My name is Madeline Chadwick, and I am a District 1 resident in Oakland. I am an educator and counseling psychology student. Racism is a public health issue, and defunding OPD is a vital step in reinvesting in the health of our community. I stand with DefundOPD's demands as listed below:
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
It is time to reimagine how we keep our city safe, healthy, and secure; ongoing funding to OPD and the presence of OSPD in our schools is not the answer. OPD should be defunded by at least 50% and those funds diverted to modern systems of public safety relying on UNARMED safety officers with proper deescalation, mental health, and cultural competency training. Continuing with the same old system against evidence that has mounted over decades would show a serious lack of creativity and ambition, not to mention a lack of concern for the people of color who live in our city.
Defund the Oakland Police Department (OPD). Dissolve the OPD and rehire from the communities in the area. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence. Train extensively in de-escalation. Demilitarize their equipment. Stop their response to mental health issues and their presence in schools. Stop the use of unauthorized overtime.
Fund mental health initiatives and health workers. Fund youth services and social workers. Fund education and educators.
I'm an Oakland resident in District 1. Defund OPD. OPD has been under Federal Receivership for a generation, yet its budget is consistently the largest item for the cities budget - taking up nearly HALF of the cities resources. When will the city stop rewarding failure? I wish I could get a raise after 20 years of failure. In 2009 while living in West Oakland my door was kicked in in the middle of the day. OPD did not even show up to take a report, much less actually deal with the danger. People were home and were in danger and OPD didn't even show up! What is the point of giving them half of our money if they won't even respond to a home invasion? Take the money from OPD and put it into programs that actually reduce crime - healthcare, housing, education, jobs programs. We have known for DECADES what reduces crime, and instead of funding that we give money to police to brutalize our communities. City council & the mayor know what they must do to make our communities safer, defund OPD.
My name is Kayla Stoler and I am a resident of District 2 and an educator at a local independent school. I'm writing to demand that you remove OPD and OSPD from district schools, invest in education, affordable housing, jobs, youth services, and mental health workers, and ultimately dismantle OPD. Oversight and reform will not be enough. It is time to end police terror in our community.
I am an Oakland resident in District 1.
Defund the Oakland Police Department.
Follow Minneapolis' example: dissolve the Oakland Police Department to remove the "threat" of a police union strike, and then rehire as necessary into agencies and services that actually reduce crime and benefit the community.
Everyone knows that's a long and arduous process, and that you'll need to talk extensively with the Oakland community about what that's going to look like and what agencies we'll need before actually dissolving OPD.
Still, it's hard work that needs to be done, instead of the band-aid resolutions on today's agenda that do nothing to dismantle a policing system that was built to keep people of color and working people under the bootheels of the rich and powerful.
I live in District 4, and I am urge you to reconsider the mayor's budget proposal to instead divest from police & invest in community programs. OPD takes almost HALF of Oakland's general fund each year, and that percentage has skyrocketed in the past two decades — consuming desperately needed resources from essential city programs and vital services. Yet Mayor Schaff is recommending putting even more money into our police department, including taking money away from other measures intended for parks and other services?? The investment in policing has not made us safer. OPD remains an embarrassment to the city and a lethal threat to Oakland’s Black and Brown communities.
I demand that the city: (1) Defund OPD's share of the general fund by at least 50%; (2) discontinue unauthorized overtime by OPD; and (3) invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, mental health workers, and other services that make communities stronger and keep us safe.
My name is Adela Foo and I live in District 1 and I call on the CIty of Oakland to:
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe
I am writing to encourage the city council to reduce OPD's budget by 50% and to reallocate these funds to other areas that increase public safety and well-being such as education, mental health services, restorative justice, and housing. This funding reallocation would very likely contribute to a decrease police violence and an increase in safety and well-being of all Oakland residents.
Please use a "divest and invest" model, moving funds from the OPD and using them to invest in social programs, such as education, housing for those in need, youth programs, restorative justice, mental health and social workers to lift people up, instead of over-policing, which is detrimental to our community.
I urge you to take the following actions:
1)Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2)Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3)Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4)Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
My name is Michael Saad and I am a resident of District 1. It is clear that OPD's share of the budget is far to big. We ask police officers to do to much. It is time to...
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
My name is Claire Kostohryz and I am a resident of District 1. It is clear that OPD's share of the budget is far to big. We ask police officers to do to much. It is time to...
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
Hi, my name is Jean Frey-Edwards and I'm a resident of district 3 in Oakland. I urge you to defund OPD by at least 50% and use these funds in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
I call on you to take the following steps:
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
My name is Anne Spevack, I am an Oakland resident in District 1. I am writing to support significant defunding of OPD, starting with denial of the two requests in item 2.10 and 2.13 on this agenda. After 17 years of oversight and reform, we know this is not good enough. Our community is not safer, and our most vulnerable members live in fear of the officers who are supposed to be protecting them.
I support the community's request to defund OPD by 50%, and even if it takes time to make a plan for this, I ask that in the mean time you not increase their budget, and therefore deny any requests for additional funds. I also request that you disallow unauthorized overtime use by OPD officers. Rather than spending these funds on police terror, I ask that you support community safety by investing in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health services.
Hello, my name is Joseph Renner and I am an Oakland resident.
I am calling on you to reduce OPD's allocation from the city budget by around 50%, and use the extra funds to invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, education and mental health workers. In addition, general fund dollars should not be used to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence. These should be taken from OPD's pension to hold them accountable for their actions.
Hi, my name is Leila Rad. I was born and raised in Oakland and work as a health educator at Oakland Tech High School. I implore you to defund OPD by 50%.
Oakland has served as the epicenter of so many important political movements, and you have the opportunity to continue that legacy by supporting radical, progressive police reform. Divesting from OPD is LONG overdue as this department has proven itself to be disreputable, reckless, and corrupt. But OPD takes the lion's share of the city’s general fund, and that percentage has risen exponentially for the last two decades.
I am urging that you take the following action steps:
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
Hi, I don't see this item on the agenda, but the people are pretty intent on it:
We'd like the OPD defunded by 50%. Libby Schaaf, in an email response to me about this issue, made an excellent point that OPD is taking its average share of the budget, compared to PDs in other cities. But just because other city budgets are also doing it wrong, does not mean Oakland has it right. I understand strides are being made by well-meaning people, but they are not enough.
Please hear the people, defund OPD by 50% and spread those resources to social services, youth programs and housing.
Thank you for taking public comment. I don't understand why this is isn't an agenda item considering the protests currently on Oakland's streets, so excuse us for messily inventing one here.
My name is Katy Geisert. I have lived in Oakland for 7 years and am a resident of District 1. I demand that the Oakland Police Department be defunded by 50%. I demand that these funds be redistributed to social services, youth programs and housing. Policing was never designed, never meant, to solve the problems our police are solving. Let the specialists do their jobs.
I am an Oakland resident and call on you to:
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
My name is John Bradley and I'm an Oakland resident of 11 years, working as a mental health counselor in San Francisco. I am writing to demand that the opd is defunded and funds redistributed to assist the homeless and mentally Ill. My coworker Francesca was beaten with batons by opd officers the first night of these recent protests. She had bruises on her arms from defending a black teenager. Show your support of your citizens by joining the movement to defund the police and create a new task force of counselors and social workers to de escalate conflict.
My name is Madeline Chadwick, and I am a District 1 resident in Oakland. I am an educator and counseling psychology student. Racism is a public health issue, and defunding OPD is a vital step in reinvesting in the health of our community. I stand with DefundOPD's demands as listed below:
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
It is time to reimagine how we keep our city safe, healthy, and secure; ongoing funding to OPD and the presence of OSPD in our schools is not the answer. OPD should be defunded by at least 50% and those funds diverted to modern systems of public safety relying on UNARMED safety officers with proper deescalation, mental health, and cultural competency training. Continuing with the same old system against evidence that has mounted over decades would show a serious lack of creativity and ambition, not to mention a lack of concern for the people of color who live in our city.
Defund the Oakland Police Department (OPD). Dissolve the OPD and rehire from the communities in the area. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence. Train extensively in de-escalation. Demilitarize their equipment. Stop their response to mental health issues and their presence in schools. Stop the use of unauthorized overtime.
Fund mental health initiatives and health workers. Fund youth services and social workers. Fund education and educators.
I'm an Oakland resident in District 1. Defund OPD. OPD has been under Federal Receivership for a generation, yet its budget is consistently the largest item for the cities budget - taking up nearly HALF of the cities resources. When will the city stop rewarding failure? I wish I could get a raise after 20 years of failure. In 2009 while living in West Oakland my door was kicked in in the middle of the day. OPD did not even show up to take a report, much less actually deal with the danger. People were home and were in danger and OPD didn't even show up! What is the point of giving them half of our money if they won't even respond to a home invasion? Take the money from OPD and put it into programs that actually reduce crime - healthcare, housing, education, jobs programs. We have known for DECADES what reduces crime, and instead of funding that we give money to police to brutalize our communities. City council & the mayor know what they must do to make our communities safer, defund OPD.
My name is Kayla Stoler and I am a resident of District 2 and an educator at a local independent school. I'm writing to demand that you remove OPD and OSPD from district schools, invest in education, affordable housing, jobs, youth services, and mental health workers, and ultimately dismantle OPD. Oversight and reform will not be enough. It is time to end police terror in our community.
I am an Oakland resident in District 1.
Defund the Oakland Police Department.
Follow Minneapolis' example: dissolve the Oakland Police Department to remove the "threat" of a police union strike, and then rehire as necessary into agencies and services that actually reduce crime and benefit the community.
Everyone knows that's a long and arduous process, and that you'll need to talk extensively with the Oakland community about what that's going to look like and what agencies we'll need before actually dissolving OPD.
Still, it's hard work that needs to be done, instead of the band-aid resolutions on today's agenda that do nothing to dismantle a policing system that was built to keep people of color and working people under the bootheels of the rich and powerful.
I live in District 4, and I am urge you to reconsider the mayor's budget proposal to instead divest from police & invest in community programs. OPD takes almost HALF of Oakland's general fund each year, and that percentage has skyrocketed in the past two decades — consuming desperately needed resources from essential city programs and vital services. Yet Mayor Schaff is recommending putting even more money into our police department, including taking money away from other measures intended for parks and other services?? The investment in policing has not made us safer. OPD remains an embarrassment to the city and a lethal threat to Oakland’s Black and Brown communities.
I demand that the city: (1) Defund OPD's share of the general fund by at least 50%; (2) discontinue unauthorized overtime by OPD; and (3) invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, mental health workers, and other services that make communities stronger and keep us safe.
My name is Adela Foo and I live in District 1 and I call on the CIty of Oakland to:
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe
I am writing to encourage the city council to reduce OPD's budget by 50% and to reallocate these funds to other areas that increase public safety and well-being such as education, mental health services, restorative justice, and housing. This funding reallocation would very likely contribute to a decrease police violence and an increase in safety and well-being of all Oakland residents.
Defund the OPD!
Please use a "divest and invest" model, moving funds from the OPD and using them to invest in social programs, such as education, housing for those in need, youth programs, restorative justice, mental health and social workers to lift people up, instead of over-policing, which is detrimental to our community.
I urge you to take the following actions:
1)Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2)Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3)Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4)Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
My name is Michael Saad and I am a resident of District 1. It is clear that OPD's share of the budget is far to big. We ask police officers to do to much. It is time to...
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
My name is Claire Kostohryz and I am a resident of District 1. It is clear that OPD's share of the budget is far to big. We ask police officers to do to much. It is time to...
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
Hi, my name is Jean Frey-Edwards and I'm a resident of district 3 in Oakland. I urge you to defund OPD by at least 50% and use these funds in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
I call on you to take the following steps:
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
My name is Anne Spevack, I am an Oakland resident in District 1. I am writing to support significant defunding of OPD, starting with denial of the two requests in item 2.10 and 2.13 on this agenda. After 17 years of oversight and reform, we know this is not good enough. Our community is not safer, and our most vulnerable members live in fear of the officers who are supposed to be protecting them.
I support the community's request to defund OPD by 50%, and even if it takes time to make a plan for this, I ask that in the mean time you not increase their budget, and therefore deny any requests for additional funds. I also request that you disallow unauthorized overtime use by OPD officers. Rather than spending these funds on police terror, I ask that you support community safety by investing in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health services.
Hello, my name is Joseph Renner and I am an Oakland resident.
I am calling on you to reduce OPD's allocation from the city budget by around 50%, and use the extra funds to invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, education and mental health workers. In addition, general fund dollars should not be used to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence. These should be taken from OPD's pension to hold them accountable for their actions.
Hi, my name is Leila Rad. I was born and raised in Oakland and work as a health educator at Oakland Tech High School. I implore you to defund OPD by 50%.
Oakland has served as the epicenter of so many important political movements, and you have the opportunity to continue that legacy by supporting radical, progressive police reform. Divesting from OPD is LONG overdue as this department has proven itself to be disreputable, reckless, and corrupt. But OPD takes the lion's share of the city’s general fund, and that percentage has risen exponentially for the last two decades.
I am urging that you take the following action steps:
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
Hi, I don't see this item on the agenda, but the people are pretty intent on it:
We'd like the OPD defunded by 50%. Libby Schaaf, in an email response to me about this issue, made an excellent point that OPD is taking its average share of the budget, compared to PDs in other cities. But just because other city budgets are also doing it wrong, does not mean Oakland has it right. I understand strides are being made by well-meaning people, but they are not enough.
Please hear the people, defund OPD by 50% and spread those resources to social services, youth programs and housing.
Thank you for taking public comment. I don't understand why this is isn't an agenda item considering the protests currently on Oakland's streets, so excuse us for messily inventing one here.
My name is Katy Geisert. I have lived in Oakland for 7 years and am a resident of District 1. I demand that the Oakland Police Department be defunded by 50%. I demand that these funds be redistributed to social services, youth programs and housing. Policing was never designed, never meant, to solve the problems our police are solving. Let the specialists do their jobs.
I am an Oakland resident and call on you to:
1. Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
2. Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
3. Discontinue use of general fund dollars to pay for settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
4. Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
My name is John Bradley and I'm an Oakland resident of 11 years, working as a mental health counselor in San Francisco. I am writing to demand that the opd is defunded and funds redistributed to assist the homeless and mentally Ill. My coworker Francesca was beaten with batons by opd officers the first night of these recent protests. She had bruises on her arms from defending a black teenager. Show your support of your citizens by joining the movement to defund the police and create a new task force of counselors and social workers to de escalate conflict.