establish rigorous outcomes-based evaluation for all violence prevention programs that don’t already have it, and use evaluations to inform future investments
6.3 Strengthen collaboration between Alameda County and Oakland’s Dept of Violence Prevention to strengthen violence interruption in jails that will complement violence interruption efforts in the community
6.4 Increase capacity to successful programs like the OK Program so that they can support 50% more youth
RATIONALE:
Oaklanders with mental health needs must have adequate and compassionate resources. Addressing this requires a community-based perspective. A high volume of 911 calls are for mental health reasons, and yet there’s a lack of available mental health resources, in particular in historically-underserved communities. We must secure facilities in underserved neighborhoods that can be readily available to Oaklanders in need and invest in communications, community outreach, and unified messaging to de-stigmatize mental health treatment in communities of color.
KEY STRATEGIES:
7.1 As demanded by the April 2022 Department of Justice Report on Failures of Alameda County’s Mental Health Services: Provide evidence-based community-based services in the most integrated setting that are effective at meeting the needs of eligible adults with mental health disabilities in and at serious risk of entering psychiatric institutions in Alameda County and preventing them from unnecessary institutionalization, including:
7.2 Expand capacity of the Community Assessment and Transportation Team (CATT) and Mobile Crisis/Mobile Evaluation Teams, (MCT/MET) models to support even more effective EMT and Police response to mental health and substance abuse crisis calls in Oakland, and integrate these programs with other response programs MACRO.
RATIONALE:
To ensure public safety, we must empower Oaklanders, especially Oakland youth, conflict resolution/mediation skills, so they have the tools and knowledge to de-escalate situations and make informed decisions that save lives instead of taking them. While we must continue to remove excess and illegal guns, we also must also address the root causes of gun violence. By investing in programs that promote conflict resolution and decision-making skills, we will provide individuals with alternative pathways to resolve disputes peacefully. When individuals are better equipped to resolve conflict through nonviolent means, the likelihood of violence decreases and the negative impacts of conflicts can be significantly minimized.
KEY STRATEGIES:
8.1 Align with the school district and community partners on a standardized curriculum for different grade levels (Elementary, Middle, and High Schools)
8.2 Establish Conduct resolution course as a standard for all Public schools – traditional public and charter schools (perhaps model off of the Second Steps Program)
8.3 Establish a conflict resolution course for adults and bring it throughout the city to where residents are (e.g., churches, community groups, neighborhood councils, nonprofit organizations, Parent associations, etc.)
8.4 Establish a train-the-trainer program for conflict resolution and de-escalation
8.5 Measure results of conflict resolution training and emotional intelligence that kids acquire through school, and adjust curriculum based on learning at various school sites.
RATIONALE:
Oakland suffers from a mobile prostitution circuit through which pimps, exploited prostitutes, and sexually exploited minors move from city to city to reduce disruption of their activities. Human trafficking and sexual exploitation often predominantly impact victims from low-income and disadvantaged communities. Efforts to confront and combat this criminal activity will save lives, help restore greater levels of social equity in Oakland and protect our neighborhoods — particularly those that are underserved — from public nuisances, gun violence, and other activities that young children and Oaklanders should not be exposed to.
KEY STRATEGIES:
9.1 Increase investment into Outreach & Crisis Response to establish relationships and build trust with those who are trapped in a life of sexual exploitation to support their sustained transition to an alternate lifestyle
9.2 Strengthen the access to, and effectiveness of supportive wrap-around services for victims of human trafficking and Gender-based violence (GBV)
9.3 Provide direct funding for community-based training around commercial sexual exploitation for residents living in impacted areas.
9.4 Provide financial support and additional support services that build the capacity of Human Trafficking/ GBV Service Providers
9.5 Use expertise within Oakland Police Department and urban planning/ architecture communities to advance Crime Prevention through Environmental Design – techniques that reduce the likelihood of criminal activity through improvements to the neighborhood infrastructure and environment e.g., improved lighting, elimination of “hiding places” that criminals can take advantage of, etc.)
9.6 Increase staffing in the Vice and Child Exploitation (VCE) Unit to increase their ability to investigate human trafficking crimes, rescue juveniles involved in human trafficking, and investigating other child exploitation crimes
RATIONALE:
Traffic fatalities and injuries are avoidable; no one should die or be seriously injuries simply for walking, biking or driving on Oakland Streets. Yet over the past two years, these tragedies have increased dramatically. By designing better, safer, and more pedestrian-friendly roadways; enforcing existing traffic laws to deter reckless driving; and holding drivers accountable for not following the rules of the road, we can save lives and keep our neighborhoods safer and more livable.
KEY STRATEGIES:
10.1 Fully resource the traffic enforcement division and use loaned resources from CHP in the interim until we are fully staffed
10.2 Fully staff the Department of Transportation’s vacant positions (greater than 15%) to ensure maximum output from funded positions and approved budget
10.3. Accelerate the implementation of traffic calming measures to deter reckless driving