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.
The mayor's announcement came after a weekend that saw three people gunned down, including retired police officer and father of two Kevin Nishita, and a 1-year-old boy hit by a stray bullet as he sat in the back of his mother's car.
It brings the number of homicides in the city to 127 so far this year.
Schaaf announced that she will ask the city council to reverse funding cuts scheduled to take effect next year, and will instead present a plan to keep a minimum of 678 officers to re-start the city's Ceasefire crime reduction program.
'That analysis will make the case that additional police staffing is needed in the wake of this violent spree,' Schaaf told reporters Monday on a Zoom call.
'When those messages and services are not effective... the consequences must be swift and certain.'
'There is nothing progressive about unbridled gun violence.'
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on Monday announced plans to abandon planned police spending cuts and hire more officers after a spate of gun violence and fatal shootings has left residents on edge (Schaaf pictured July 2021)
Oakland security guard, father-of-two and grandfather-of-three Kevin Nishita was one of three people killed in Oakland over the weekend. He was shot while protecting a TV crew reporting on smash-and-grab raid.
Nishita was working as a security guard protecting a television crew reporting at the scene of a smash and grab raid (pictured) when he was gunned down
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 departments are seeing their finances partially restored in response to rising crime, an officer exodus and political pressures.
In June 2020, one of the United States' most progressive cities - Portland - cut millions from the police budget, only for the city council to introduce a fall budget bump earlier this month that included increasing the current $230 million police budget by an additional $5.2 million.
Schaaf said efforts to shift lower-level policing to other departments and efforts aimed at diverting those convicted to other services have not been enough, while police staffing had also fallen below a 2014 voter-approved measure that requires the police department to have at least 678 sworn officers on staff.
The union that represents Oakland police called the dwindling number of officers 'yet another broken promise to Oakland residents by the 'defund-the-police' majority on city council.'
Meanwhile, Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said in a news conference last week: 'I'm asking council members to step up and start having a conversation about the loss of life in this city.'
'Beyond the politics of whether you support the police, there is a clear problem in this city and that this city had to deal with overwhelming violence over the weekend and it's unacceptable.'
A protester holds a sign calling for the defunding of police at a protest on July 25, 2020, in Oakland, CA. Oakland officials will reverse plans to cut police funding and seek to hire more officers as soon as possible. according to Mayor Libby Schaaf
A news team from KRON4 had been reporting on Wednesday on a robbery which had involved 12 armed thugs wearing masks and hoods targeting a Prime 356 clothing store in Oakland, when security guard and ex-cop Kevin Nishita was gunned down. (pictured: Police are seen arriving at the scene following the incident)
Meanwhile, cities across the state of California faced a torrent of violent robberies during the week of Black Friday despite Gov. Gavin Newsom's vow to crack down on organized 'smash-and-grabs' plaguing the state.
On Friday, the Bottega Veneta store in LA's trendy Beverly Grove shopping district saw a large group enter the store at 5:21 p.m. and snatch pricey merchandise before one robber pepper-sprayed someone in the face, the LA Police Department reported.
Meanwhile, eight people made their way into a Home Depot in Lakewood at 7:55 p.m. and stole sledgehammers, wrenches and hammers, threatened customers and then fled in 10 getaway cars.
The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department told CBS that the Home Deport robbery was especially worrying because the tools stolen could likely be used to rob more stores in the area.
Newsom promised last week week to provide an 'exponential level of support' in the next state budget to help cities combat retail theft rings.
He also pledged to increase police patrols across the state in shopping malls to discourage looters on and around Black Friday, but to no avail.
In the last week, thieves have made off with tens of thousands of dollars in luxury goods amid soft misdemeanor theft laws in the Democrat-run state.
'People see the ability to commit these 'smash-and-grab incidents' knowing that there is little consequence, especially if the thefts are kept below the threshold of a felony offense,' Lynda Buel, president of Ohio-based security consulting firm SRMC, told CNN.
'It's easy, it's fast, and the payback is good.'
Police official blame the law for the recent string of thefts, which included 20 robbers smashing their way into a Nordstrom at The Grove retail complex in LA on Monday night, making off with $5,000 worth of merchandise; and a CVS pharmacy in the city was struck just an hour later, where looters stole $8,000 from a cash register.
Aside from the organized crime rings, the growing problem has been attributed to police officers' apparent reluctance to pursue retail criminals in the current political climate, prosecutors' failure to prioritize larceny and theft, and the decriminalization of low-level offenses in some jurisdictions.
Law enforcement also say that mercenary thieves are being recruited for up to $1,000 to steal the expensive goods that are then shipped across state lines and sold on the internet. The sophisticated method makes it harder for cops to track the criminals.
A group of about 40 to 50 teenage shoplifters made off with an unknown amount of jewelry and other items in Hayward, California, on Sunday. Experts and officials say national crime networks are behind many of the 'smash-and-grab ' operations
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