By Magaly Muñoz

 The City of Oakland held a series of town halls on public safety this week to discuss and address residents’ biggest concerns about strategies city leaders are implementing to make the town a safer place.

To kickoff the series, the public safety leadership team met at Beth Eden Baptist Church, where pews were filled with people ready to ask questions of city officials they don’t often get to interact with.

“I want [this town hall discussion] to be honest. I want this to be productive and solutions oriented,” Mayor Sheng Thao said.

On the leadership team with Thao were Police Chief Floyd Mitchell, City Administrator Jestin Johnson, Department of Violence Prevention Chief Holly Joshi, and Fire Chief Damon Covington. Director of the Department of Transportation Josh Rowan and Assistant City Administrator Harold Duffey also joined the panel on Friday evening.

City officials have faced harsh criticism on the public safety front, with many Oakland residents reporting frustration and disappointment that they do not feel comfortable stepping out of their homes or going to work everyday.

Strategies like Ceasefire, a program used from 2012 to 2019 to reduce violent gun crimes, were highlighted to show that reinvestment in such initiatives makes it possible to reduce gun violence by at least 50%.

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Programs like Ceasefire, which look to prevent crime at the source, such as gangs or individuals with histories of crime, are inter-agency. The Department of Violence Prevention (DVP) also largely looks at how to reduce and prevent violent crime and guide victims through their trauma.

Joshi explained that the department takes a community-based approach to tackling organized violent crimes in the city. These strategies include conversations with community members and grassroots organizations, providing resources and social services to those most at risk for crimes, and identifying who is most likely to commit crimes so that root problems can be tackled head on instead of waiting for these individuals to fall through the cracks.

As of August 24, violent crime is down 15% across the city from 2023 to 2024, according to police data. A major change from the 2022 to 2023 annual data that showed violent crime was up 21% and assault with a firearm was also up 12% in that same timeframe. Assault with a firearm is down 33% from last year.

“I understand that crime is not going down fast enough. I understand that you are not feeling safe enough. But we’re working extremely diligently to reimplement the things that we know work in the city of Oakland,” Joshi said.

Despite these changes in data and reinvestments into public safety programs, attendees did not appear satisfied with the results, saying they see more crime now than they did years ago when they were growing up in Oakland.

One of the main topics of discussion was related to the police department.

Attendees wanted to know when OPD would be receiving more police officers as there are currently only 691 sworn members to the nearly 431,000 in city population. OPD had 712 officers on the force before budget constraints cut positions.

Business owners and residents reported waiting hours after a crime is committed in their area before an officer shows up to take a report. Some local entrepreneurs claimed that police officers sometimes watch as crimes occur because they are not allowed to pursue potential offenders unless they believe that suspect has committed a violent crime, per OPD policy.

Mitchell explained that they are hoping to use the attrition of almost-retired officers in order to hire cadets who complete and pass police training from the local academies.

The Oakland police union revealed in a press conference earlier this month that there are only 105 officers a day over three shifts patrolling the city, meaning only 35 officers are on the streets at any given moment. The union added that to work more efficiently, 300 officers on patrol a day is the minimum in order to answer more calls and reports.

Homelessness was another popular topic during Friday’s discussion.

Residents wanted to know what the city is doing to enforce the removal of encampments and abandoned vehicles lined down major streets in Oakland.

Panel leaders said they often find it difficult to remove large encampments because advocates and lawyers will flood the scene and claim the city is violating human rights laws, putting a barrier on sweeps.

Johnson suggested that if people in the area are upset with these encampments and with advocates getting in the way of doing their jobs, residents should show up and provide support to city workers during sweeps.

Attendees did not respond well to the suggestion, saying that it was not their job to help the city and that officials should do more to clean up the neighborhoods.

Thao said she would be announcing an executive order soon related to homeless encampment sweeps, hoping to tackle one of the many public safety issues plaguing the city.

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