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Oakland mayor seeks to reverse police cuts amid crime spike
Oakland is among other liberal cities having to change course
amid an increase in violent crimeNov 29, 2021
Bu Juliet Williams
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — In a reversal of plans to divert funding from police to
social services, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said Monday that she'll push
to reverse planned cuts to the city's police department and seek to
quickly hire more officers amid a spike in violence and homicides that
has left some residents afraid to leave their homes.

The mayor's announcement came after a weekend in which three people were
killed, including a retired police officer acting as a security guard
for a television news crew, bringing the number of homicides to 127 so
far this year.

To address the violence, Schaaf said she'll ask the city council to
reverse funding cuts scheduled to take effect next year, though she
still supports diversion efforts.

“When those messages and services are not effective … the consequences
must be swift and certain," Schaaf told reporters Monday on a Zoom call.
“There is nothing progressive about unbridled gun violence.”

Amid a nationwide movement to shift funding away from police budgets
after the killing of George Floyd, the progressive Oakland City Council
also voted in June to spend $18 million on programs that aim to prevent
street crime and address homelessness.

Oakland is among other liberal cities having to change course amid a
spike in crime.

In June 2020, the Portland City Council and the mayor cut millions from
the police budget. Earlier this month, the council unanimously passed a
fall budget bump that included increasing the current $230 million
police budget by an additional $5.2 million.

From New York City to Los Angeles — in cities that had some of the
largest Black Lives Matter protests — police departments are seeing
their finances partially restored in response to rising homicides, an
officer exodus and political pressures.

Schaaf said efforts to shift lower-level policing to other departments
and efforts aimed at diverting those convicted to other services have
not been enough.

Police staffing has also fallen one officer below a 2014 voter-approved
measure that requires the police department to have at least 678 sworn
officers on staff. Schaaf said the department will boost its recruiting
efforts.

That measure requires the city to have at least 678 officers to access
funding from a parcel tax.

The union that represents Oakland police called the dwindling number of
officers “yet another broken promise to Oakland residents by the
“defund-the-police” majority on city council."

Among the other high-profile deaths was the death of a 1-year-old boy
who was hit and killed by a stray bullet on an Oakland freeway while he
slept in his car seat as his mother drove on a Saturday afternoon.
Officials say the vehicle likely got caught in the crossfire of two
vehicles exchanging gunfire.

Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said in a news conference last
week that the police department needs help and asked city council
members to “step up" and put aside their political differences to
address crime, KPIX-TV reported.

NEXT: Portland leaders agree to spend millions more on police, public safety

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