803 officers | 837 officers | Measure Y | Attrition | Alameda County Contract | CHP Contract | 2013 Academies | 2014 Academies | Compliance Director | Federal Funds | Schaaf's Staffing Plan | Officers from Oakland | Effect on Overtime | News | Staffing Reports
This is an issue that Oakland has been talking about for a long time (and will be talking about for a long time to come). This page needs a lot of work!
As of November 3, 2014, there are 715 officers which is a big deal in the Mayoral Race.
- Kane, Will. "Police graduating class adds 35 Oakland officers, a 4-year high." SFGate.com: Nov 1, 2014.
As of 9/30/14 there are 684 Oakland Police Department officers. If attrition rates and academy graduation rates proceed as expected, sworn staffing will exceed 700 in fall of 2014. Chief Sean Whent says he would like 900.
803 officers
803 is the minimum number of officers promised by Measure Y.
During his State of the City Address in 2008, Ron Dellums promised 803 officers by the end of the year.
Later that year, Council was still asking about it. Note: One of the officers speaking is Richard Orozco, now a captain in charge of police Area 3. Chief Tucker speaks after that and refers to Sanjiv Handa.
Short version:
837
837 is the highest number of officers OPD has had in recent years.
Measure Y
Attrition
.Attrition rates at OPD average 5.29 sworn officers per month as of late May 2014. Attrition rates and recruitment updates are provided by OPD monthly to the City Council's public safety committee. (see below for all of the reports since 2012)
Attachment K of this memo gives the reasons for each member of OPD that has left since September, 2012 (not including the recent departure of Chief Howard Jordan.) There were 35 departures between September 17, 2012 and April 29, 2013.
- Artz, Matthew. "Disability retirements rampant at Oakland police department." Oakland Tribune: May 23, 2014.
- Takeo, Ryan. "Oakland Police Officers Frustrated By High Crime, Low Morale Enticed By Neighboring Departments." CBS San Francisco: May 20, 2014.
Alameda County Contract
http://oaklandscene.blogspot.com/2013/04/oakland-paid-268000-for-alameda-county.html
Citywise: Injured deputy spells end for county's Oakland patrols.
CHP Contract
2013 Academies
Oakland: Mayor Quan's budget adds police"
Budget memo about costs of 3 academies dated 3/27/13.
According to an article in the Tribune on 8/1/13, "the city is desperate to add more police to its undermanned force, but its first two academies in five years have had alarmingly high dropout rates. Of the 57 recruits that entered last year's academy, only 36 are with the force, six of whom still are not ready to work on their own. This year's academy class has already shrunk from 51 to 40 recruits."
On September 20, 2013, 36 officers graduated from the 167th academy. 51 recruits started out in the academy.
The lateral academy that started in December, 2013 started with only 4 new cadets, though the department hoped for 8-15 recruits (source)
2014 Academies
Compliance Director
In Thomas Frazier's 2nd monthly report as Compliance Director he wrote that he had worked out a deal with the OPOA (police officer's association) to use retired officers to do background checks on incoming academy recruits. Frazier attributes the attrition in the academies to the lack competent background investigators.
In Frazier's 3rd monthly report, he wrote that he was refocussing his efforts on getting the numbers of officers up as well as the method of getting these numbers up. See Oakland Tribune article.
Federal Funds
On September 17, 2013, Oakland announced that they will receive $4.5 million dollars from the federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant program. This grant, the largest given to any city, will train and pay for 10 officers over the next three years. Alameda County was also awarded $2.3 million. This money will pay for 8 deputies who will help out in Oakland. The deputies will work in places that share jurisdiction between AlCo and Oakland like Highland Hospital, AC Transit areas and community college campuses. Local law enforcement had asked for a lot more money: 30 Oakland police officers, 30 Alameda County sheriff's deputies and 30 California Highway Patrol. See Oakland Tribune article.
Schaaf's Staffing Plan
Officers from Oakland
Lots of people want more police officers to live in Oakland. Some have suggested a requirement that officers live in Oakland, but this is illegal because insert rule here. There are civil service hiring "bumps" for people who live in Oakland. The discussion often comes up in Public Safety Committee about where in the hiring process Oakland residents are falling off. In May, 2014, Oakland and the Peralta Community College District announced a partnership "whereby the District will offer educational courses and a curriculum to meet the public safety training needs of the City. The City and the District will maintain this program of public safety training, fully accredited under state law, to train candidates for careers in public safety for the City of Oakland... OPD recruits will earn 40 hours of college credit as they take the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) accredited courses offered through the affiliation agreement." (See City Admin's report.)
Effect on Overtime
An article in the East Bay Express (May 15, 2013) questioned the need for more cops and set the twitterverse afire.
An article in the Contra Costa Times (February 14, 2014) discussed the difficulty Oakland is having recruiting officers in general and native Oakland officers in particular. Oakland is now attempting to remedy this through classes at community colleges and high schools.
An article in the Contra Costa Times (May 16, 2014) said that Chief Whent would no longer transfer officers out of patrol in order to lower the need for mandatory overtime. City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan had been lobbying for this.
In 2007 (?) Council requested that they be updated monthly staffing reports. These reports are presented by OPD staffers at the Public Safety Committee meetings and are available on the agenda pages of the individual meetings where they were presented. These reports get much more detailed in 2013 as the Committee requested that the numbers get broken down to be more useful.
police staffing april 2013.pdf
february 2013 staffing report.pdf
october 2012 staffing report.pdf
police staffing march 2012.pdf
police staffing february 2012.pdf
police staffing january 2012.pdf
