S16 20-0691 Subject: Terminate OPD Participation In Joint Terror Task Force
From: Council President Kaplan
Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Terminating The Oakland Police Department's Participation In The Joint Terror Task Force
My name is Husam Falah, I’m a community activist and business owner in Oakland. I strongly ask that you vote to end the dangerous partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Having JTTF won’t make it safer. It will make it worst!
There must be a trust between police department and its people without federal force, there must be respect and values between residents, communities and police agencies alongside city administration in general. JTTF means a system lack to the local police departments and their admins! It means interruption. It means unprofessional when intervening in local agencies and breaking their independent responsibilities.
It’s treachery to its own people. It’s harassing people’s rights, privacy and freedom. It shows failure to local and federal. There are plenty of ways that could save and make our sanctuary state and cities better, safer and happier.
Help your city and people!
Get JTTF out of Oakland NOW! and save our rights, data and privacy. Also independency between local and federal administrations.
The JTTF will cause a lot of community harassments, they will use racial profiling and the city will end up getting more complaints. Help Protect the community by keeping the JTTF away!
My name is Gloria Jimenez and I was raised in the Oakland Fruitvale District. Growing up, I witnessed so much brutality in the hands of police towards our black, brown, Asian, indigenous, immigrant, disabled (including experiencing a mental health need/crisis), people of color. I am now a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and I continue to see the same trends in the hands of police. Police do not keep us safe; they terrorize us and kidnap our loved ones. THEY ARE KILLING US. Participating in the JTTF would increase the threats our community face in the hands of the police. It would allow for yet another agent group to attack us. OAKLAND HAS BEEN EXPRESSING WE DO NOT NEED MORE POLICING. We need homes, educational and employment opportunities, mental health support and resources, medical access, and healthy food. STOP INVESTING IN AGENTS WE DO NOT NEED. STOP INVESTING IN AGENTS WHEN YOU CANNOT EVEN HOLD THE CURRENT POLICE PROGRAM ACCOUNTABLE. You are in office to represent us. Will you continue to have blood in your hands? Do better. We want to live. We want to thrive. We want to see our youth grow. We deserve this and much much more. Stop minimizing our asks; ya no queremos seguir enterrando a nuestrxs jovenes.
Please vote yes on this resolution. We need federal agents out of our communities! They should not be collaborating with local law enforcement on fishing expeditions that are rife with racial and religious profiling. Especially in light of the resurgence of Black Lives Matter activism we need to protect our communities of color in Oakland.
As a longtime Oakland resident and the executive director of the Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), I applaud Oakland for moving in the right direction to end its harmful participation in the Joint Terrorism Taskforce. We must ensure that residents of Oakland are not made more vulnerable by federal policies and agencies, particularly those with a long history of targeting and criminalizing communities of color. JTTF has never been about public safety. By ending this partnership you doing what is most needed right now -- prioritizing the safety, health and wellbeing of all communities.
Please end this partnership. This partnership does not benefit the community but rather harms it through the continual surveillance of Black, immigrant, Muslim, and other communities of color.
Please end the partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. Their mass surveillance of Black, immigrant, Muslim, and other communities of color is disgusting. Furthermore, the JTTF has continually attacked freedom of speech by targeting BLM and environmental activists. This type of behavior is nothing new to the FBI (hint: COINTELPRO). All of you have a duty to make decisions that keep our communities safe from overreaching federal laws that infringe on our first amendment rights. So, please, do the right thing and vote to end this horrible partnership!! Thank you.
Stop terrorizing our communities and families! Our people need more support and less surveillance, we've seen how these systems target and justify aggression more than helping alleviate crime and meet our people's needs!
Hello,
My name is Hadi Sayed and I’m asking you all to vote to end the appalling partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The FBI and JTTF have infamously profiled low income, immigrants, Arabs, Middle Easterns, Muslims, South Asians, Black, Indigenous, people of color, civil and human rights organizations and countless others and lied on the public record that they didn’t.
Our communities are not safe if OPD participates in the JTTF. It is clear that the FBI does not care for local law, which is why we are asking you to vote to end OPD’s partnership with the JTTF. Thank you.
Hello councilmembers, my name is Ramah Awad and I'm a long-time resident of the Bay Area and community organizer. I strongly urge you to vote to end the Oakland Police Department's participation in the Joint Terrorism Task Force with the FBI. FBI and police collaboration harm our Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and black communities through targeted surveillance and repression rooted in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism. This is a dangerous partnership that has no place in Oakland. Oakland has been and continues to be a critical place for social justice organizing by those who are most impacted by systemic racism and have the right to freely organize without fear of government repression. Thank you.
My name is Susan Udry. On behalf of our national civil liberties organization, Defending Rights & Dissent, and our hundreds of supporters in Oakland, I urge the Oakland City Council to withdraw the OPD from the FBI's JTTF.
This is a crucial step for the following reasons:
- The JTTF undermines Oakland's status as a sanctuary city. ICE is part of the JTTF, and FBI rules allow for the collection of so much data about people, and that data is shared widely, including with ICE. Oakland cannot call itself a sanctuary city, or be a safe place for immigrants while OPD participates in the JTTF.
- The JTTF undermines the right to privacy that the people of Oakland have fought long and hard for. The purpose of the JTTF is to share information across federal, state and local agencies, and even with private companies. FBI agents operate under such lax rules, that they are allowed to launch an investigation without any predication or even suspicion that a crime has been or will be committeed. These investigations, called assessments, are shockingly intrusive: agents are allowed to conduct surveillance, task informants, and conduct pretextual interviews.
- JTTF's undermine the right to free speech. Over and over, the FBI has launched investigations of peace, social justice and anti-racism activists and sought to undermine these movements.
- The JTTF undermines accountability. OPD officers lent to the JTTF operate under the control of FBI, not OPD and certainly not the people of Oakland
Hello councilmembers. My name is Rida Mahmood and I’m asking you all to vote to end the appalling partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The FBI and JTTF have infamously profiled low income, immigrants, Arabs, Middle Easterns, Muslims, South Asians, Black, Indigenous, people of color, civil and human rights organizations and countless others and lied on the public record that they didn’t. The case of the Yemeni brother, Amr Alhaggagi, is one such example, where the FBI entrapped a young man with identity and possible mental health issues, and painted him a terrorist, and OPD actively assisted them.
Our communities are not safe if OPD participates in the JTTF. It is clear that the FBI does not care for local law, which is why we are asking you to vote to end OPD’s partnership with the JTTF. Thank you.
Hi everyone. My name is Rawan Obeid. I ask that you vote to end the partnership between the OPD and JTTF. The JTTF’s tactics have deeply affected members of my community. As you might know the FBI continues to wrongfully surveil, harass and prosecute vulnerable Arabs, Middle Easterns, Muslims and South Asians community members because of their religion and national origin. It also goes after Black Lives Matter and environmental protestors for their political views. We cannot continue this dangerous partnership with the FBI’s JTTF. Thank you.
Hi everyone. My name is Yasmeen Obeid. I ask that you vote to end the partnership between the OPD and JTTF. The JTTF’s tactics have deeply affected members of my community. As you might know the FBI continues to wrongfully surveil, harass and prosecute vulnerable Arabs, Middle Easterns, Muslims and South Asians community members because of their religion and national origin. It also goes after Black Lives Matter and environmental protestors for their political views. We cannot continue this dangerous partnership with the FBI’s JTTF. Thank you.
Hello councilmembers. My name is Hanan Mubarez and I’m asking you all to vote to end the appalling partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The FBI and JTTF have infamously profiled low income, immigrants, Arabs, Middle Easterns, Muslims, South Asians, Black, Indigenous, people of color, civil and human rights organizations and countless others and lied on the public record that they didn’t. The case of the Yemeni brother, Amr Alhaggagi, is one such example, where the FBI entrapped a young man with identity and possible mental health issues, and painted him a terrorist, and OPD actively assisted them. As a Yemeni, this hits close to home.
Our communities are not safe if OPD participates in the JTTF. It is clear that the FBI does not care for local law, which is why we are asking you to keep our people and our communities safe by voting to end OPD’s partnership with the JTTF. Thank you.
As a proud member of the Privacy Advisory Commission, a person of color, and a born and raised Oaklander, I urge you to support this resolution to end Oakland's partnership with the JTTF, which is known for its use of fascist tactics in the community. Oakland's partnership with the JTTF is both redundant and ineffective, the partnership accomplishes little and ironically ends up creating and spreading terror in our communities. The JTTF regularly engages in problematic behavior such as over policing communities of color, racial profiling, unlawful searches, seizures, and monitoring of our community members, and more. I urge you to please end this partnership and protect our communities.
Hello councilmembers. My name is Marwat Al-Olefi and I’m asking you all to vote to end the appalling partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The FBI and JTTF have infamously profiled low income, immigrants, Arabs, Middle Easterns, Muslims, South Asians, Black, Indigenous, people of color, civil and human rights organizations and countless others and lied on the public record that they didn’t. The case of the Yemeni brother, Amr Alhaggagi, is one such example, where the FBI entrapped a young man with identity and possible mental health issues, and painted him a terrorist, and OPD actively assisted them.
Our communities are not safe if OPD participates in the JTTF. It is clear that the FBI does not care for local law, which is why we are asking you to vote to end OPD’s partnership with the JTTF. Thank you.
Thank you to the Public Safety Committee for voting unanimously to end OPD’s participation in the JTTF last week. I ask that the full city council to also vote to end this dangerous partnership. Oakland’s progressive values demand that we cut our ties with the JTTF, which is responsible for countless human rights violations and for the targeting and criminalization of Black, immigrant, Muslim, and other communities of color. Thank you.
Please terminate any involvement of the OPD with the JTTF. The people in this city need policies which build trust, safety and engagement with the community. The collaboration between OPD and the JTTF / FBI creates mistrust, fear and the lack of a sense of safety. When the people of any community are warrantlessly surveilled and have no recourse against any violations they might encounter, this is the definition of a police state and is Orwellian. It does not belong in a free society.
The data obtained by allowing the FBI to infiltrate the streets of Oakland by deputizing local OPD officers goes where? Belongs to whom? Is secured from hackers how? Is shared with whom? Is sold to whom? Is fact checked by whom? Is stored for how long? Under California law the people of this state have an unalienable right to privacy and that includes their personal information.
We already know that the federal government is aggressively pursuing a racist agenda. The City of Oakland is standing proudly in support of it’s incredibly diverse population. By allowing the JTTF to harvest data from the streets of Oakland, via the OPD officers, this city is contradicting itself. The JTTF shares information with ICE, CBP and other agencies who would harm, and criminalize vulnerable new members of our community. All of us deserve a government which operates in the daylight, not stealthily, sneaking and hiding and in the shadows.
My name is Husam Falah, I’m a community activist and business owner in Oakland. I strongly ask that you vote to end the dangerous partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Having JTTF won’t make it safer. It will make it worst!
There must be a trust between police department and its people without federal force, there must be respect and values between residents, communities and police agencies alongside city administration in general. JTTF means a system lack to the local police departments and their admins! It means interruption. It means unprofessional when intervening in local agencies and breaking their independent responsibilities.
It’s treachery to its own people. It’s harassing people’s rights, privacy and freedom. It shows failure to local and federal. There are plenty of ways that could save and make our sanctuary state and cities better, safer and happier.
Help your city and people!
Get JTTF out of Oakland NOW! and save our rights, data and privacy. Also independency between local and federal administrations.
Thank you!
The JTTF will cause a lot of community harassments, they will use racial profiling and the city will end up getting more complaints. Help Protect the community by keeping the JTTF away!
My name is Gloria Jimenez and I was raised in the Oakland Fruitvale District. Growing up, I witnessed so much brutality in the hands of police towards our black, brown, Asian, indigenous, immigrant, disabled (including experiencing a mental health need/crisis), people of color. I am now a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and I continue to see the same trends in the hands of police. Police do not keep us safe; they terrorize us and kidnap our loved ones. THEY ARE KILLING US. Participating in the JTTF would increase the threats our community face in the hands of the police. It would allow for yet another agent group to attack us. OAKLAND HAS BEEN EXPRESSING WE DO NOT NEED MORE POLICING. We need homes, educational and employment opportunities, mental health support and resources, medical access, and healthy food. STOP INVESTING IN AGENTS WE DO NOT NEED. STOP INVESTING IN AGENTS WHEN YOU CANNOT EVEN HOLD THE CURRENT POLICE PROGRAM ACCOUNTABLE. You are in office to represent us. Will you continue to have blood in your hands? Do better. We want to live. We want to thrive. We want to see our youth grow. We deserve this and much much more. Stop minimizing our asks; ya no queremos seguir enterrando a nuestrxs jovenes.
Please vote yes on this resolution. We need federal agents out of our communities! They should not be collaborating with local law enforcement on fishing expeditions that are rife with racial and religious profiling. Especially in light of the resurgence of Black Lives Matter activism we need to protect our communities of color in Oakland.
As a longtime Oakland resident and the executive director of the Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), I applaud Oakland for moving in the right direction to end its harmful participation in the Joint Terrorism Taskforce. We must ensure that residents of Oakland are not made more vulnerable by federal policies and agencies, particularly those with a long history of targeting and criminalizing communities of color. JTTF has never been about public safety. By ending this partnership you doing what is most needed right now -- prioritizing the safety, health and wellbeing of all communities.
Please end this partnership. This partnership does not benefit the community but rather harms it through the continual surveillance of Black, immigrant, Muslim, and other communities of color.
Please end the partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force. Their mass surveillance of Black, immigrant, Muslim, and other communities of color is disgusting. Furthermore, the JTTF has continually attacked freedom of speech by targeting BLM and environmental activists. This type of behavior is nothing new to the FBI (hint: COINTELPRO). All of you have a duty to make decisions that keep our communities safe from overreaching federal laws that infringe on our first amendment rights. So, please, do the right thing and vote to end this horrible partnership!! Thank you.
JTTF does not keep our communities safe. I am in support.
Stop terrorizing our communities and families! Our people need more support and less surveillance, we've seen how these systems target and justify aggression more than helping alleviate crime and meet our people's needs!
Hello,
My name is Hadi Sayed and I’m asking you all to vote to end the appalling partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The FBI and JTTF have infamously profiled low income, immigrants, Arabs, Middle Easterns, Muslims, South Asians, Black, Indigenous, people of color, civil and human rights organizations and countless others and lied on the public record that they didn’t.
Our communities are not safe if OPD participates in the JTTF. It is clear that the FBI does not care for local law, which is why we are asking you to vote to end OPD’s partnership with the JTTF. Thank you.
Hello councilmembers, my name is Ramah Awad and I'm a long-time resident of the Bay Area and community organizer. I strongly urge you to vote to end the Oakland Police Department's participation in the Joint Terrorism Task Force with the FBI. FBI and police collaboration harm our Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and black communities through targeted surveillance and repression rooted in anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism. This is a dangerous partnership that has no place in Oakland. Oakland has been and continues to be a critical place for social justice organizing by those who are most impacted by systemic racism and have the right to freely organize without fear of government repression. Thank you.
My name is Susan Udry. On behalf of our national civil liberties organization, Defending Rights & Dissent, and our hundreds of supporters in Oakland, I urge the Oakland City Council to withdraw the OPD from the FBI's JTTF.
This is a crucial step for the following reasons:
- The JTTF undermines Oakland's status as a sanctuary city. ICE is part of the JTTF, and FBI rules allow for the collection of so much data about people, and that data is shared widely, including with ICE. Oakland cannot call itself a sanctuary city, or be a safe place for immigrants while OPD participates in the JTTF.
- The JTTF undermines the right to privacy that the people of Oakland have fought long and hard for. The purpose of the JTTF is to share information across federal, state and local agencies, and even with private companies. FBI agents operate under such lax rules, that they are allowed to launch an investigation without any predication or even suspicion that a crime has been or will be committeed. These investigations, called assessments, are shockingly intrusive: agents are allowed to conduct surveillance, task informants, and conduct pretextual interviews.
- JTTF's undermine the right to free speech. Over and over, the FBI has launched investigations of peace, social justice and anti-racism activists and sought to undermine these movements.
- The JTTF undermines accountability. OPD officers lent to the JTTF operate under the control of FBI, not OPD and certainly not the people of Oakland
Hello councilmembers. My name is Rida Mahmood and I’m asking you all to vote to end the appalling partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The FBI and JTTF have infamously profiled low income, immigrants, Arabs, Middle Easterns, Muslims, South Asians, Black, Indigenous, people of color, civil and human rights organizations and countless others and lied on the public record that they didn’t. The case of the Yemeni brother, Amr Alhaggagi, is one such example, where the FBI entrapped a young man with identity and possible mental health issues, and painted him a terrorist, and OPD actively assisted them.
Our communities are not safe if OPD participates in the JTTF. It is clear that the FBI does not care for local law, which is why we are asking you to vote to end OPD’s partnership with the JTTF. Thank you.
Hi everyone. My name is Rawan Obeid. I ask that you vote to end the partnership between the OPD and JTTF. The JTTF’s tactics have deeply affected members of my community. As you might know the FBI continues to wrongfully surveil, harass and prosecute vulnerable Arabs, Middle Easterns, Muslims and South Asians community members because of their religion and national origin. It also goes after Black Lives Matter and environmental protestors for their political views. We cannot continue this dangerous partnership with the FBI’s JTTF. Thank you.
Hi everyone. My name is Yasmeen Obeid. I ask that you vote to end the partnership between the OPD and JTTF. The JTTF’s tactics have deeply affected members of my community. As you might know the FBI continues to wrongfully surveil, harass and prosecute vulnerable Arabs, Middle Easterns, Muslims and South Asians community members because of their religion and national origin. It also goes after Black Lives Matter and environmental protestors for their political views. We cannot continue this dangerous partnership with the FBI’s JTTF. Thank you.
Hello councilmembers. My name is Hanan Mubarez and I’m asking you all to vote to end the appalling partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The FBI and JTTF have infamously profiled low income, immigrants, Arabs, Middle Easterns, Muslims, South Asians, Black, Indigenous, people of color, civil and human rights organizations and countless others and lied on the public record that they didn’t. The case of the Yemeni brother, Amr Alhaggagi, is one such example, where the FBI entrapped a young man with identity and possible mental health issues, and painted him a terrorist, and OPD actively assisted them. As a Yemeni, this hits close to home.
Our communities are not safe if OPD participates in the JTTF. It is clear that the FBI does not care for local law, which is why we are asking you to keep our people and our communities safe by voting to end OPD’s partnership with the JTTF. Thank you.
As a proud member of the Privacy Advisory Commission, a person of color, and a born and raised Oaklander, I urge you to support this resolution to end Oakland's partnership with the JTTF, which is known for its use of fascist tactics in the community. Oakland's partnership with the JTTF is both redundant and ineffective, the partnership accomplishes little and ironically ends up creating and spreading terror in our communities. The JTTF regularly engages in problematic behavior such as over policing communities of color, racial profiling, unlawful searches, seizures, and monitoring of our community members, and more. I urge you to please end this partnership and protect our communities.
Hello councilmembers. My name is Marwat Al-Olefi and I’m asking you all to vote to end the appalling partnership between the Oakland Police Department and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The FBI and JTTF have infamously profiled low income, immigrants, Arabs, Middle Easterns, Muslims, South Asians, Black, Indigenous, people of color, civil and human rights organizations and countless others and lied on the public record that they didn’t. The case of the Yemeni brother, Amr Alhaggagi, is one such example, where the FBI entrapped a young man with identity and possible mental health issues, and painted him a terrorist, and OPD actively assisted them.
Our communities are not safe if OPD participates in the JTTF. It is clear that the FBI does not care for local law, which is why we are asking you to vote to end OPD’s partnership with the JTTF. Thank you.
Thank you to the Public Safety Committee for voting unanimously to end OPD’s participation in the JTTF last week. I ask that the full city council to also vote to end this dangerous partnership. Oakland’s progressive values demand that we cut our ties with the JTTF, which is responsible for countless human rights violations and for the targeting and criminalization of Black, immigrant, Muslim, and other communities of color. Thank you.
Dear Council Members,
Please terminate any involvement of the OPD with the JTTF. The people in this city need policies which build trust, safety and engagement with the community. The collaboration between OPD and the JTTF / FBI creates mistrust, fear and the lack of a sense of safety. When the people of any community are warrantlessly surveilled and have no recourse against any violations they might encounter, this is the definition of a police state and is Orwellian. It does not belong in a free society.
The data obtained by allowing the FBI to infiltrate the streets of Oakland by deputizing local OPD officers goes where? Belongs to whom? Is secured from hackers how? Is shared with whom? Is sold to whom? Is fact checked by whom? Is stored for how long? Under California law the people of this state have an unalienable right to privacy and that includes their personal information.
We already know that the federal government is aggressively pursuing a racist agenda. The City of Oakland is standing proudly in support of it’s incredibly diverse population. By allowing the JTTF to harvest data from the streets of Oakland, via the OPD officers, this city is contradicting itself. The JTTF shares information with ICE, CBP and other agencies who would harm, and criminalize vulnerable new members of our community. All of us deserve a government which operates in the daylight, not stealthily, sneaking and hiding and in the shadows.
Thank you