There is no police staffing Crisis

How the Oakland Police Department Wastes Resources on Noncriminal and Nonviolent Interactions Instead of Focusing on Violent Crime

December 2021

Amidst a spike in homicides and shootings over the past two years, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is once again proposing to waste taxpayer money on more police instead of addressing the real causes of violence. Predictably, she and her conservative allies on city council, Loren Taylor and Treva Reid, as well as some moderate council members like Sheng Thao, are backtracking on the City’s promise to reimagine public safety. They are urging more police spending even as the Oakland Police Department (OPD) has failed spectacularly to stem the violence despite receiving the lion’s share of the City’s general fund. 

A new analysis of OPD call data presented here shows that, in fact, there is no officer staffing crisis. Rather, this report finds that the department is currently wasting significant officer time on noncriminal and nonviolent issues instead of focusing on violent crime. It is a policy choice by OPD to not focus their resources effectively on violent crime.