Police

BART consultants get first degree from community

The BART boardroom opened its doors Tuesday night and community leaders and members  said they feared  the “top to bottom” assessment by an outside consulting group was nothing more than a public relations ploy by BART. “You don’t know the facts as we know the facts,” Dr. Ramona Tascoe, an ordained minister and medical doctor practicing in Oakland, told the consultants, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives,  known as NOBLE The NOBLE assessment team of eight began their…

140 fewer officers? Try 202

Mayor Ron Dellums’ proposal to reduce the Oakland Police Department by 140 officers if he fails to get federal stimulus money could end up cutting 202 officers and effectively ending  community policing, according to police. The emergency 911 would not be affected, police said. “It is going to be traffic officers and Problem Solving Officers,” said Jeffrey Thomason, the public information officer at the Oakland Police Department. Thomason said that even if the cuts were made, the Oakland Police Department…