July 21: 1:30pm Oakland City Council Budget Meeting re; Funding Oakland Police Department
Stephanie Hayden here, Chair of Melrose Community, and I’m writing to share there is a City Council meeting today where the mid-year budget cycle will be re-addressed to consider amending the updated proposal for changing the Oakland Police Budget.
I am not advocating any position here, other than to relay part of the Mayor’s message to ask folks to join the meeting today at 1:30pm to voice their opinion on funding of OPD.
Here is a portion of her message this morning I’m reposting for your convenience:
I advise you all to do research on the subject and make your own decisions about your position on reallocation of funds to provide community safety services to Oaklanders.
Thanks,
Stephanie
This is a truncated portion of the original message…
Action Alert – Save Our Budget
Dear Oaklanders,
On June 23rd the Oakland City Council passed a responsible and admirable budget to reconcile competing community demands to defund the police AND preserve police 911 response.
The Council removed a significant $14.3 million from the Oakland Police Department (OPD) budget and allocated much of it to creating a new emergency response system of community-led caretakers — a national-leading transformation in emergency response called MACRO — Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland.
Yet the cuts, even as we experience historic revenue loss due to COVID-19 pandemic, were carefully made to not further impair what is already sub-standard police 911 response, as well as not further strain Oakland’s under-staffed police force.
OPD already has the lowest officer per-crime staffing of any department in America.
Please read the objective Director of Finance’s analysis and concerns here.
Please contact the Oakland City Council at council@oaklandca.gov OR speak up at today’s Council Meeting
We all support reimagining public safety and advancing racial justice. On June 23, the City Council already committed to doing just that — by immediately cutting and redirecting an unprecedented $14.3 million from OPD, as well as launching a thoughtful and responsible process over the next nine months to analyze a 50% reduction in police spending by our next budget action.
Oakland can lead the nation. Let’s create a reimagined system of public safety and justice in Oakland that’s based on real numbers and won’t abandon those who currently count on a 911 response until the new system is actually up and running.
With Oakland-love,
Libby
For details on today’s Council meeting, click here. The meeting starts TODAY at 1:30pm, but this budget amendment is the last item of the meeting – Item 16.