District 3 resident here. I support CM Bas's proposal as a good start to defunding OPD by 50% in line with the APTP proposal. We do not want to send more money in any way to OPD. Please do not fund OPD in the cause of "reform." We want to defund OPD. Invest in the Black New Deal instead please.

I am a resident of District 4 and an educator in the East Bay. I am writing to urge you to defund OPD.

OPD takes an enormous share of the city’s general fund, and that percentage has risen exponentially for the last two decades, taking away desperately needed resources from essential city programs and services. OPD has overspent its authorized overtime budget by 100% -- tens of millions of dollars -- in recent years, as individual cops bring home annual compensation upwards of $400k. 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, while increased police spending shows no correlation to decreasing crime levels over the past 20 years. With Oakland's current finances in dire jeopardy, it is clear that we must defund the police.

As Oakland residents, we therefore demand that you take immediate action to ensure the following:

Reduce OPD’s allocation from the General Fund by 50% (roughly $150 Million)
Disallow unauthorized overtime by OPD
Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe.
Oakland can not wait any longer for a budget that meets the needs of its residents. The only way to achieve this is to take immediate steps to Defund OPD.

I support the Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP) in their demands to Defund OPD.

I appreciate the efforts to discover solutions that don't involve an armed response. We know that Oakland has a history of unequal traffic stops, technology solutions (like red light cameras) can eliminate biases in enforcement. I'd love to see traffic stops, mental health, homeless enforcement, and hopefully even more issues moved out of the purview of armed law response. We also need to ensure we are not using armed response to enforce mask requirements. Seeing coverage of NYPD's racist and unequal enforcement of mask and social distancing requirements has underscored how those public health efforts can become yet another mode of terrorizing Black and brown residents. Thanks!

I strongly support this measure, and once again urge the City Council to listen to its constituents' constant, unchanging calls to defund OPD by at least 50%. We will remember that you ignored the demands of the communities who elected you and vote you out of office if you continue to dismiss our concerns. The budget that was undemocratically rushed through by the so called pro police "equity caucus" is barely even a half measure; it does not meet the moment and squanders the opportunity for real change and progress. Please invest in the community instead of OPD and be creative, open minded, and responsive to your constituents.

Very proud to be represented by Councilmember Bas and I was proud to see her stand up in favor of defunding OPD and redirecting their gigantic share of the budget to social programs in Oakland. I hope that the rest of the council can follow her leadership on this. Symbolic gestures and a bloated police budget are not going to solve Oakland's major problems with inequality, generational poverty, and homelessness. We need to create systems of public safety that work for all the people of Oakland and redirect police funding to community empowerment. Let's stop leaning on OPD as first responders when much of the time alternate responders will be better able to defuse situations and help people in crisis.

Council members:

I am a D7 resident & voter in support of defunding the police by half, and reallocating and reinvesting those funds towards our communities' needs such as affordable housing, health and community services, youth programs, parks, libraries, roads and alternative approaches towards public safety. OPD does not keep us safe! I urge Council member Reid, my district representative, and the entire council to amend the budget to prioritize the needs of everyday Oaklanders. Thank you Council member Bas, for your leadership!

I would like Oakland City Council to vote yes on Nikki Fortunato Bas' proposal of cutting $25M from OPD.

Hi, all. I am an Oakland resident and demand the following (via Anti Police-Terror Project):

1) Defund the police by 50% (not $2.5M, which is around 1% or less of their total budget)
2) Invest that $150M into the Black New Deal
3) Cancel CHP's contract and remove them from Oakland
4) Stop the use of violence against protesters
5) No unauthorized overtime for OPD
6) No general fund $ to pay legal settlements due to police murder, misconduct, and negligence
7) Invest in housing, jobs, youth programs, restorative justice, and mental health workers to keep the community safe

Hi, I'm a district 2 voter and I strongly support Bas's recommendations. The Oakland Police Department has a history of police misconduct and failed reform. We need to take community safety in a new modern direction. Defund the police department and invest in the community. These are real steps to a more equitable Oakland

As a mom and District 5 resident I support more of our tax revenues going towards direct city services. We need more resources for neighborhood services, recreation centers, enforcing tenants rights. We can not continue on the path of not truly investing in our community. I urge Councilmember Gallo, my representative and others to make decisions on the budget based on our needs.

Please support APTP’s proposal to reduce the OPD budget by 50%. Reform is not enough. I hope the council will listen to its constituents and take this farther by fully defunding the OPD and reallocating those funds to the community. We need to invest in restorative justice practices, affordable housing, public education, frontline mental health care for our communities, among other valuable resources. I’m very concerned that the council tried to approve this budget with so little time for review - and I urge you to stand with your community and listen to our demands.

The people of Oakland have made themselves loud and clear. There is nothing left to say here. We demand a %50 defunding of OPD. The people of Oakland want to see those funds reallocated into programming and resources for black and brown communities that have historically been under funded, and experience the brunt of police violence and terror. We demand that our city council hear the demands of their constituents.

As a resident of District 3, I urge the city council to defund OPD by 50% and put that money into VITAL social services like housing, education, mental healthcare, jobs, youth programming, parks, and so much more. It is ridiculous that despite the hundreds of comments made online and at council meetings, that the members have chosen to ignore the wants of the people. It is the job of the city council to work for us and it is insulting to see them blatantly ignore our demands. We see you and will remember this in November. I urge you to be on the right side of history and help make Oakland a city where ALL of us can thrive.

My name is Will Brotherson and I am a Black Public Defender and a resident of District 1. I am writing to continue to urge you to reconsider the previous approval of OPD's budget and instead commit to a more substantial reduction this year, and a 50% defunding of OPD by 2022. Please reopen the budget so we can preserve funding for our youth, homelessness, jobs, and other care programs.
Since 2012, OPD has been under the direct control of a federal judge and court monitor, as part of a settlement over violence and corruption committed by OPD. The city has paid millions for the monitoring process and has had to hire numerous consultants to help.
Fewer police means less policing. Less Policing means less police misconduct. Less police misconduct means less money spent by the City on OPD.
I propose we place a Freeze on all hires until the end of fiscal year 2022.
We should also layoff 80 Officers Before July 4, 2020. We did this in 2010 in response to the financial crisis. It will work even better this time if the City sets and enforces a hard overtime cap for all officers. The scandals regarding improper overtime are widespread and well documented. This Cap and hiring freeze will save millions.
Councilmember Bas, thank you for being on the right side of history. We will remember in November, Council Members McElhaney, Gallo, Reid, Kalb, and Kaplan.

You Oakland City Council Members need to listen to the community now before you are voted out. Especially Council member McElhaney, who will be facing a progressive challenger in November - Carroll Fife.

We are loud and clear. City council needs to defund the grossly inflated Oakland Police budget by 50% and immediately reinvest that in the community by financing services that the community demands and by commissioning studies on the effectiveness of those services. And all by diverting funds now from the police department.

Council member Bas’s proposal alongside her commitment to defund the police is a good first step. We need more council members who will listen to the people’s demands and will vote accordingly.

Lastly, every time OPD settles a lawsuit with taxpayer dollars, you city council members should be ashamed. You have the power to stop this. No more taxpayer dollars to pay damages to the victims of police terror. Enough is enough.

-Dan Crowe, district 2

I am a resident of D6 and absolutely support redirecting *significant* funds from OPD to fully funding the services district residents need. It must be more than delaying a police academy. I encourage my Council member, LOREN TAYLOR, support this item, as well as any additional opportunities to redirect funding from OPD to critical resident services like affordable housing, illegal dumping, park maintenance, mental health, COVID support, etc. Thank you.

DEFUND OPD by 50%. As a district 2 citizen, we need to prioritize our community. Facing an economic crisis due to the impacts of covid-19, we need to divest money from police budget to prioritize money that protects, sustains, and nurtures our neighbors. We need to invest in mental health professionals, social workers, housing, public transportation, schools, and parks-- not a police force which disproportionately incarcerates our black and latinx communities (source: https://data.oaklandnet.com/stories/s/Incarceration/igwv-p3wp/#:~:text=Ratio%3A%2019.53,lowest%20at%2049.9%20per%20100%2C000.). The people of Oakland are resoundingly calling to defund the police.

Hi there.I am writing because I am absolutely so disappointed in the entire Bay Area PD, much including Oakland PD.  After experiencing much sexual harrassment from older white male cops while growing up as a young teen, finding out about the huge East Bay pedophile sex trafficking ring that was totally covered up and hidden for so long was not even surprising.  It is so despicable and discouraging that these "authority figures" that knew about what was happening are still involved in the forces.  Silence towards defending rapists is the exact same as actually doing the raping. To know my taxpayer money and all taxpayer money over here is going into the hands of those who rape, molest, and sell the bodies of young children and teens is absolutely disgusting.  I am horrified about what they continue to do since 2016 when this was brought to light.  The amount of racism, sexism, and murder by cops that continues to this day around the Bay Area must end.  We need to defund and abolish the entire department and rebuild it from the ground up the correct way, and give much of the millions of dollars involved in these sexist and racist departments towards education, social services, treatment centers, public hospitals, and housing for the homeless just to name a few examples of what would be better to spend this money on.  We need to fix this from the problem's root rather than continue to put bandaids over these issues.  I am absolutely outraged that this hasn't been done sooner.

As a physician, mom and resident of Oakland (District 1) I support this proposal to use alternative ways to respond to non-violent crises. This is a start. I strongly urge you to adopt the proposal by Councilmember Bas to defund the Oakland police department by $25 million and use these funds specifically to invest in mental health services, youth programs, vocational training programs, restoring the arts and recreation, affordable housing, homelessness prevention, public education and food programs. I stand by the APTP and BLM to reduce the OPD budget by 50% in the next budget cycle. Only by investing in the community to provide adequate social services for Oakland residents will we be able to improve safety.

We must re-imagine policing. We cannot and do not trust City Administrators to do this without public supervision. This process must involve the public. Every instance of the Admin/Mayor working on this alone will result in further erosion of the public trust. We cannot lose months of data analysis and alternative models without input from those most affected. As written, this budget directive does not do enough to ensure a successful process. Please revise.