Oakland police cite new spike in killings
Critics see politics of fear as ‘defund’ movement grows
With pressure intensifying to slash Oakland’s police budget in half, the department released a startling message early this month that seemed to complicate the debate.
“Oakland police see spike in homicides,” the advisory said, listing seven killings that occurred between June 24 and July 2, mostly in the flatland neighborhoods of East Oakland.
Police officials sent the notice to media and posted it on Twitter, adding fuel to an already fiery dispute between activists who want funds and duties shifted away from law enforcement, and others who want to keep officers on the streets.
The City Council is set to discuss possible cuts on July 21, weeks after passing a budget that stripped $14.3 million from the $330 million department — an amount that some critics saw as paltry. Though most City Council members support the goal of taking $150 million from the police and spend
ing it on social services or other public safety models, they disagree on the process: Some seek to make deep cuts immediately, while others want a plan in place.
“There are two different camps,” said City Councilman Loren Taylor, whose district spreads through East Oakland. “One is, ‘Let’s just pull away funds right now, and it will work itself out.’ And the other is, ‘Let’s be more deliberate and have a plan before we take away those funds.’ ”
Taylor places himself in the latter group, but acknowledged he’s facing demands from all sides. While a powerful coalition of progressive groups has called for swift and dramatic defunding, residents of highcrime neighborhoods still rely on police for protection. And police officials warned him that “lives will be lost” if their budget is decimated.
The “spike in homicides” advisory prompted new questions. Was Oakland reeling from a violent crime wave just as city leaders considered proposals to defund the police budget? Or were the police sowing fear because they saw their budget threatened?
UC Berkeley law Professor Franklin Zimring said he’s suspicious that police were motivated to draw conclusions from early numbers to prevent further cuts to their budget.
Oakland has gradually chipped away at its homicide rate since 2006, the year it saw a stunning high of 148 killings. By 2018, the number was down to 68, the lowest figure since 1999. It rose to 74 in 2019, and the numbers remained steady this year, despite the cluster in late June and early July. Thirtyseven people have been killed in Oakland since the beginning of January, fewer than the 40 slain by this time last year.
“It’s very early, statistically, to suggest there has been an upsurge,” Zimring said, adding that he understands why, in this particular moment, the Police Department might make the suggestion anyway.
“The fear of violence is good for police budgets,” Zimring said.
Interim Police Chief Susan Manheimer said the advisory was not related to political calls for defunding. The burst of violence in Oakland reflects a national trend, she said, citing other cities — Nashville, Denver, Chicago, New Orleans, New York City — that saw similar waves.
“The spike has been pretty tremendous,” Manheimer told The Chronicle on Monday, speculating that it could stem from angst and hopelessness. Since COVID19 hit, Oakland has seen a 32% increase in shootings alone, the chief said. Seven people were shot on the Fourth of July.
Like other city leaders, Manheimer stressed her commitment to reimagining policing, harnessing all the momentum and rage following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In Fruitvale, an area long burdened by violent crime, residents appear divided. One of the city’s recent homicides occurred at 25th Avenue and International Boulevard, where officers responded to a Shot-Spotter alert detecting gunfire around midnight on July 1. They arrived to find a man dead at the scene. Police have not released his identity.
In the days that followed, the victim’s friends and family turned a lamp post on International Boulevard into a memorial, decorating it with balloons, votive candles and flowers in empty wine bottles.
Abdul Nassimi, a neighborhood resident, said the area “does feel dangerous sometimes.”
Nassimi, who was walking down International Boulevard on Monday morning, works late shifts for a medical devices company, and said he feels uneasy driving home at midnight. He’ll sometimes circle the block several times before parking his car.
D.J. Brooks had a different perspective. A counselor for the Youth Employment Partnership, he oversaw a group of teenagers Monday who were laying tiles for a storefront mosaic at the corner of 23rd Avenue and International Boulevard.
“We need the police — it’s a fact,” Brooks said, noting that he doesn’t believe in dismantling the force altogether. “But I do agree with spreading out the funding (to pay for) programs that are beneficial to our youth, and to troubled citizens in our community.”
Sergeant Barry Donelan, who heads the Oakland Police Officers Association, said that everyone in the department is frustrated by the defund conversation, “whether they’re pushing a squad car or (holding) a senior position.”
He described the surge of violence in early July as “pretty spectacular” and recalled a point on the Fourth of July when everything seemed to devolve. Late that night, Donelan remembered hearing a weary officer on the scanner, responding to a stabbing on 71st Avenue. The officer had to clarify that it was not related to a nearby shooting on 72nd Avenue, Donelan said.
Donelan said he agrees with some ideas from city leaders, such as the proposal to divert mental health emergencies over to civilian experts instead of police officers. But he hopes the city can do that without reducing the size of the force or lacerating the budget. The last time Oakland significantly pared back its force, laying off 80 officers and 21 cadets in 2010, crime shot way up. By 2012, Oakland recorded 15.3 violent crimes for every 1,000 people — a higher rate than other major California cities. Response times to 911 calls had slowed from 15 to 17 minutes.
With a force of 732 officers and command staff, “our numbers are a fraction of what they need to be,” Donelan said.
But City Councilwoman Nikki Fortunato Bas argues that Oakland can do more with less if it redirects many police responsibilities to civilians, allowing officers to focus on violent crime. Early this month Bas and City Councilman Dan Kalb ordered an analysis of Oakland’s 911 calls, due in October, to determine how many could be resolved by a mental health counselor or trained mediator instead of a police officer.
On July 21, the City Council may review proposals to shift other responsibilities — such as traffic enforcement or permits and security for special events — away from the police, Bas said. Other cities are testing similar ideas: The Berkeley City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to put unarmed civil servants in charge of traffic laws.
Bas credits the national reckoning for “shining a light” on more costeffective ways to prevent crime and promote public safety, even if it forces cities to rethink the methods they have used for years.