Oakland Councilmember Supports Measure To Rehire Cops

OAKLAND (BCN) - Oakland city councilwoman and mayoral candidate Jean Quan Monday called on voters to support a measure on the Nov. 2 ballot that would amend a previous measure that created 63 problem-solving police officers and mandated a total of 803 officers.

Speaking at a news conference on the steps of City Hall, Quan said Measure Y, a measure that she co-authored and was approved by 70 percent of Oakland voters in 2004, needs to be revised because, "We never foresaw the day, because of the worst recession since the Depression, that we would have to lay off police officers."

Oakland had a peak of about 830 officers in 2008, but now it only has 682 officers. The City Council voted in June to lay off 80 officers to help balance the city's budget.

Quan said Measure BB would fix Measure Y by suspending until 2015 a requirement that the city budget for at least 739 police officers in order to continue collecting the $20 million a year it receives from the parcel tax to fund an additional 63 problem-solving officers. The measure was aimed at giving the city a total of at least 803 officers.

She said if BB passes, the city would be able to reassign the 63 problem-solving officers who were put back on patrol duty when the 80 layoffs took effect on July 13.

Measure Y wasn't fully implemented until three years ago, but Quan said that in that period it has helped reduce crime by 40 percent.

She said the measure's combination of youth and family violence programs was beginning to make a real change in the city until the bad economy and the city's budget problems forced drastic cuts, including the police officer layoffs.

Leaders of several community organizations who joined Quan at the news conference said funding from Measure Y helped programs aimed at reducing crime by creating job training programs and other programs for troubled youths and people who have recently been released from jail or prison.

But an attorney who previously won a lawsuit alleging that the city of Oakland illegally diverted money from Measure Y said she thinks that if Measure BB is approved, "It will have a devastating impact on public safety" because she thinks the city could no longer have an incentive to maintain a high number of police officers,

Marleen Sacks, who lives in Oakland and has a law office in Pleasanton, said she thinks that if the amendment is approved, "The size of the police force will go down," and theoretically could drop to zero because there would no longer be a strict staffing requirement.

Sacks, who said she voted for Measure Y because she wanted to increase the city's police force, filed a lawsuit against the city in April 2008 after the Oakland City Council approved Mayor Ron Dellums' plan to use $7.7 million in Measure Y money to help the city's Police Department reach full staffing by the end of 2008.

Sacks alleged that the city had been collecting $20 million in Measure Y taxes for several years but hadn't yet hired more police officers. She said the city didn't hire more officers until 2008.

On April 2, 2009, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ruled that the city of Oakland acted illegally by diverting the $7.7 million to recruit and train new police officers who weren't specifically assigned to neighborhood problem solving.

Roesch said using funds from Measure Y to train new officers who won't be used in community policing jobs is not a permissible use of funds that are specifically limited to "hiring and maintaining" community policing officers.

Sacks said Monday, "I have no faith that the vacant positions will be filled" if the Measure Y amendment is passed.

She said she believes the city has lost its credibility, and that it will have a difficult time getting the two-thirds majority it needs for Measure BB to be approved.

Sacks said Quan's claim that Measure Y needs to be amended because of the poor economy "is just an excuse" for poor fiscal management by city officials, saying that Oakland is the only city in the Bay Area that has been forced to drastically reduce its police staffing.

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