Sheriff's Office Ends Oakland Patrols, but CHP May Pick Up the Slack

By Bay City News Service

Two days after Oakland's contract with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office ended, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan announced Monday that the California Highway Patrol has agreed to extend and expand its patrols in her city.

Oakland has entered into short-term contracts with both the sheriff's office and the CHP because the number of officers in its Police Department has dropped from 836 to 611 in the past four years and it wants to increase the number of patrol officers on the streets while it slowly builds up its staffing again with additional police academies in the next several years.

Oakland's contract with the sheriff's office ended on Saturday night. Sheriff Greg Ahern said Monday that he decided not to extend it at this time because the county is paying workers' compensation and risk management costs for the officers assigned to Oakland and wants the city to pick up those expenses.

However, Ahern said discussions about extending Alameda County's contract with Oakland are continuing and the Board of Supervisors' public protection committee will hold a hearing on the matter on May 9.

The sheriff provided 11 deputies twice a week under its $265,000, 90-day contract with the city.

The CHP has been providing extra patrols two days a week in Oakland since November.

The agency's contract is scheduled to expire on Friday, but Quan said Monday that the CHP has agreed to continue patrolling under the terms of that contract while the city works to finalize the terms of a new contract. She said the new contract would increase the CHP's availability in Oakland to as many as four days a week.

Quan said her administration is expediting the new agreement and will bring it to the City Council for approval on May 7.

Quan said in a statement, "I want to thank Gov. Jerry Brown for granting the CHP this flexibility to contract with us."

She said, "What this means for the people of Oakland is that our bolstered patrols will continue. This help is especially important while we continue to work hard to rebuild the police force by aggressively funding new academies."

Oakland police Chief Howard Jordan said, "I want to thank the sheriff's office and their deputies for their service to Oakland. Sheriff Ahern and his deputies are strong public safety partners with Oakland and we look forward to continued work together to keep Oakland safe."

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