Oakland City Council voted to defund their police department by $14 million in 2020 as they saw a 47% increase in homicides.
This year they are seeing an even big jump in homicides, up 87%, so the liberal city council decided to defund the police department by even more -- just over $18 million.
Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong is baffled why city council continues to defund police and make the city even less safe.
At a press conference yesterday Chief Armstrong said crime is “out of control in the city of Oakland and our response was for less police resources.”
He added, that the city is “in a crisis. We find ourselves reeling from a weekend of violence...90% increase (in murders from last year)...shooting up over 70% this year”..
“Oakland currently has 714 officers. The new budget could drop that number by 50, well below the 678 required by Measure Z, approved by voters in 2014.
Oakland Police Officer Association president Barry Donelan expects many more 911 calls will go unanswered.
"It makes no sense to me," Barry Donelan, President of the Oakland Police Officers Association. "Cities across the country have looked at and discarded defund the police. But here in Oakland, we seemed to have doubled down on this experiment."