Many, but not all, of the restrictions on how our police operate come from the Negotiated Settlement Agreement. The Monitor of that Agreement has made it clear that he is only interested in conforming to the Agreement not reducing crime in the city. OPD is "inches" away from conforming and it is time for the city to push back hard and get out from under it. At the very least we can spend the $1M+ money that the Monitor gets on policing.
I understand there is a new computer system in place that is supposed to speed the "paperwork" for officers. Let's hope it does. I did a ride along several years ago and the officer had to reenter things by hand that were already on his screen.
This isn't rocket science. There are scores of well managed cities in the US, red and blue. They have responsible politicians, professional administrators and managers. The first step here in Oakland is to recall Sheng Thao, whose only skill was promoting herself into the mayoralty, the second step is to elect serious people to city government positions. Let's adequately fund a police force so that it can do its job in a way that is respectful of all and also insures as much public safety as possible. Let's get prosaic: fix and clean the streets, pick up the garbage and attend to the unhoused in an efficient, compassionate and helpful way. Let's ditch ridiculous plans to sell a broken down old stadium (albeit one with great memories) as a way of balancing a budget, especially to a group with dodgy looking financials. We need thinkers, not magical thinkers. Yes, these are goals hard to reach, but if we throw out of office most of the current crop of leaders, we'll move along quite nicely.
So well said Bill. It really does not feel that hard when you look at the details. Some things are, but many are just simple, straightforward, commonsense. I'm continually amazed at how many bad decisions our council makes.
Just feels like more finger pointing from the agency directly concerned with public safety. I see all these pursuit policies cited here, especially “19 different factors”, yet it’s not stated at all what they are.
I’ve never seen OPD take accountability for anything, even when embroidered in a human trafficking scandal, so forgive me for not immediately taking their word.
First off, extremely well written and informative. I agree there's so much red tape that gets in the way of officers doing their job.
However, there seems to be a few caveats. The biggest thing for me is that at around 700 officers, only 250 do patrols, leading to only 35 on shift? What are the other 450 officers doing?
Also you seem to contradict yourself. Are officers super busy running from one thing to the next, or are they spending 80% on their time on computers and paperwork?
Finally, these piece reads as very pro police. What about the hours of unaudited overtime that is bleeding this city dry? Some officers are making 500k+
Great questions. FWIW I did come away more pro police than I started, but I also think we need to have a "no excuses - get your job done" attitude with police. That is hard when there are such clear challenges.
The other 450 officers is something I've heard many stories about but unfortunately cannot share all the details because it isn't sufficiently fact checked. I hope to write about this in the future, but I think it does make some intuitive sense if you think about it: there are many jobs in a police department that are not patrol (detective work, internal affairs, medical or administrative leave, management, etc.).
I don't think the paperwork vs running from thing to thing is a contradiction. Paperwork is mandated by law and they get disciplined if they don't do it. So they are either busy doing paperwork or they are responding to Priority 1 calls. During my shift, they only responded to one Priority 3 call, and that was because the person called three different times. BTW it is worse than that - they actually often have so much paperwork that 4-8 officers show up to any given event, which sucks up resources.
I've dove into overtime a bit, but honestly the results were mixed. They have a TON of overtime and 486 officers made $300K+ (Some discussion here: https://x.com/gaganbiyani/status/1803639713045315889). Definitely needs to change. However, they also don't have enough officers and OT is still cheaper than FT work because of the massive benefits.
I am willing to bet there's significant inefficiency at the police department btw - and I do think we should hold them accountable for it. But I did not see that on my ride along; maybe in future I'll have even more time to dig in further and answer some of my open questions.
Really appreciate the honest and thoughtful questions, John.
Thanks for your thoughtful and thorough response. I have also had more positive interactions with OPD, they are just normal folks trying to do their job the best they can, and many do care about the community.
It seems none of the math lines up for what is needed. Yes, going from 800 to 700 police officers is tough. But a 10-15% reduction, or increase in the police force, is not going to move the needle on the 2% closure rate for crimes, the >20,000 cars stolen a year, or the 150 people waiting on 911.
As you mentioned, we definitely need more efficiency and technological crime enforcement solutions like red light cameras and AI face recognition.
Oakland gets soft-on-crime politicians because too many voters are willing to accept the side affects of the welfare state they crave, such as crime, for the benefits, such as not having to apply themselves in bad schools and not having to get a job. It's real simple.
Playing armchair psychologist with hypothetical voters isn’t going to solve anything, you don’t know each and every persons mindset so please don’t pretend like you do.
I probably interviewed 20 people before I decided to write this piece and shared the post with multiple high level officials so they could validate/invalidate the facts stated. Is there a specific statistic that you think I should post a cited source for?
I had the opportunity to speak with you at a discussion event earlier this week and brought up the points below (as have several other commenters), and would appreciate getting your response here.
The “19 rules” you mention that prevent police from “doing their job” are risk factors officers must consider before initiating a pursuit, established to prevent bystander injury and death (see Page 2 here: https://public.powerdms.com/oakland/tree/documents/408). Oakland has paid millions in compensation for such incidents - one ex: a motorcyclist struck by an OPD vehicle in 2017 lost his leg, and the officer involved made false statements to avoid accountability. (https://eastbayexpress.com/opd-cop-caught-making-apparent-false-statements-after-injury-crash-2-1/). Any suggestions on what should be removed?
On false statements - some of the paperwork you reference stem from the Negotiated Settlement Agreement, implemented due to OPD’s history of routinely racially targeting and abusing people, planting drugs on suspects, falsifying reports, and making unlawful arrests. If you’re trying to say that federal oversight hasn’t been effective, it seems that’s true: since the 2000s, there have been several instances of misconduct, brought to the public by victims and journalists - not discovered and remedied by the OPD - including in 2016 when officers were charged for sexually abusing an underage girl. If the restrictions aren’t improving instances of misconduct and cover ups, what should replace it? Without this understanding, how can trust be established? (Monthly reports available here: https://www.oaklandca.gov/resources/opd-independent-monitoring-team-imt-monthly-reports-2)
Both this article and the event were very focused on lifting restrictions + increasing the # of officers as the specific solutions for reducing crime. This ignores the context and history above and excludes other solutions. What about continuing to ensure public and government support for the Ceasefire Strategy, which was underfunded and nearly abandoned but shows a positive impact to crime reduction, where OPD has been a partner?
Other strategies are similarly apolitical, cheaper, and less dangerous to residents, and do not result in such unequal ramifications to the community. They may require public + private partnerships and funding to other departments and programs (like MACRO). Remediating abandoned buildings, creating green space and tree canopies, street lights, social infrastructure programs including those created by the public library, ensuring access to public transportation, pedestrian safety, and walkable neighborhoods, clean needle initiatives and paths to recovery and gainful employment, creating affordable housing (not just building new housing - ensuring that existing housing is actually affordable, and addressing vacancies), ensuring access to affordable healthcare, all have more positive impact on community resiliency and a reduction in crime (more on that: https://bookshop.org/p/books/palaces-for-the-people-how-social-infrastructure-can-help-fight-inequality-polarization-and-the-decline-of-civic-life-eric-klinenberg/10231834)
What is the path forward to establish improved policing in Oakland? If lifted restrictions + more officers are the solutions you stand by to reduce crime, can you/Empower Oakland provide clarification on the following?
- Evidence of reform and accountability within the OPD
- An understanding of the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of monitoring and what should replace it
- A strategic plan of how the department plans to reduce crime if given fewer restrictions and funding for more officers, and whether that includes Ceasefire
- What other strategies, departments, and programs Empower Oakland will support to reduce crime
Great article and inside look at what these men and women are up against. Voters have got to get involved and do just a little homework. Or skip right to an R vote if that’s the only choice. If Dems want safer communities, they’re going to have to get over the R stigma. Not always the best, but better than the D.
Oakland doesn't have the money to improve its police department because every time they actually find some extra money they use it to give everyone who works for the city a raise. It's an incestuous self-perpetuating system that isn't going to reform itself. No point in even discussing it.
Interesting piece, thanks for taking the ride-along and reporting on your experience. For some insight into why there are "rules" for Oakland's PO's read "The Riders Come Out and Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oakland" by Ali Winston & Darwin Bondgraham. The book, a good read, describes the circumstances that led the OPD to be placed under court oversight via the “Negotiated Settlement Agreement” (NSA) in 2003. Over two decades later OPD still hasn't managed to reach a level of compliance that would allow it to emerge from oversight. OPD is not blameless in this nor are they the only Oakland institution that has failed its citizens. For more that two decades Oakland's violent crime rate has exceeded that of the other 59 largest California cities. In most cases by a factor of two to three times. Crime rate was not among the 52 items that OPD needed to improve on in the NSA. It might be time for Oakland pols/managers to put public safety nearer to top of their priority list. Changing the police chief every two to three years has not worked well.
Do we have any insight into how what percentage of OPD officers actually in Oakland vs commute in from somewhere else? It’d be revealing to track this and compare it to other PDs. I think this could help quantify social trust between police and the community.
Sounds good in theory but I think in practice it's really hard on the officers. I don't have the data but anecdotally almost every police officer I met chooses not to live in Oakland because it is hard to live where you police, running into suspects on the street, etc. The officer I rode with wishes he could live in Oakland - he grew up here and all of his family is here - but it got to be too much and he moved out to allow himself some personal space.
This is near the top of the article: "A few weeks ago, Empower Oakland’s own Gagan Biyani went on a 12-hour ride-along with Oakland PD. Read his account below."
I wrote it. You can find me on X @gaganbiyani or just post any questions/comments here and I'll do my best to respond!
P.S. You're right we probably should've used Substacks co-author feature to label me directly instead of putting it in the post. Noted for next time!
This is near the top of the article: "A few weeks ago, Empower Oakland’s own Gagan Biyani went on a 12-hour ride-along with Oakland PD. Read his account below."
I wrote it. You can find me on X @gaganbiyani or just post any questions/comments here and I'll do my best to respond!
P.S. We probably should've used Substacks co-author feature to label me directly instead of putting it in the post. Noted for next time!
Many, but not all, of the restrictions on how our police operate come from the Negotiated Settlement Agreement. The Monitor of that Agreement has made it clear that he is only interested in conforming to the Agreement not reducing crime in the city. OPD is "inches" away from conforming and it is time for the city to push back hard and get out from under it. At the very least we can spend the $1M+ money that the Monitor gets on policing.
I understand there is a new computer system in place that is supposed to speed the "paperwork" for officers. Let's hope it does. I did a ride along several years ago and the officer had to reenter things by hand that were already on his screen.
This isn't rocket science. There are scores of well managed cities in the US, red and blue. They have responsible politicians, professional administrators and managers. The first step here in Oakland is to recall Sheng Thao, whose only skill was promoting herself into the mayoralty, the second step is to elect serious people to city government positions. Let's adequately fund a police force so that it can do its job in a way that is respectful of all and also insures as much public safety as possible. Let's get prosaic: fix and clean the streets, pick up the garbage and attend to the unhoused in an efficient, compassionate and helpful way. Let's ditch ridiculous plans to sell a broken down old stadium (albeit one with great memories) as a way of balancing a budget, especially to a group with dodgy looking financials. We need thinkers, not magical thinkers. Yes, these are goals hard to reach, but if we throw out of office most of the current crop of leaders, we'll move along quite nicely.
So well said Bill. It really does not feel that hard when you look at the details. Some things are, but many are just simple, straightforward, commonsense. I'm continually amazed at how many bad decisions our council makes.
Thanks. Einstein said that the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits
Just feels like more finger pointing from the agency directly concerned with public safety. I see all these pursuit policies cited here, especially “19 different factors”, yet it’s not stated at all what they are.
I’ve never seen OPD take accountability for anything, even when embroidered in a human trafficking scandal, so forgive me for not immediately taking their word.
First off, extremely well written and informative. I agree there's so much red tape that gets in the way of officers doing their job.
However, there seems to be a few caveats. The biggest thing for me is that at around 700 officers, only 250 do patrols, leading to only 35 on shift? What are the other 450 officers doing?
Also you seem to contradict yourself. Are officers super busy running from one thing to the next, or are they spending 80% on their time on computers and paperwork?
Finally, these piece reads as very pro police. What about the hours of unaudited overtime that is bleeding this city dry? Some officers are making 500k+
Great questions. FWIW I did come away more pro police than I started, but I also think we need to have a "no excuses - get your job done" attitude with police. That is hard when there are such clear challenges.
The other 450 officers is something I've heard many stories about but unfortunately cannot share all the details because it isn't sufficiently fact checked. I hope to write about this in the future, but I think it does make some intuitive sense if you think about it: there are many jobs in a police department that are not patrol (detective work, internal affairs, medical or administrative leave, management, etc.).
I don't think the paperwork vs running from thing to thing is a contradiction. Paperwork is mandated by law and they get disciplined if they don't do it. So they are either busy doing paperwork or they are responding to Priority 1 calls. During my shift, they only responded to one Priority 3 call, and that was because the person called three different times. BTW it is worse than that - they actually often have so much paperwork that 4-8 officers show up to any given event, which sucks up resources.
I've dove into overtime a bit, but honestly the results were mixed. They have a TON of overtime and 486 officers made $300K+ (Some discussion here: https://x.com/gaganbiyani/status/1803639713045315889). Definitely needs to change. However, they also don't have enough officers and OT is still cheaper than FT work because of the massive benefits.
I am willing to bet there's significant inefficiency at the police department btw - and I do think we should hold them accountable for it. But I did not see that on my ride along; maybe in future I'll have even more time to dig in further and answer some of my open questions.
Really appreciate the honest and thoughtful questions, John.
Thanks for your thoughtful and thorough response. I have also had more positive interactions with OPD, they are just normal folks trying to do their job the best they can, and many do care about the community.
It seems none of the math lines up for what is needed. Yes, going from 800 to 700 police officers is tough. But a 10-15% reduction, or increase in the police force, is not going to move the needle on the 2% closure rate for crimes, the >20,000 cars stolen a year, or the 150 people waiting on 911.
As you mentioned, we definitely need more efficiency and technological crime enforcement solutions like red light cameras and AI face recognition.
Oakland gets soft-on-crime politicians because too many voters are willing to accept the side affects of the welfare state they crave, such as crime, for the benefits, such as not having to apply themselves in bad schools and not having to get a job. It's real simple.
Playing armchair psychologist with hypothetical voters isn’t going to solve anything, you don’t know each and every persons mindset so please don’t pretend like you do.
It’s really simple.
Sure
Lol, fuckin idiot.
Hack opinion piece. Keep your day job.
Bot. Troll. Following no one and has no followers.
Lol
I’m on your side, whoever authored this, but can you please site your sources for your statistics? No way I’m passing this info on w/o sited sources.
I probably interviewed 20 people before I decided to write this piece and shared the post with multiple high level officials so they could validate/invalidate the facts stated. Is there a specific statistic that you think I should post a cited source for?
I had the opportunity to speak with you at a discussion event earlier this week and brought up the points below (as have several other commenters), and would appreciate getting your response here.
The “19 rules” you mention that prevent police from “doing their job” are risk factors officers must consider before initiating a pursuit, established to prevent bystander injury and death (see Page 2 here: https://public.powerdms.com/oakland/tree/documents/408). Oakland has paid millions in compensation for such incidents - one ex: a motorcyclist struck by an OPD vehicle in 2017 lost his leg, and the officer involved made false statements to avoid accountability. (https://eastbayexpress.com/opd-cop-caught-making-apparent-false-statements-after-injury-crash-2-1/). Any suggestions on what should be removed?
On false statements - some of the paperwork you reference stem from the Negotiated Settlement Agreement, implemented due to OPD’s history of routinely racially targeting and abusing people, planting drugs on suspects, falsifying reports, and making unlawful arrests. If you’re trying to say that federal oversight hasn’t been effective, it seems that’s true: since the 2000s, there have been several instances of misconduct, brought to the public by victims and journalists - not discovered and remedied by the OPD - including in 2016 when officers were charged for sexually abusing an underage girl. If the restrictions aren’t improving instances of misconduct and cover ups, what should replace it? Without this understanding, how can trust be established? (Monthly reports available here: https://www.oaklandca.gov/resources/opd-independent-monitoring-team-imt-monthly-reports-2)
Both this article and the event were very focused on lifting restrictions + increasing the # of officers as the specific solutions for reducing crime. This ignores the context and history above and excludes other solutions. What about continuing to ensure public and government support for the Ceasefire Strategy, which was underfunded and nearly abandoned but shows a positive impact to crime reduction, where OPD has been a partner?
Other strategies are similarly apolitical, cheaper, and less dangerous to residents, and do not result in such unequal ramifications to the community. They may require public + private partnerships and funding to other departments and programs (like MACRO). Remediating abandoned buildings, creating green space and tree canopies, street lights, social infrastructure programs including those created by the public library, ensuring access to public transportation, pedestrian safety, and walkable neighborhoods, clean needle initiatives and paths to recovery and gainful employment, creating affordable housing (not just building new housing - ensuring that existing housing is actually affordable, and addressing vacancies), ensuring access to affordable healthcare, all have more positive impact on community resiliency and a reduction in crime (more on that: https://bookshop.org/p/books/palaces-for-the-people-how-social-infrastructure-can-help-fight-inequality-polarization-and-the-decline-of-civic-life-eric-klinenberg/10231834)
What is the path forward to establish improved policing in Oakland? If lifted restrictions + more officers are the solutions you stand by to reduce crime, can you/Empower Oakland provide clarification on the following?
- Evidence of reform and accountability within the OPD
- An understanding of the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of monitoring and what should replace it
- A strategic plan of how the department plans to reduce crime if given fewer restrictions and funding for more officers, and whether that includes Ceasefire
- What other strategies, departments, and programs Empower Oakland will support to reduce crime
Great article and inside look at what these men and women are up against. Voters have got to get involved and do just a little homework. Or skip right to an R vote if that’s the only choice. If Dems want safer communities, they’re going to have to get over the R stigma. Not always the best, but better than the D.
As a man born and raised in Oakland, I have the answer to the question of the article. You voted for this.
Hell, I’m still waiting for the Cleveland cops to show up for a burglary call in 2018.
Oakland doesn't have the money to improve its police department because every time they actually find some extra money they use it to give everyone who works for the city a raise. It's an incestuous self-perpetuating system that isn't going to reform itself. No point in even discussing it.
Interesting piece, thanks for taking the ride-along and reporting on your experience. For some insight into why there are "rules" for Oakland's PO's read "The Riders Come Out and Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oakland" by Ali Winston & Darwin Bondgraham. The book, a good read, describes the circumstances that led the OPD to be placed under court oversight via the “Negotiated Settlement Agreement” (NSA) in 2003. Over two decades later OPD still hasn't managed to reach a level of compliance that would allow it to emerge from oversight. OPD is not blameless in this nor are they the only Oakland institution that has failed its citizens. For more that two decades Oakland's violent crime rate has exceeded that of the other 59 largest California cities. In most cases by a factor of two to three times. Crime rate was not among the 52 items that OPD needed to improve on in the NSA. It might be time for Oakland pols/managers to put public safety nearer to top of their priority list. Changing the police chief every two to three years has not worked well.
Do we have any insight into how what percentage of OPD officers actually in Oakland vs commute in from somewhere else? It’d be revealing to track this and compare it to other PDs. I think this could help quantify social trust between police and the community.
Sounds good in theory but I think in practice it's really hard on the officers. I don't have the data but anecdotally almost every police officer I met chooses not to live in Oakland because it is hard to live where you police, running into suspects on the street, etc. The officer I rode with wishes he could live in Oakland - he grew up here and all of his family is here - but it got to be too much and he moved out to allow himself some personal space.
There is no byline. Who wrote this? Also, how can we know which candidates for office would actually address these problems effectively?
This is near the top of the article: "A few weeks ago, Empower Oakland’s own Gagan Biyani went on a 12-hour ride-along with Oakland PD. Read his account below."
I wrote it. You can find me on X @gaganbiyani or just post any questions/comments here and I'll do my best to respond!
P.S. You're right we probably should've used Substacks co-author feature to label me directly instead of putting it in the post. Noted for next time!
Interesting account, thanks for the perspective. I didn’t see who the author is here?
This is near the top of the article: "A few weeks ago, Empower Oakland’s own Gagan Biyani went on a 12-hour ride-along with Oakland PD. Read his account below."
I wrote it. You can find me on X @gaganbiyani or just post any questions/comments here and I'll do my best to respond!
P.S. We probably should've used Substacks co-author feature to label me directly instead of putting it in the post. Noted for next time!
Thank you!