Council Committees to Weigh Crime-Fighting Proposals

Bay City News Service—Two Oakland City Council committees will consider crime-fighting proposals on Tuesday following a wave of violence in which six people were murdered in the city in the past week — including four on Friday. Councilwoman Libby Schaaf said the proposals were announced late last year.

On Tuesday afternoon, the council's Finance Committee will vote on a proposal that Schaaf and Vice Mayor Larry Reid authored that calls for funding an additional police academy to train new officers next June; hiring 11 Alameda County sheriff's deputies for up to 180 days at a cost of up to $265,000; and hiring 20 police service technicians at a cost of $1.5 million to be assigned to field duty as well as one crime lab position.

Schaaf said the sheriff's deputies would work 10-hour shifts twice a week on violence suppression efforts in East and West Oakland. She said they would supplement a small group of California Highway Patrol officers who have been working on violence suppression duties in those areas for the past month.

Schaaf said Oakland's agreement with the CHP is scheduled to expire at the end of January, but that things are looking "positive" for it to be extended for another 90 days.

The councilwoman said the Public Safety Committee on Tuesday will vote on expanding on an existing contract with Massachusetts-based Strategic Policy Partnership to bring on William Bratton, who formerly served as police chief in Los Angeles and police commissioner in New York City and Boston, to provide crime-fighting advice to Oakland.

The partnership is headed by Robert Wasserman, former chief of staff of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President Bill Clinton.

City Administrator Deanna Santana entered into a $99,000 contract with the partnership last fall to provide advice, but because , she needs the City Council to approve it.

Schaaf said that if the committees approve the proposals on Tuesday, they will move on to the full City Council for final approval next week.

Reid said over the weekend that Oakland should declare a state of emergency because of the violence, but Schaaf said she has been told that Reid may have meant that as a description of crime conditions in Oakland instead of as a legal declaration. Reid couldn't immediately be reached for comment this morning.

Mayor Jean Quan, Police Chief Howard Jordan and Santana were scheduled to have a news conference at 12:45 p.m. today to discuss the recent violence.

Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.