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OP-ED: “We’ve Let The Dogs Out!”

Published

11 years ago

August 28, 2015

By Jesse Douglas Allen Taylor

If you live in or visit Oakland neighborhoods like the Elmhurst District—what folks refer to as “Deep East Oakland”—you’re used to police helicopters hovering in the general airspace above you for periods of time.

Mostly they appear during police chases, swinging around in wide circles, searching the ground below for suspects.

It’s become such a common flatlands occurrence that—like triggered car alarms—you hardly notice them any more.

I’m not certain exactly when they began, but his summer I’ve begun noticing that OPD’s helicopter corps have added a new “service” that has certainly gotten our attention.

I don’t know the official name, but you can call them “Public Beware Notices From The Air.”

Instead of simply silently circling, observing, and communicating to officers involved in the chase, where, now, under certain circumstances, the helicopter police have begun blaring out warning announcements to the public below through some sort of loudspeaker or bullhorn system.

As far as I can guess, the warning/announcements are repeated over and over, and go something like: “Stay in your house!” “We’ve set police dogs loose!” “Stand still if you see them! Do not run from the dogs or they will bite you!”

Anyway, there are certainly more disturbing things that could be shouted at you from out of the sky on a summer afternoon, but I can’t think of many more disconcerting than “Watch out! We’ve let the dogs out!”, since there is an implicit message that regular residents, not just the suspects, are in danger of a dog attack.

The police helicopters—or OPD’s regular on-the-ground forces, rarely bother to tell residents to stay inside when a “regular” non-dog search is going on.

Therefore, the assumption has to be made that the dogs pose a danger to civilians and suspects alike, and that the dogs have a difficulty in differentiating between the running suspect that the police are seeking and a running resident who is simply scared as hell of a loosed police dog.

And if that’s not true, why make the helicopter announcements in the first place?

You have to understand that these warning/announcements don’t come at you from the kind of state-of-the-art sound system like you see at a Coliseum concert.

The sound is somewhat garbled and inarticulate, even during the time when it’s coming from directly above. And, of course, the police helicopters, during a chase, are rarely simply hanging in the air in one place.

Instead, they generally travel in a wide circle around a designated collection of city blocks, so that sometimes the warning/announcements are directed towards you, sometimes away.

You can’t hear it clearly at all while you’re inside, so you have to go out in the yard to get a good listen, and even then it’s difficult to translate.

Before I finally figured what the police were trying to tell us, it took several passes and repeats, some careful listening, and consultation with neighbors and passersby to figure out what was being broadcast.

And that doesn’t account for residents who don’t hear the messages at all because they’re watching television inside or listening to music outside, or they’re hard of hearing, and, therefore, wander out into the “danger zone” uninformed.

Meantime, the Elmhurst District—like most Oakland neighborhoods—has a high number of people who are non-English speakers. In Elmhurst’s case, it’s folks whose native language is Spanish.

The helicopter dog warnings are given in English-only, and, as I’ve explained above, not in the type of English you’d be subject to in an ESL class or on a Rosetta Stone disk.

It appears, therefore, that anyone within the dogs-turned-loose area who is not sufficiently proficient in understanding spoken (or, more particularly, bullhorn-shouted) English is pretty much shit-out-of-luck.

A second thought. When I was growing up in the Cold War era of the 1950’s, we had periodic air raid simulations at school to prepare us for what to do in a possible nuclear bomb attack.

An air horn would blare out from somewhere, and we would all duck under our desks and cover our heads.

After a certain period of time, the horn would give out an “all clear” blast, by which we knew that the test was over, and we could all get out from under our desks and resume our schoolwork.

The OPD helicopter dog-warnings, on the other hand, come with no “all clear” announcement.

After a time, the warnings simply stop. You’re left to figure out for yourself if that means the police dogs are gone and its safe to go outside again.

The OPD helicopter police dog-warnings tell residents to stay in our homes because police dogs have been loosed, but what about those residents who are out and about in the street when the announcements come?

Presumably, if you happen to be on International Boulevard or certain portions of Bancroft or MacArthur, you can duck into a store or restaurant for the time being.

But what if you’re out on one of the side streets, far from your house, when you hear the dog-warning?

The Elmhurst is not the sort of place these days where you can simply run up to a stranger’s house, knock on the door, and get safety inside because police dogs are running around in the street.

That leads directly into a final set of questions.

First, who in their right mind thought it was good idea in the first place to let police dogs off their leashes in any Oakland residential neighborhood or commercial district, dogs that, presumably, have difficulty seeing the difference between residents and suspects, but are a danger to chase anyone who runs?

Second—and you knew this one was coming—we know that suspects rob and shoot in the hills as well as the flats.

Does that mean that the loosed police dogs—and the accompanying helicopter warnings—are carried out in the Grand Avenue-Lakeshore district and the Laurel and along Broadway in the uptown or College Avenue, for example, or is this simply a Lower Bottoms and Fruitvale District and Deep East Oakland affair?

I suppose we can assume that Oakland police have been using loosed police dogs in their chases and searches for some time.

Perhaps police officials think that adding the helicopter announcements is a step forward, constituting “fair warning” to non-suspect residents. It’s a warning, yes. But hardly fair.

Courtesy of CounterPoints- http://www.safero.org/counterpoints/counterpoints056.html

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Rest in Peace: A.M.E. Pastor and L.A Civil Rights Icon Cecil “Chip” Murray Passes

The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) in Los Angeles, died of natural causes April 6 at his Windsor Hills Home. He was 94. “Today, we lost a giant. Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray dedicated his life to service, community, and putting God first in all things. I had the absolute honor of working with him, worshiping with him, and seeking his counsel,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of the dynamic religious leader whose ministry inspired and attracted millionaires as well as former gang bangers and people dealing with substance use disorder (SUD).

Published

4 weeks ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

The Rev. Dr. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray, former pastor of First African Methodist Episcopal Church (FAME) in Los Angeles, died of natural causes April 6 at his Windsor Hills Home. He was 94.

“Today, we lost a giant. Reverend Dr. Cecil Murray dedicated his life to service, community, and putting God first in all things. I had the absolute honor of working with him, worshiping with him, and seeking his counsel,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of the dynamic religious leader whose ministry inspired and attracted millionaires as well as former gang bangers and people dealing with substance use disorder (SUD).

Murray oversaw the growth of FAME’s congregation from 250 members to 18,000.

“My heart is with the First AME congregation and community today as we reflect on a legacy that changed this city forever,” Bass continued.

Murray served as Senior Minister at FAME, the oldest Black congregation in the city, for 27 years. During that time, various dignitaries visited and he built strong relationships with political and civic leaders in the city and across the state, as well as a number of Hollywood figures. Several national political leaders also visited with Murray and his congregation at FAME, including Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Murray, a Florida native and U.S. Air Force vet, attended Florida A&M University, where he majored in history, worked on the school newspaper and pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He later attended Claremont School of Theology in Los Angeles County, where he earned his doctorate in Divinity.

Murray is survived by his son Drew. His wife Bernadine, who was a committed member of the A.M.E. church and the daughter of his childhood pastor, died in 2013.

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Court Throws Out Law That Allowed Californians to Build Duplexes, Triplexes and RDUs on Their Properties

Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional. Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.

Published

4 weeks ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

Charter cities in California won a lawsuit last week against the state that declared Senate Bill (SB) 9, a pro-housing bill, unconstitutional.

Passed in 2021, SB 9 is also known as the California Housing Opportunity and More Efficiency Act (HOME). That law permits up to four residential units — counting individual units of duplexes, triplexes and residential dwelling units (RDUs) – to be built on properties in neighborhoods that were previously zoned for only single-family homes.

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of the cities, pointing out that SB 9 discredited charter cities that were granted jurisdiction to create new governance systems and enact policy reforms. The court ruling affects 121 charter cities that have local constitutions.

Attorney Pam Lee represented five Southern California cities in the lawsuit against the state and Attorney General Rob Bonta.

“This is a monumental victory for all charter cities in California,” Lee said.

However, general law cities are excluded from the court ruling as state housing laws still apply in residential areas.

Attorney General Bonta and his team are working to review the decision and consider all options that will protect SB 9 as a state law. Bonta said the law has helped provide affordable housing for residents in California.

“Our statewide housing shortage and affordability crisis requires collaboration, innovation, and a good faith effort by local governments to increase the housing supply,” Bonta said.

“SB9 is an important tool in this effort, and we’re going to make sure homeowners have the opportunity to utilize it,” he said.

Charter cities remain adamant that the state should refrain from making land-use decisions on their behalf. In the lawsuit, city representatives argued that SB 9 eliminates local authority to create single-family zoning districts and approve housing developments.

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Funds for Down Payments and Credit Repair Given to Black First Time Homebuyers

The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) won a $10,000 fair housing settlement last November against a property management company, CIM Group LP, a global real estate company headquartered in Los Angeles, and property owner, RACR Sora, LLC, for implementing a blanket ban on renting to tenants with criminal histories at Sora Apartments in Inglewood. Three months earlier, the department, which enforces California’s civil rights laws, won another $20,000 civil rights settlement against a Lemon Grove property manager, who had targeted a Black tenant with a series of racist actions and threats of violence.

Published

4 weeks ago

February 3, 2026

Oakland Post

By McKenzie Jackson, California Black Media

Three months earlier, the department, which enforces California’s civil rights laws, won another $20,000 civil rights settlement against a Lemon Grove property manager, who had targeted a Black tenant with a series of racist actions and threats of violence.

CRD Director Kevin Kish said the department investigates cases of apparent racial bias in housing and sometimes more subtle acts of prejudice like nuisance-free or crime-free housing policies or holding tenants to different standards based on their race.

Kish said, “People will get evicted if they call the police. This can negatively impact victims of domestic violence. We also see these no-crime ordinances, or no-crime policies, used in racially discriminatory ways. If there is some kind of incident, and the police are called and it involves a Black family, then they get evicted, but other folks aren’t necessarily evicted.”

On April 11,1968, a week after Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, President Lydon B. Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, color, religion, and nationality.

Kish noted that William Byron Rumford, the first Black California State Assemblymember, who represented Berkley and Oakland, spearheaded the passing of the Rumford Act in 1963. That law sought to end discriminatory housing practices in the Golden State, five years before the Fair Housing Act became law.
Real estate agent and housing advocate Ashley Garner is the director of the CLTRE Keeper Home Ownership program. That organization gave 25 Black, indigenous, and people of color $17,500 each in down payment and credit repair support to purchase a home in Oak Park, a traditionally Black neighborhood in Sacramento, last fall. CLTRE obtained a $500,000 grant from the city of Sacramento to award the funds to the residents after they completed an eight-week homeownership program.

In 2021, the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) noted that around four in 10 Black California families owned homes, which trails that of White, Asian-American and Latinos.
According to Forbes, the median price for a home in California is over $500,000, which is double the cost of a home in the rest of the country.

Black lawmakers recently introduced their Reparations Priority Bill Package that includes support for Black first-time homebuyers, homeowners’ mortgage assistance and property tax relief for neighborhoods restricted by historic redlining.

California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) spokesperson Eric Johnson said CalHFA helps prospective low-income and moderate-income Californians purchase homes by offering down payment and closing cost aid. “There are lots of people who have steady jobs, good credit scores, constant income, but they haven’t been able to save up the money that traditional banks need or want to see for a down payment,” Johnson stated. “We help those folks out. We give a loan for the down payment to get them over that hurdle.”
CRD and the Department of Real Estate hosted “Fair Housing Protections for People with Criminal Histories” Zoom call on April 10.

On April 25, CRD will also hold Zoom seminars focused on advocating for fair housing for people with disabilities.