RATIONALE:

To address the problem of slow emergency response times, high unsolved crime rates, and a general sense of lawlessness, we must have adequate staffing by both sworn officers and civilians – right-sizing our response to each unique situation.

Oakland residents deserve to be safe in their city, yet most do not feel that way. This is backed up by data from the FBI wich ranks Oakland the 11th most violent city in the US and 2nd most violent city on Californai based on violent crime per capita. One reason is that OPD has been operating from a staffing deficit, falling below 678 officers the minimum staffing level established by voters when they approved Measure Z in 2014.

Eight years ago in 2014 we had less than 400k residents. Since then our population has grown by 10% to 440k which I believe now justifies a higher minimum staffing level and a higher target staffing level.

KEY STRATEGIES:

1.1 Increase academies and improve graduation rates, academies must be budgeted and better recruitment targeting for higher-quality cadets

1.2 Increase lateral hires from other police departments

1.3 Incentivize OPD officers in line with the industry standards to stay in their job over the long-term

1.4 Retain OPD officers by eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy (including duplicative and inefficient processes) and investing in technology solutions to improve efficiency and effectiveness

RATIONALE:

To address the problem of an ineffective public safety system, founded on racist practices that continues to perpetuate inequity for Black and Latino residents,

We must continue the momentum of the Reimagining Public Safety Taskforce (RPSTF) in transforming our public safety system so it keeps all Oaklanders safer by being more equitable, just, effective, and efficient.

As the architect and co-chair of Oakland’s RPSTF, I am proud of the work we accomplished and the progress made, but have always recognized the need for a second phase. We have been implementing Phase I since the spring of 2021 and since then we have seen remarkable progress. It is now time to measure the results of Phase I and implement Phase II (page 13 of the final report).

KEY STRATEGIES:

2.1 Create school-site-based violence prevention and crisis intervention teams

2.2 Prevent and increase the ability to hold officers accountable for misconduct

2.3 Achieve compliance with the NSA and adopt performance metrics for OPD and the Chief based on NSA tasks

2.4 Renegotiate the OPOA MOU in a transparent way

2.5 Coordinate City and County Mental Health responses in a way that better services special populations

2.6 Expand restorative justice diversion for youth and young adults

RATIONALE:

To address the problem of having a general sense of lawlessness in Oakland, including minimal accountability for criminal activity and lack of closure for the families of those impacted by violent crime,

We must hold those who commit violent crimes against Oaklanders accountable for their actions with improved clearance of violent crime investigations.

We cannot allow those who prey on Oaklanders and put their lives 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, but under my leadership that will change. We will double the violent crime clearance rate through additional human resources (sworn and non-sworn), technology investments (e.g., surveillance technology and criminal investigations database), and process improvements within the Crime Investigations Division (CID).

KEY STRATEGIES:

3.1 Increase Criminal Investigations capacity by:

• Adding an additional police academy in 22-23 Fiscal Year and prioritize the filling of Investigations vacancies with any staffing increases resulting from new academies
• Augmenting sworn Criminal Investigations staff with additional non-sworn staff that can be activated more quickly and efficiently”

3.2 Dedicate additional resources to supporting OPD in closing out investigations of serious crimes over the next 3 months

3.3 Swiftly clear all hurdles to implementing enhanced video surveillance along high-traffic commercial corridors throughout the city

3.4 Partner with CrimeStoppers of Oakland to increase rewards for those who provide information leading to conviction for serious crimes in Oakland

3.5 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

3.6 Pursue grants and outside funding opportunities to increase National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) Gun Tracing efforts in Oakland

3.7 Engage with the courts to rationalize the bail schedule

RATIONALE:

To address the problem of how we identify and support proven strategies that prevent people from committing crimes against our residents and offer those who are vulnerable to negative life choices better alternatives.

We must allocate more staffing and investment into programs like our Ceasefire Program, Restorative Justice Programs, Urban Peace Movement, Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS), Our Kids, Youth Alive, and other youth support programs targeted toward those most at risk of becoming justice-involved.

We know these programs are working because of the impact reports and outcome analyses that have been done for some of these programs.

KEY STRATEGIES:

4.1 Add 50% more capacity to the Ceasefire program

4.2 Increase integration of Ceasefire intelligence into other departmental activities, regardless of Bureau/Division

4.3 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

4.4 Add 50% more capacity to successful programs like the OK Program so that they can support 50% more youth

RATIONALE:

To address the problem of long wait times when you dial 911

We must offload nonviolent calls to MACRO and other reliable responders and increase the number of 911 dispatchers available to answer calls and increase the availability of officers to respond. It is completely unacceptable that residents who call 911 are put on hold for up to 20 mins to get through to an officer. And then when they do get through to dispatch, many are told that there is no officer available to respond to their emergency.

KEY STRATEGIES:

5.1 Aggressively deploy phase 1 of the MACRO pilot in East Oakland, dedicating at least 80% of MACRO resources to the direct response to 911 calls, AND ensuring an effective qualitative and qualitative audit

5.2 Monitor & report back to City Council on the effectiveness of 911 Surge Response Teams to inform whether Council should continue with elimination of this unit as directed in June by the Council President’s budget amendment

5.3 Swiftly implement community ambassador program across the city

5.4 Continue aggressive recruitment effort of 911 dispatchers

RATIONALE:

To address the problem of very high numbers of mental-health crisis calls into 911 dispatch.

We must approach mental health from a community-based perspective. There is an undoubted link between 911 mental-health related calls and the lack of available mental health resources to historically-underserved black and brown communities. We need to secure facilities in underserved neighborhoods that can be readily available to Oaklanders. We must champion investing in communications, community outreach, and have unified messaging to de-stigmatize mental health treatment among communities of color.

KEY STRATEGIES:

6.1 As demanded by the April 22 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:

• Implement a comprehensive crisis response system
• Implement a sufficient number of Full Service Partnership teams
• Implement a sufficient quantity of scattered-site, permanent supported housing slots
• Implement sufficient community-based services including case management, personal care services, and supported employment services
• Implement peer support services provided by trained and certified peers with lived experience with mental illness
• Implement sufficient community-based services that can appropriately support people who have co occurring diagnoses
• Provide transition and discharge planning, beginning upon admission
• Identify eligible individuals who may be at serious risk of psychiatric institutionalization and connect them with appropriate community-based services, including by using the crisis services described above
• Ensure people with mental health disabilities can initiate or maintain connections with community-based services while incarcerated and transition seamlessly into such services upon release.

6.2 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, integrating with Oakland’s MACRO program as soon as it comes online.

RATIONALE:

To eliminate more than $1M in spending per year due to the Oakland Police Department being found in violation of a variety of civil rights violations. In 2003, Oakland entered into a Negotiated Settlement Agreement (NSA) that required a payout of nearly $11 million to the 119 plaintiffs and compliance with a reform plan comprising 51 conditions. For nearly 20 years, The City of Oakland has been paying over $1M annually to the Federal Monitor for oversight of the NSA.

KEY STRATEGIES:

7.1 Communicate transparently to the community on all NSA related items, including associated budget expenditures.

7.2 Hold command accountability meetings that are open to the public, where the command-level staff from each Police Area provide updates on:

1. their crime statistics
2. how many complaints they’ve received
3. and update us on any civil rights violations.

7.3 Support & Adequately resource the Inspector General in assuming oversight duties that were previosuly assumed by the Federal Monitor.

7.4 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

7.5 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:

To ensure that Oaklanders enhance their conflict resolution/mediation skills and be guided in how to make better decisions that save lives instead of taking them. While we continue to remove excess and illegal guns, we also must address the decision-making process of those who have access to guns. When better equipped to resolve conflict through nonviolent means, potential perpetrators have other tools available that help to reduce conflict and minimize the negative impacts when conflict does occur.

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:

To 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. Oakland suffers from a mobile prostitution circuit through which pimps, exploited prostitutes, and sexually exploited minors move from city to city to reduce the risk of incarceration and evaluate the most prosperous demand levels in order to avoid collaborative prosecution across jurisdictions. 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, and help restore greater levels of social equity in Oakland.

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 trainings 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 Childe Exploitation (VCE) Unit to increase the ability to investigate human trafficking crimes, rescue juveniles involved in human trafficking, and investigating other child exploitation crimes

RATIONALE:

To stop avoidable traffic fatalities and injuries. In the past two years, these tragedies have increased dramatically. By designing better, safer, and more pedestrian-friendly roadways, by enforcing traffic laws that are already on the books to deter reckless driving, and by drivers making better decisions to driving within the limitations that the conditions of the road mandate, we can save lives and keep our neighborhoods safer and more livable.

KEY STRATEGIES:

10.1 Fully reinstate the traffic enforcement division of OPD 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 by acc (Greater than 15%) to ensure maximum output from funded positions and approved budget.