Mayor names veteran officer James Beere Oakland’s next police chief
on July 9, 2026
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee announced the promotion Thursday of James Beere from interim police chief to permanent chief.
Beere, who has been with the Oakland Police Department since 1997, has been serving in the chief’s role since Floyd Mitchell resigned in October after only 18 months on the job.
“This has been a big deal for all of us here,” Lee said at a news conference, adding that appointing a police chief is one of the most important decisions a mayor can make.
In choosing Beere, Lee said she found someone who knew Oakland as well as policing, and who would see the role not as a job but as a commitment to the city.
“He is prepared to lead on day one,” she said. “As a husband and as a father, as an Oakland resident and a public servant, he brings both professional experience and a personal commitment to our city’s future.”
Beere is Oakland’s 13th permanent or acting chief since 2000, and the fourth permanent chief since 2020. The two chiefs who proceeded Mitchell were both fired. And in about two of the last six years, Oakland has had no permanent chief.
City officials hope Beere’s appointment will bring stability to the department, which is on the cusp of being released from federal oversight after 23 years.
“Not a lot of people agree on many things in Oakland, but we all agree on Beere,” Council President Kevin Jenkins quipped at the news conference.
In interviewing job finalists, Lee focused on how they would strengthen community engagement and civilian oversight of the force, as well as how they would recruit officers, manage public resources responsibly and make sure every neighborhood received the same level of service.
The department has a history of runaway overtime costs, spending millions of dollars over budget. It has attributed some of that cost to officer vacancies. In 2024, voters passed a tax measure to maintain a staff of 700 officers, but the city has fallen far short of that goal.
Beere said being called to lead OPD was “like a dream.” He credited Lee and her team with breaking down silos and moving the city forward. He spoke with affection for the city, saying, “This is truly the diamond of the Bay Area and we need to make this diamond shine and show everyone else in the world what Oakland really is, the greatest community.”
In May, a federal judge found that OPD had met the 51 goals established in 2003, when the federal government assumed oversight of the department as part of a settlement agreement in a lawsuit with more than 100 plaintiffs who alleged police brutality. The judge set a case management conference on Sept. 29, expressing hope that it would be the last.
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