City Government

Post Endorses Desley Brooks for District 6

Published

7 years ago

September 22, 2018

Volunteers, making phone calls and talking to voters, join Desley Brooks’ campaign for re-election to Oakland City Council for District 6.

The Oakland Post endorses Desley Brooks for reelection to the City Council for District 6, based on her track record of working for job opportunities, equity, social justice, against homelessness and for affordable housing for residents of her district and all of Oakland.
The strong endorsement statement by Allen Temple Baptist Church’s Pastor Emeritus J. Alfred Smith Sr. sums up why Oakland needs to re-elect Desley Brooks.

“It is plain why we need tough legislators like you with fearlessness and fire who fight evil,” Pastor Smith wrote in an email.
“Stay strong and keep speaking up for the last, the least and the lowest,” he wrote.

Brooks has served on the City Council for 16 years, first elected in 2002. She was born in New Orleans, and she grew up in Los Angeles and Seattle. She earned a B.A. in Political Science from University of Washington and her law degree from Seattle University.

Before joining the City Council, Brooks was in-house counsel for several departments at both federal and state levels and served as Chief of Staff to Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson.

“There are two Oaklands, the haves and the have nots,” Councilmember Brooks told members of the Oakland Post’s community endorsement panel.

“Without somebody pushing against the status quo, things won’t get done on the City Council,” she said.

“I believe it is important that communities of color that have been historically marginalized have representation on the council,” so her district and others will receive the resources they need, she said.

A councilmember with a strong record of legislative successes, she introduced the city’s cannabis equity ordinance, which created access to the billion-dollar industry for neighborhoods and individuals who have been victimized for decades by over-policing and criminalization associated with the War on Drugs.

Because of her outspoken leadership, she was invited to speak on cannabis equity at a national conference held at Harvard University, and her equity campaign has become a major issue in the debate over legalization across the country.

Brooks also led the effort to establish the Department of Race and Equity, an ordinance that requires the city to examine its newly proposed policies in terms of their impact on minorities and women.

Joining with fellow Councilmembers Rebecca Kaplan and Noel Gallo, she has helped pass significant renters’ protections and affordable housing and has supported the fight of local residents for an independent police review commission.

She fought for city budget support and a ballot measure for job training funds to provide opportunities for homeless and unemployed residents to afford to live in Oakland.

People are being pushed out of Oakland and become homeless, Brooks said, not just because of the lack of affordable housing but also because of obstacles to obtaining good jobs, such as those in the construction industry.

“People don’t have jobs, they don’t have jobs that can sustain their families,” she said. “They are locked out of so many things because of systemic racism.”

Defending immigrant rights, Brooks successfully worked with council members to strengthen the city’s Sanctuary City ordinance when the Oakland Police Department, supported by the Mayor and Police Chief, illegally participated in an ICE deportation raid last year.
In addition to the Post, Brooks has been endorsed by faith-based, labor, neighborhood and business leader.

Endorsers include Oakland Firefighters IAFF Local 55, city workers union SEIU 1021, ILWU Local 10, National Union of Healthcare Workers, IFTPE Local 21, Bay Cities Baptist Ministers Union, Bishop Frank Pinkard Jr.—Evergreen Baptist Church, Rev. Harold Mayberry—senior pastor of First A.M.E. Church, and Rev. Dr. Gerald Agee – senior [astor of Friendship
Christian Center.

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

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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

4 weeks 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.