Police

FBI, OPD joint task force increases homicide cases solved in Oakland

The Oakland Police Department and the FBI have been partnered together since June 2014 to tackle the large amount of homicide active and cold cases still under investigation. Almost a year later, a physical new joint workspace in the OPD administration building is now near completion and a new billboard campaign has been launched, resulting in a staggering significant amount of cases that are being solved.

Oakland council votes to support worker co-ops, 100 Cameras campaign

At the Oakland City Council meeting Tuesday night, the council voted to assist the development of worker cooperatives and voted unanimously to support the 100 Cameras campaign, which encourages the public to film police activity. Much of the meeting time was spent hearing public comments from a handful of activists from the civil rights coalition By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), who criticized the Oakland Police Department (OPD) for the number of officer-involved shootings of African American men in the city….

“Cops and Robbers” addresses issues of race, police brutality

A young African American man enters the grocery store, hides behind a shelf, holding in his left hand what appears to be a gun. His hand is shaking. He is breathing heavily, bleeding from an injury, fighting his pain. The young man starts talking to himself. “I was born in jail, I grew up in jail,” he shouts. “I was born with an umbilical cord wrapped around my wrist, fluid in my lungs so I couldn’t say ***t. They should…

Oakland protestors respond to decision not to indict in Eric Garner death

More than 400 protestors marched through the rain-soaked streets of Oakland Wednesday night in sympathy with the family and supporters of Eric Garner, an unarmed African American man who died at the hands of New York City police. On Wednesday morning, a New York City grand jury declined to charge a white police officer who used a banned chokehold that resulted in Garner’s death. The decision set off protests in several cities. Demonstrators in New York City tied up Grand…