Four tips for Oakland’s new top cop
Last Friday, Oakland announced the hiring of Floyd Mitchell of Lubbock, Texas, to become its next police chief, the 11th person to hold the title since 2009. He’s taking over a department at least twice the size of any he’s managed and inherits a city experiencing yearover-year increases in crime. Here are four suggestions that could help him succeed where all others have failed.
Prioritize community engagement: You’re not from Oakland. The people who live here are a proud, provincial bunch so we are curious about you but also skeptical. Sit down knee-to-knee with every neighborhood crime prevention council and community organization from the Berkeley border to the end of Bancroft Avenue. Walk the city’s small business corridors. Show up at Rotary Club events. Respect the Police Commission. You are filling the shoes of a beloved Oaklander who thrived at community engagement. Residents will be genuinely happy to see you — they have waited more than a year for a police chief — and they want to see you succeed. But you only get one chance at a first impression. If Oaklanders don’t get to know you “in the community,” the support will evaporate. And never, ever, skip the annual National Night Out event in August, where residents set up block parties to get to know their local officers. It’s basically a citywide holiday in Oakland.
Don’t challenge the federal monitor: One of your multiple bosses — and the only one who can shiv you without leaving a fingerprint — is Robert Warshaw, the consultant from hell who ultimately will decide when the Oakland Police Department can exit the 21-year-old negotiated settlement agreement, the list of court-ordered reforms that stem from “The Riders,” a group of rogue cops accused of falsifying evidence, beating residents and planting drugs, to name a few misdeeds. The agreement’s list of “tasks to complete” appears reasonable at first, but you will grow frustrated with Warshaw’s mystifying analysis (“In the end, real change requires real change.”) that is often communicated through oblique public reports.
Unfortunately, the monitor holds ultimate power and answers only to a federal judge who has shown extreme obedience to Warshaw. You’re locked in an oppressive relationship with a man who has already been exonerated from accusations of inappropriate behavior, and you will be required to smile through the tears to keep the house calm. If you ever start to question Warshaw’s methods, intent or conclusions, dust off your resume — you’re cooked. Consult with the city attorney frequently. Face to face. In a public setting. And never in writing.
Learn to “wear it” on Mondays: Lawlessness, violence and human tragedies will occur over the weekend in Oakland — sometimes all at the same sideshow. On Monday mornings the media, armed with surveillance videos that have long gone viral, will want to know who is responding to the mayhem. For the past year, no one leader in the city has consistently stood at the podium to acknowledge the unsettling levels of violence residents are witnessing and experiencing, and assure us there’s a strategy to address it.
The leadership void has caused a simmering unease across the city that leaves residents to wonder, “Who’s in charge?” You’re the new face of public safety in Oakland, and it’s the police chief ’s job to convey the plan with authority and confidence. Congratulations, on Monday mornings you’re the guy who gets to step up and “wear it.”
Advocate for more resources: Your department is understaffed, overworked and underappreciated. Oakland officers regularly lead the nation with the highest rate of serious violent crimes they respond to, making their jobs among the most challenging in U.S. law enforcement. The explosive 21% increase in crime last year demoralized the department, if not the entire city. Your officers put their lives on the line daily in a community where current City Council members have sought to “defund” the police department by 50%.
The good news is that “defund the police” — as you’ll find during your community engagement rounds — is overwhelmingly unpopular with Oakland residents, where 78% polled said they want to maintain or increase police staffing levels. Additionally, Mayor Sheng Thao — who as a council member in 2020 co-authored legislation to cut police funding and voted in 2021 to cut police academies — has done a 180 turn in support of law enforcement,
and recently said she would nearly triple the department’s staffing to “2,000 officers” if not for budget constraints.
Once you see the duct tape and twine that holds the department together, and the immense workload, you should become your rank-and-file’s most unapologetic and vocal advocate for additional funds.
You’re not in Lubbock anymore, chief. You’re stepping into one of the most dynamic, complex, beautiful cities in the world and taking on one of its most difficult jobs. The job is 50% operations, 50% communications and 100% politics.
Oh, I nearly forgot my final tip — reduce crime.
Justin Berton, an Oakland resident for nearly 25 years, covered the city and the police department as a journalist for the East Bay Express and San Francisco Chronicle. He was director of communications for Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf for five years, during which he advised two police chiefs, one interim chief and one acting chief.