Free Republic

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on Monday revealed plans to reverse cuts to the city's police department and seek to hire more officers amid a spike in violence and homicides. The decision makes Oakland the latest city to bolster its support for law enforcement after several cities that committed to defunding the police in the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020 experienced a considerable rise in violent crime. ... From New York City to Los Angeles - in cities that had some of the largest Black Lives Matter protests, and some with an extensive history of police brutality - police...

Oakland officials are eyeing an expansion to the city’s police force to confront the increase in violent crime, which has resulted in more than 115 homicides so far this year. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf (D) said her office is drafting a proposal to put before the City Council that would increase the number of active police officers and require the city to maintain a larger police force, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The mayor is also reportedly planning to propose that the budget cuts set to take effect next summer are reversed. The reductions would freeze 50 police department...

In a reversal of plans to divert funding from police to social services, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said Monday that she’ll push to reverse planned cuts to the city’s police department and seek to quickly hire more officers amid a spike in violence and homicides that has left some residents afraid to leave their homes. The mayor’s announcement came after a weekend in which three people were killed, including a retired police officer acting as a security guard for a television news crew, bringing the number of homicides to 127 so far this year. To address the violence, Schaaf said...

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – Oakland Police Department Homicide investigators are asking for help from the public finding a car that might be connected to the killing of a KRON4 security guard. The suspect vehicle is a 2004 – 2008 Acura TL, white, 4-door, with a sunroof and no front license plate.

Back in June, we reported on the emotional speech Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong gave in response to devastating cuts to his department’s budget to the tune of $17 million that came courtesy of the Defund the Police proponents on the Oakland City Council.In the speech, Armstrong, who was born and raised in West Oakland, made one of the most powerful and passionate cases against taking money away from the police, saying that it was easy for politicians to reduce lives hurt and lost down to numbers while police officers had to see first-hand the devastating real-world consequences of powerful...