First, major congratulations to James Beere on his selection as Chief of the Oakland Police Department. He seems to be respected and well-liked by the rank and file, which is important for morale (and hasn’t always been the case).
OPD is at an important moment, and it’s not just Beere’s appointment. As you probably know, the department is imminently poised to be released from the hideous Negotiated Settlement Agreement, which has been such a perversion of justice. With crime nudging down or holding steady, our cops will get a little breathing room. But the department remains well below the required number of officers, and there are, of course, lots of evil people out there who want to defund OPD or strip it of all independent power. So we have to remain ever watchful to keep the Carroll Fifes in their boxes.
My advice to you all—well, it’s not really advice, it’s urging—is to tell your City Council person how much you support the police, and that your vote in the next election will be partly determined by your perception of whether the council person is truly a police supporter, or just claiming to be one. Tell them, also, that you’re sick and tired of the tents and encampments that remain in our parks and on the streets, and you expect serious action from the city now that Ken Houston’s Encampment Abatement Policy has become law. We, the public, have to demand that this city clean up its act, and that includes no more public displays of homelessness. These homeless people are very sneaky. They’ll stay away from a cleared area for a day or two, but then under cover of night they’re back, with another tent and a whole bunch of junk piled around. They know they can get away with it because experience has shown that they can. There is simply not the will in Oakland to really clean up the camps.
Look: we no longer are legally required to provide alternative shelter if we roust homeless people. We can no longer hide behind the fig leaf that we don’t have enough cops to roust these people. How many officers does it take to tell a camper, “Sorry, Sir or Madame, you are here illegally. Please pack up your stuff and leave.” That takes about thirty seconds. If you don’t want cops doing this, then let MACRO or the cash-rich Department of Violence Prevention do it. It is the duty and obligation of Oakland to enforce the law and make the city safe and livable for us. If the city’s current crop of “leaders” is unable to accomplish this, it’s not because of lack of solutions. It’s because of cowardice. How many times have I heard a council member whine that they wish they could be bolder in eliminating encampments, but they can’t because—well, they always cite a reason, but the bottom line is simple: they choose not to get tough on homelessness because they’re afraid of alienating their colleagues on the Council who are owned by the unions.
It has been the unions that were primarily responsible for ruining Oakland, and they’ll continue their reckless game until we stop them. So to my friends on the City Council, wake up. Start working for us, and not for SEIU local 1021. And while you’re at it, City Council, won’t someone propose legislation making it impossible for the unions to hijack the broken initiative process? I can help with details. Just reach out.
Steve Heimoff