Oakland anti-violence leader on way out
“It’s the perfect storm of COVID, reimagine, defund.” Guillermo Cespedes, Oakland chief of violence prevention
The head of of Oakland’s violence prevention department is leaving in February amid a continuing spike in gun violence and the installation of a new mayor charged with confronting crime.
Guillermo Cespedes spent three years in the position — central to the city’s public safety efforts — but his tenure coincided with a pandemic that saw violent crime spike in many cities throughout the country, including Oakland.
His departure comes as newly sworn-in Mayor Sheng Thao vows to invest more in the department.
Cespedes, who was hired in 2020 as the city’s first permanent chief of violence prevention, was charged with cutting violence through a public health approach, but the pandemic hampered his ability to do inperson outreach at a time when many people were disconnected from normal social supports. His tenure also faced scrutiny after Sarai Crain, who was fired after working for the department for a year and a half, accused him of sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation. The city paid her $268,000 after she filed a claim.
Cespedes, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, is leaving Feb. 24 to create and run the Office of Community Safety in Los Angeles, which will focus on reducing crime. Oakland officials did not say who will take over in the short- or long-term.
Oakland created the Department of Violence Prevention in 2017 and set a lofty goal of reducing
homicides by 80% over three years. Five years later, that goal hasn’t been met. Instead, the department has focused on building up its staff and increasing its work with nonprofits.
Oakland has been struggling to curb gun violence since the pandemic brought a surge in homicides. The city counted 129 homicides in 2021, the deadliest year since 2012, and 118 unlawful killings in 2022. So far, this year, the city has recorded six homicides, including a shootout at a gas station that killed one and injured four others.
The department has focused most of its work on life coaching, interrupting violence by intervening
in conflict, opening city parks and spaces for gatherings, visiting shooting victims in the hospital and providing shelter for victims of sexual exploitation.
Last April, Cespedes told The Chronicle he dealt with a “spike in expectations” after the rise in homicides and the pressure to invest more in violence prevention efforts after the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
“It’s the perfect storm of COVID, reimagine, defund — ‘let’s restructure, let’s look at the underlying conditions that create violence,’ ” Cespedes said of stresses piled upon him. “I think almost overnight, the department
went from a concept to something (where) the expectation was that it would produce results next week.”
In June 2021, the City Council voted to set aside $18 million over two years for the department, adding a major boost to Cespedes and his team. The city previously budgeted about $8 million per year for the 14-member department.
At the time, Cespedes said the department’s goals are to be “fully embedded in neighborhoods” disproportionately impacted by gun violence. Most of its efforts are through nonprofits with which the department contracts.
In the winter of 2021, Cespedes introduced a series of Town Nights programs in city parks to disrupt crime. Local nonprofit organizations hosted free dinner, games and food pickups in neighborhoods that were disproportionately impacted by violence.
The program had some early success. From June 17 to July 15, during Town Nights, authorities saw a 37% reduction in assaults with a firearm and homicides. In addition, police have confiscated 1,100 firearms from city streets so far this year — 30% more than last year.
Cespedes received his master’s degree in social work from Columbia University. He is a native of Cuba and spent part of his early career in Oakland, working with children’s and Spanish-language organizations.
He was a celebrated anti-gang leader in Los Angeles and in 2009, he was appointed deputy mayor and director of the mayor’s Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development.
Prior to returning to Oakland, Cespedes lived in Honduras and worked for a program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development to bring his ideas outside U.S. borders.