Police

Currently, the OPD has 324 officers assigned as 911 call respondents, five crime reduction teams and two traffic unit teams. But to fulfill Measure BB requirements, Batts announced that OPD is moving officers back into the 75 public safety officer (PSO) positions starting in January.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for … Guns N’ Hoses!” On Sunday, the Oakland Ice Center will host the third annual charity police versus firefighters hockey match between some of Oakland’s finest, titled “Guns N’ Hoses.”

At nighttime along Oakland’s International Boulevard, dozens of teenage girls are working the track—and there’s nothing athletic about it. “The Track” is the street nickname for the epicenter of underage prostitution in Oakland, where girls well under the age of eighteen strut down the street in platform heels and mini dresses while predatory pimps wait in cars around the corner.

Neighbors and friends of an unarmed East Oakland barber who was killed by Oakland Police Monday night reacted angrily today to the police account of the shooting. Police said the officers were responding to a domestic dispute call between Jones, who was on parole for a firearms offense, and a woman at a nearby laundromat on Bancroft Avenue.

Oakland police officials say there was minimal damage Friday night as protesters marched through the city in response to the sentencing of Johannes Mehserle. By the end of the evening, two Oakland businesses sustained broken windows and six cars were damaged in the wake of the protest.

After an election season filled with debate over Oakland’s public safety funding woes, voters passed Measure BB Tuesday by a two-thirds majority. The measure’s approval means the city will continue collecting parking and property taxes for police, fire and violence prevention programs.

A peaceful rally in Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza turned violent Friday night as protesters marched through downtown and into East Oakland. Oakland North’s Teresa Chin and Roberto Daza filed these photos as they followed the protests into the night.

Oakland’s streets are quiet again. Peaceful protests turned into a night of vandalism Friday after the announcement of a two-year sentence for former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. Police officials said 152 people were arrested after protesters at a peaceful rally in Frank Ogawa Plaza stormed the streets of Oakland Friday night. Protesters marched through the downtown area and into East Oakland, blocking traffic, throwing rocks, breaking windows and jumping on cars along the way. Oakland police officials say protesters…

Oakland North reporter Teresa Chin provides an on-scene update of police arresting protesters who were reacting to the Johannes Mehserle sentencing.