NAACP Demands More Police Officers in Oakland

Amid an increase in violent crime, the Oakland chapter of the NAACP is calling on the city to declare a state of emergency over crime in the city and to hire more police officers.

In a letter released on July 27, the NAACP and the Acts Full Gospel Church blamed “the movement to defund the police” for contributing to the crime problem and noted the impact on minority communities.

The press release stated that “Oakland residents are sick and tired of our intolerable public safety crisis that overwhelmingly impacts minority communities. Murders, shootings, violent armed robberies, home invasions, car break-ins, sideshows, and highway shootouts have become a pervasive fixture of life in Oakland. We call on all elected leaders to unite and declare a state of emergency and bring together massive resources to address our public safety crisis.”

The groups argue that Oakland does not have enough police officers.

From the letter, “We are in crisis and elected leaders must declare a state of emergency and bring resources together from the city, the county, and the state to end the crisis. We are 500 police officers short of the number that experts say Oakland needs.”

“We urge African Americans to speak out and demand improved public safety. We also encourage Oakland’s White, Asian, and Latino communities to speak out against crime and stop allowing themselves to be shamed into silence.”

In addition, the letter notes that “the movement to defund the police…and the proliferation of anti-police rhetoric have created a heyday for Oakland criminals. If there are no consequences for committing crime in Oakland, crime will continue to soar.”

The press release concludes by stating, “There is nothing compassionate or progressive about allowing criminal behavior to fester and rob Oakland residents of their basic rights to public safety. It is not racist or unkind to want to be safe from crime. No one should live in fear in our city.”

In comments to the The San Francisco Standard, Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, said she believes the people behind the NAACP and Acts Full letter are from an older generation who are “completely detached from what’s actually happening.”

She believes that the spike in crime is caused by socioeconomic problems that were exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.

“We lost social services, human services, housing services, people lost their jobs,” Brooks said. “If we want to pay for those things, we need to stop giving the Oakland PD half of our budget!”