Contact: Oakland Police Officers' Association

                                                                                                            Phone: (510) 834-9670 

                                                                                                            Email: policeofficers@opoa.org

August 12, 2021 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

OAKLAND – The dedicated but overworked women and men of the Oakland Police Department welcome Governor Newsom’s decision yesterday to deploy California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers to Oakland to help combat out of control crime.

Oakland has seen a 50% increase in homicides and shootings this year, over 1600 robberies and a 97% increase in carjackings. As Oakland residents face a crime wave, the Oakland Police Department faces a staffing crisis. There are now only 704 Oakland Police Officers at all ranks to protect the city. That is down from 750 officers in 2019. Oakland Police Department’s staffing levels are at their lowest level in six years due to attrition and defund the police policies promulgated by the majority of the City Council.   

“Every Oakland cop welcomes help from the CHP. But it’s a shame that it took Oakland’s crime weary residents pleading to the state for help because the majority of Oakland’s City Council abandoned crime victims and embraced a dangerous defund the police ideology.” said Oakland Police Officers' Association President Barry Donelan.  

The Oakland City Council voted 6 - 2 to defund the police. That included freezing 55 vacant police officer positions, disbanding traffic enforcement units, reducing the number of crime reduction team and community resource officers, and ending neighborhood walking details. 

CHP Officers will likely be deployed to major Oakland thoroughfares to conduct traffic enforcement, as Oakland’s traffic enforcement units are defunded. The goal; reduced traffic fatalities, deter sideshows and interdicted illegal firearms.  

Click for Oakland’s crime statistics year to date.