New Year, New Police Chief
Mayor Libby Schaaf announced that Anne Kirkpatrick will be the new Oakland Police Department and Venus D. Johnson as Director of Public Safety.
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January 4, 2017
Police Commission Measure: Exactly What Did the Council Just Do?
Why Make Oakland Better Now! supports the Oakland police commission measure on November’s ballot.
August 4, 2016
Oakland’s Police Commission: Where We Stand
Oakland City Council will debate a ballot measure creating a citizen police commission.
July 19, 2016
Public Safety Committee Considers New Police Commission
Oakland City Council's Public Safety Committee will meet on Tuesday, June 14 at 4:00 p.m. to consider a proposal for police oversight by Council Members Dan Kalb and Noel Gallo. Here's what you need to know.
June 13, 2016
The Mayor’s Safe Oakland Series Explores “Fair and Just Policing”
At Mayor Libby Schaff's Safe Oakland series, Yale Law professor Tracey Meares, Assistant Police Chief Dr. Paul Figueroa, and Rev. Damita Davis-Howard, discuss fair and just policing.
May 11, 2016
Analysis: Oakland Police Department’s New Strategic Plan
Make Oakland Better Now's analysis of the Oakland Police Department’s new “Strategic Plan” including its goal of reducing homicide, robbery, aggravated assault rates by 30% in three years.
January 21, 2016
Important Public Safety Committee meeting on gun control
Oakland's Public Safety Committee will consider new gun control measures that will ban the possession of large capacity magazines and require the safe storage of firearms.
December 14, 2015
Understanding OPD’s New $1 Million Gun Tracing Plan
Last week, the Public Safety Committee met to discuss the Oakland Police Department's $1 million spending plan to reduce gun violence and trafficking over the next two years. (Watch the…
November 15, 2015
Joint Statement of Jobs and Housing Coalition and Make Oakland Better Now! Concerning Crowd Control and Crowd Management During Public Demonstrations
We strongly support the efforts by Mayor Schaaf to accommodate and facilitate the exercise of free speech while at the same time protecting persons and property from attack by vandals…
June 2, 2015
It’s Time To Modify Oakland’s Crowd Control and Crowd Management Policy
Mayor Libby Schaaf says she supports freedom of expression and the right of Oaklanders and Oakland businesses to be free of violence caused by individuals who embed themselves in otherwise peaceful demonstrations. While we support her efforts to change strategies to eliminate violence at demonstrations, Make Oakland Better Now! encourages her to approach this somewhat differently.
Both #BlackLivesMatter and #SayHerName are important local and national movements. Our communitymleaders play a critical role in affirming to the nation that we will not tolerate the injustices we have seen in Ferguson, in Cleveland, in New York and throughout the country, including, much too recently, in Oakland.
Having said that, we are proud of what OPD has done in the past two years to improve its relationship with the community, and most especially with people of color. Far too little of this change has been acknowledged in our public dialogue. It is no accident that OPD has experienced only one officer-involved shooting (resulting in no injury) in the past two years, and that no OPD gunfire has resulted in death for more than three years. Indeed, OPD, working with the faith-based community and outside consultants, leads the country in police legitimacy and procedural justice training. While there is much more to do, no fair-minded person can ignore these recent improvements.
It is now time for Oakland to lead the country in developing a model that balances protection of First Amendment rights for demonstrators with protecting the rights of adjacent business owners. (more…)
June 2, 2015