Dan Kalb

Nikki Fortunato Bas

Noel Gallo

Carroll Fife

Oakland Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas and her budget team of Councilmembers Carroll Fife, Dan Kalb, and  Noel Gallo sent a joint letter to Mayor Libby Schaaf, Administrator Ed Reiskin and Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong on July 1 expressing serious concerns that the administration and police department have been sharing inaccurate and misleading information regarding police funding in the Fiscal Year 2021-23 budget, passed on Thursday, June 24.

The City’s 2019-21 budget allocated $635,278,301 million for police spending; this total accounts for midcycle budget amendments made in 2020-21, whereas prior released numbers did not reflect these amendments. Oakland’s new 2021-23 budget allocates $673,819,639 million for police spending, a $38,541,338 million (+6%) increase from the last budget cycle in the City’s General Purpose Fund.

“I am disappointed by our mayor and police Chief characterizing Oakland’s new budget to the media and general public as having ‘defunded’ or ‘decimated’ the police budget, when in fact total resources allocated for policing have increased by 6% or $38.5 million in this budget, compared to our last two-year budget,” said Council President Bas.

“Since 2012, OPD’s budget has increased by more than $100 million,” she said. “As leaders of our city, we must not use exaggerated, inaccurate information. It prevents us from coming together to focus on strengthening our public safety system’s ability to address violent and serious crime, while transitioning to build effective alternatives for non-violent, low-level 911 calls for service.”

Said Councilmember Gallo, “We did not defund the police. It was about reform and clearly defining our priorities and services to better serve Oakland. Public safety begins at home and in the neighborhood. We need to create jobs, open our parks and libraries, and support our schools.”

Mayor Schaaf’s proposed 2021-23 budget would have increased police spending to $692,584,997 million. Council President Bas’ budget increased police spending but redirected $18,765,358 million of Schaaf’s proposed increase towards tripling the Department of Violence Prevention’s budget and expanding MACRO, Oakland’s civilian crisis response program in the Fire Department.

The Police Department’s projected staffing levels in the first year are the same in both Mayor Schaaf’s proposal and the budget passed by the Council, which will serve as a transitional year to divert non-criminal, non-violent 911 calls to alternative responses in the Fire and Transportation Departments.

The goal of the council members has been to define violence interruption and fund plans to expand violence prevention in 2021-23.

On June 29, Bas convened a public panel on the Department of Violence Prevention’s plans to expand violence prevention efforts in Oakland using its significantly increased budget with Guillermo Cespedes, Oakland’s Chief of Violence Prevention, as well as life coaches and violence interrupters leading frontline organizations addressing gun / gang / group violence, gender-based violence, human trafficking, and trauma in Oakland.

During the discussion, Chief Cespedes explained that San Francisco’s 2020 homicide rate was 5 homicides per 100,000 residents, with 32 violence interrupters; Los Angeles’ rate hovers around 10 homicides per 100,000 residents, with 132 violence interrupters.

By contrast, Oakland is severely understaffed: our homicide rate was 24 homicides per 100,000 residents, with only 10 violence interrupters.

Read the open letter to Mayor Schaaf and Police Chief Armstrong at https://drive.google.com/file/d/17R5uY1DQfUXKLw2N_9RnRwvDOPv03uew/view

Isabelle Price

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