Mayor Schaaf announced a police hiring plan in a press conference via Zoom on Monday. The mayor said she still supports diversion efforts, but the city must increase safety.“While we are not backing down whatsoever in our historic efforts in prevention as well as a non-police response option called “MACRO”. We must address police staffing shortages and that is what we will do”, said Schaaf.
A voter-approved measure passed in 2014 requires Oakland PD to have at least 678 sworn officers on staff in order to access funding from a parcel tax. Police staffing has recently fallen below that threshold by one officer.
According to the Oakland Police Homicide department, there were 109 homicides in 2020. The killing of three people in Oakland over the weekend brings this year’s number to 127.