Crime

OP-ED: Cities That Ignore the Need for Police Reform Will Pay Dearly

Published

12 years ago

April 2, 2014

Bay area city governments cannot afford to ignore Oakland’s struggles with police reform. The Oakland Police Department is under the control of federal judge Thelton Henderson and his appointed monitor. Oakland refers to him as the “compliance director” rather than the “court-appointed receiver”. This arrangement, which features a stripped-down police chief, handcuffs Oakland’s ability to deliver effective Police services.

Oakland’s Police Department (OPD) is dysfunctional because of its own inaction and lack of accountability. In 2000, attorneys sued the city and individual police officers in the notorious “Riders” case, a group of Oakland police officers who terrorized West Oakland, under the guise of fighting crime. Oakland settled with the 119 plaintiffs for $11 million and agreed to implement 51 police reforms.

Regrettably, after 7 years of ignoring the reforms, the city paid $1 million a year to the court-appointed monitor who faithfully reported how the city failed to implement the reforms.

In 2010, the court appointed a receiver to run the department, taking control away from the city.

After spending more than $15 million to fight reforms, Oakland still won’t address a process to identify problem officers, internal investigations and eliminate racial profiling. The city would rather pay millions for police misconduct while no one is held accountable.

The lesson is: Implement basic control of the Police Department accountability and other simple reforms and funds are available to make citizens safer.

Talk about the inmates policing themselves. Oakland’s city auditor claims to investigate city mismanagement and the lack of performance, yet there has been no audit of the millions spent by OPD for a failed computer tracking system.

The OPD’s $200 million budget, nearly half of the city’s general budget, is a major drain because 92% of the police officers live outside the city.

Six reforms that can make a difference:

1) The city auditor should divert her resources from petty investigations and do a performance and budget audit of the Police Department and identify basic cost savings reforms that will put more officers on the street.

2) Oakland should hire civilians, instead of patrol officers, to investigate nonviolent crimes such as auto thefts and burglaries. 3) Establish civilian review of the Police Department, implement the internal investigation reforms, and eliminate the obscene current condition of more internal investigators than homicide investigators. 4) implement the remainder reforms so that the department is freed from federal jurisdiction and cost.

5) Implement technology that will improve police services. Keep the shot tracker program in place. Yes, put cameras throughout the city of Oakland. This technology exposed the Rodney King beating, the Boston marathon bombers, freed a New Jersey driver, and the out-of-control Albuquerque Police Department. 6) The city should require every police car and officer to have cameras that records every citizen interaction.

Every city has to show the courage to implement reforms that run an efficient department and accountability of its officers. Money without reforms will not reduce crime.

Clinton Killian

Clinton Killian is an attorney at Oakland downtown Oakland law firm Fried & Williams LLP and former public official. He can be reached at ckillian@postnewsgroup.com.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 24 – 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 24 – 30, 2025

Published

6 days ago

December 25, 2025

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Alameda County

Oakland Council Expands Citywide Security Cameras Despite Major Opposition

In a 7-1 vote in favor of the contract, with only District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife voting no, the Council agreed to maintain its existing network of 291 cameras and add 40 new “pan-tilt-zoom cameras.”

Published

1 week ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

At the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, Flock Safety introduces new public safety technology – Amplified Intelligence, a suite of AI-powered tools designed to improve law enforcement investigations. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

The Oakland City Council this week approved a $2.25 million contract with Flock Safety for a mass surveillance network of hundreds of security cameras to track vehicles in the city.

In recent weeks hundreds of local residents have spoken against the camera system, raising concerns that data will be shared with immigration authorities and other federal agencies at a time when mass surveillance is growing across the country with little regard for individual rights.

The Flock network, supported by the Oakland Police Department, has the backing of residents and councilmembers who see it as an important tool to protect public safety.

“This system makes the Department more efficient as it allows for information related to disruptive/violent criminal activities to be captured … and allows for precise and focused enforcement,” OPD wrote in its proposal to City Council.

According to OPD, police made 232 arrests using data from Flock cameras between July 2024 and November of this year.

Based on the data, police say they recovered 68 guns, and utilizing the countywide system, they have found 1,100 stolen vehicles.

However, Flock’s cameras cast a wide net. The company’s cameras in Oakland last month captured license plate numbers and other information from about 1.4 million vehicles.

Speaking at Tuesday’s Council meeting, Fife was critical of her colleagues for signing a contract with a company that has been in the national spotlight for sharing data with federal agencies.

Flock’s cameras – which are automated license plate readers – have been used in tracking people who have had abortions, monitoring protesters, and aiding in deportation roundups.

“I don’t know how we get up and have several press conferences talking about how we are supportive of a sanctuary city status but then use a vendor that has been shown to have a direct relationship with (the U.S.) Border Control,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Several councilmembers who voted in favor of the contract said they supported the deal as long as some safeguards were written into the Council’s resolution.

“We’re not aiming for perfection,” said District 1 Councilmember Zac Unger. “This is not Orwellian facial recognition technology — that’s prohibited in Oakland. The road forward here is to add as many amendments as we can.”

Amendments passed by the Council prohibit OPD from sharing camera data with any other agencies for the purpose of “criminalizing reproductive or gender affirming healthcare” or for federal immigration enforcement. California state law also prohibits the sharing of license plate reader data with the federal government, and because Oakland’s sanctuary city status, OPD is not allowed to cooperate with immigration authorities.

A former member of Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission has sued OPD, alleging that it has violated its own rules around data sharing.

So far, OPD has shared Flock data with 50 other law enforcement agencies.