Police
As Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell prepares to leave in December, city officials will be tasked with selecting a new head for the Police Department. The Oakland Police Commission, known as one of the strongest oversight boards in the country, will help decide who becomes the city’s next police chief. Its involvement is under scrutiny by the Oakland Police Officers Association and some residents, after some said Chief Mitchell left because the job comes with too much oversight. “We will…
Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell resigned Wednesday morning, 18 months after being hired. In a statement on its website, the city said he will step down on Dec. 5. “It has been an honor to serve the Oakland community, and I am grateful for the support I’ve received from the residents,” Mitchell said in the statement. “I’m incredibly proud of the men and women of this Department and the collaborative working relationships forged with the community and business owners to reduce…
The Oakland Police Commission this week gave police Chief Floyd Mitchell the green light to allow officers to start a car chase without prior approval from a supervisor and to exceed 50 mph in those pursuits. Previously, officers were required to get supervisor approval before chasing any suspects and had to abandon the chase if it exceeded 50 mph. Mitchell has been advocating for a new chase policy for the department for over a year. Though he did not need…
The Oakland chapter of the NAACP on Monday announced a new collaboration with the Oakland Police Department to recruit more officers from the community, especially Black residents as well as other people of color. At a press conference at the Oakland NAACP west office, retired Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte, an executive member of NAACP Oakland, spoke about racial patterns she has noticed among crime victims. “I realized that the vast majority of cases, the victims were African…
Oakland leaders closed a $265 million city budget deficit by cutting spending across many departments and programs earlier this month in what Councilmember Zac Unger called a “nobody’s happy budget.” But one controversial area of spending is seeing a substantial increase in the new budget: police overtime. Over the last decade, the Oakland Police Department has consistently overspent its overtime budget by tens of millions of dollars each year. Last year, as the city’s fiscal crisis deepened, the police department overspent…
After several hours of debate, the Oakland City Council voted Tuesday to renew its contract with ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection technology system. The council renewed the $2.5 million contract for one year to start, instead of three, because of concerns about a lack of data and the city’s strained budget. But if the City Council does not make changes to the contract next year, it will automatically renew for the full three years. It was approved by a 7-1 vote,…
Three people were wounded by gun fire when a dispute between two groups turned violent in the parking lot of Skyline High School after a graduation ceremony Thursday. Oakland police and California Highway Patrol officers responded to reports of multiple gunshots on the north side of campus around 7:45 p.m. Two adult victims, a man and a woman, were in stable condition Friday, according to Oakland police Lt. Robert Trevino. A third victim later turned up at a hospital and…
More than 12,000 vehicles have been stolen this year in Oakland, where the thefts are on a dramatic rise. Car thefts in Oakland have increased by 49% since last year, Oakland Police Department data from this fall shows, a jump that has put some residents on edge. The neighborhoods with the highest rates of car thefts include Hegenberger, Coliseum, and Lakeside — with 1,815, 300 and 298 cases, respectively. Gilligan Brown, who has lived in Oakland for more than 25…
Oakland is considering changes to its Police Commission that would impact how the group trains and chooses its members. The City Council’s Public Safety Committee will vote on the legislation Dec. 12 before it can go to the full council for final approval. Introduced by Councilmembers Dan Kalb and Kevin Jenkins, the legislation would expand the eligibility for applicants to join the commission by revising the commission’s conflict of interest rules and further define their roles. Oakland’s new rules would…