As a constituent of District 6, I am in favor of defunding and dismantling OPD. Any budget reduction for OPD that is less than 50% is a clear willingness to ignore the will of your constituents as elected officials to represent and legislate the needs and wants of the community. There has been an overwhelming response in support of defunding and dismantling OPD and our local carceral system. Instead, I would like to see a redistribution of those funds prioritizing free and equitable:

Education
Housing Justice
Food Justice
Public Healthcare
Youth Programs
Parks and Public Spaces
Universal Basic Income
Public Transportation

Please use our money to invest in a just and free society. Please act in support that echos the wills of your constituents.

I fully support this resolution to establish alternative 911 response methods. OPD should be cut by 50% and that funding should be reallocated to support public schools, housing, mental health programs, community centers, and other public areas such as parks and transit.

As a resident of District 1 I support this proposal to evaluate other 911 response methods!

I believe that police should NOT be the only first responders to have to issues such as mental health emergencies, situation with the unhoused, or noise complaints.

This proposal should go even further and DEFUND OPD. We can use these diverted funds to fund social workers and other unarmed first responders that are more appropriately trained to address emergencies such as those described above.

Strongly support this measure.

As a resident of District 2, a licensed mental health provider, and a social worker in Oakland public schools, I strongly support this proposal. Defund OPD and re-invest in the services that our community needs to actually stay safe and healthy.

It's has been extremely insulting how you all have handled our unanimous demand to defund OPD. Stop ignoring us. DEFUND BY 50% and redistribute all funds to community resources!! Housing, jobs, education, mental health services and other crisis intervention workers that will replace police so that police will not be able to repetitively abuse and murder our people. And end all unauthorized police overtime pay. DEFUND AND REDISTRIBUTE, we see through all the weak attempts to deflect our demands. As an objective and sober observer, our outrage will not subside until you actually hear out and follow our demands.

As a resident of District 1, I support this proposal to create alternate responders for crises than police, and think it needs to go farther & commit to a 50% reduction in OPD budget in the next budget cycle, using the learnings from this review. I stand with APTP & Councilmember Bas' proposal to defund OPD at least $25m this budget cycle & reinvest that money in our community.

I am committed to working on electing candidates this November & beyond who listen to their constituents' requests & actually work towards defunding the police! I learned in the below comments that there were ~700 online comments and 150 in-person comments at the previous meeting regarding defunding OPD - how can city councilmembers push through an anti-democratic budget that doesn't meet their constituents' demands after listening & reading those comments? It makes me believe that the so-called "equity caucus" doesn't actually care about what the people of Oakland want & makes me committed to making sure they are not re-elected come the end of their term. Do better for the people of Oakland!

No justice, no peace.

It's a no brainer to begin the process of defunding OPD. I support the calls to reduce it by 50% immediately and I also am realistic enough to know the council will not do that. But what you did in the previous meeting, approving budget that no one had any time to review, and that woefully under-addresses this OPD issue, was embarrassing. I support strong, swift demilitarization of the police and substantial divestment in general from Oakland policing, and instead investing this back into social services – a complete reimagining of the way we build and support community. The bottom line is that police reflect the society we live in, and our society is racist. My dad was a cop, and guess what? He is a racist. I'm still haunted by stuff he used to say around or to me. He probably doesn't even know this. Imagine the harm this rotten institution does on Black communities. Imagine the good a reshaped and reinvested society could do for its people. Man oh man, we want to see Oakland – all of it – thriving. Hundreds of millions for police? No. Hundreds of millions for the people. Let's go. Stop being bad at your jobs, why did you get into this?? Was it really to protect power?

I am an OUSD teacher and resident of District 1. I am asking you to listen to your community and reconsider last week's FY2020-2021 mid-cycle budget. Please support APTP's proposal to reduce the OPD budget by 50%. Reform measures are not enough.The police have lost the community’s trust. By continuing to deeply overfund the police, the city councils risks losing their trust as well. Take this as an opportunity to rebuild the relationship between the city council and the community, to focus on affordable housing at a time when so many Oakland residents are now months behind rent payments, and use your platform to represent and serve your community and directly combat institutional racism. Dan Kalb, please show that you are a part of this community and represent us.

I am a resident of District 1.
I am writing in support of APTP's proposal to reduce the OPD's budget by 50%.
We desperately need more funding in areas such as:
1) Social workers
2) Teachers
3) Mental Health professionals and EMTs
4) Public Transit infrastructure
5) Housing
6) Non-police response programs such as MACRO

All of these initiatives will reduce crime by treating the causes, not the symptoms.
We don't need any more police officers on the streets.
Let's make sure that the police are only called in for situations that they are trained for.
For all other cases (homelessness, noise complaints, mental health, traffic tickets, etc) let's send in qualified people trained in de-escalation.

To the city council:
You all have the opportunity to be on the correct side of history.
Our future generations will either see you as progressive heroes that helped end racist policies, or the selfish people that continued to support them. You can be in the company of MLK, Rosa Parks, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Audre Lorde, or in the company of Andrew Jackson, D.W. Griffith, and Richard Nixon.

The people of Oakland have spoken.
The ball's in your court, councilmembers.

I object to the part of this resolution that might unnecessarily complicate previous City Council actions. The Council recently voted to fund a pilot program for MACRO, a non-police alternative to 911 for non-violent calls for assistance. The Council wisely provided for the Department to Prevent Violence (DPV) to manage the program. At this point, I ask that the Council see that the MACRO pilot program is provided sufficient funding to carry out a proper pilot. The last budget vote provided $1.3 million, whereas $1.5 million would be more appropriate.

I am a resident of District 1 and I am angrily urging you to reconsider last week's FY2020-2021 mid-cycle budget. Continuing to fund OPD in this manner is worse than just burning the money. OPD has been unable to reform itself and doesn't actually increase safety in our communities. The cuts proposed in last week's budget are categorically insufficient and while it was passed by the "equity caucus" it was anything but, as it was the most conservative proposal on the table.

I agree with APTP's call for a 50% reduction and acknowledge Nikki Fortunato Bas' latest proposal as the only one with any moral clarity. Our tax money should be divested from OPD and reinvested in the community for schools, housing, transit, mental health programs, community centers, and parks.

Thank you.

As an Oakland resident, I strongly support this proposal. Evaluating alternatives to Police Response is an important step towards just and safe services that support our residents. Police have become the default for so many support services where use of force training is not required, and where social services would be better suited. I strongly urge the council to take this important step.

I'm a resident of District 2 in support of Councilmember Fortunato Bas' plan to defund the OPD by roughly 20M now and to make plans for an eventual goal of reducing their funding by 50%. The APTP and BLM movement both recognize this time as an important one for making lasting change for the health of our communities, one in which social services and jobs are the focus of our budget, rather than an overinflated and militarized police force. We should take the opportunity we have and not let the bureaucratic maneuvers of a so-called "equity caucus" work towards diluting the potential good we can do.

We must defund the OPD and put that money towards housing, jobs, youth programs, education, restorative justice, and healthcare.

I support APTP's proposal to reduce the OPD budget by 50%. Funds should be reallocated to community supports, such as youth development, workforce development, restorative justice, parks & rec, and homelessness services. We need justice and community care, not trauma and over-policing for Black and Brown communities.

I'm a resident of District 1 and I'd strongly urge you to reconsider the hastily conceived and reviewed budget that makes woefully insufficient cuts to police spending in Oakland. This is a time where people across the country and in this city have finally realized that throwing more and more money down the black hole of police department budgets doesn't actually confer any additional safety to city residents. The cuts proposed in last week's budget don't even begin to address the ballooning of OPD budgets over the last decade, let alone a radical reconsideration of Oakland's public safety priorities.

Nikki Fortunato Bas' proposal is the only one on the table that can truly begin to address the problems at hand. Radically defunding OPD is the only way we can re-take control of community safety. Let's take this money and instead invest in true community safety programs like schools, mental health programs, community centers, parks, homelessness programs, and job training programs.

Thank you.

My name is Celeste and I am district 3 constituent. While I support the spirit of Council member Bas' recommendation as a first step, it does not do enough, and so I continue to urge you to defund OPD. Rather than continuing to fund the violence against our Black and brown community perpetrated by OPD, those funds should go towards investing in the community through mental health resources, education, housing.

Over 700 people e-commented on the last two meetings. Over 150 spoke at the meeting itself. Over 95% of both sets of comments were in favor of defunding the police. Please listen to your constituents and do the right thing.

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

1. DEFUND OPD by 50%
2. INVEST ALL SAVINGS in the Black New Deal
3. STOP the use of violence against protesters
4. CANCEL CHP's contract & remove them from Oakland

In light of this new resolution, we also demand the council...
5. INCLUDE affected communities in the design of alternative-to-police programs
6. PREVENT the introduction of traffic cameras, facial recognition, & all “automated enforcement solutions” in Oakland

Thank you for being on the right side of history. We will remember in November.

I'm writing to voice my support for APTP's demand to cut the OPD budget by 50%. APTP is an integral voice of the community and has been doing this organizing for years. We need to listen to them and follow their lead. They are working towards creating the type of community that I want to live in - one that actually uplifts, supports and takes care of our community, rather than one that harms and polices them.

I think that some of the money cut from the OPD budget should be reallocated to OUSD in the following ways:
- Hire more school counselors, social workers, nurses and increase their pay
- Hire more support staff for classes who exceed the maximum class size
- Hire more Playworks employees
- Invest in more robust after school programs
- Hire more specials teachers (art, music, PE) to give classroom teachers more time to prep
- Invest in healthier food programs
- Invest and provide hot spots to families to help with distance learning
- Invest in more health services in schools like dental services & access to food for families
- Hire more reading and math specialists
- Update school facilities so that they meet health codes
- Extra support in classrooms with majority newcomers

Our OUSD schools are desperately in need of more funding and our students deserve these investments!

I am a resident of District 1 and I implore you to defund the Oakland Police Department by at least 50%. Hundreds of us have been calling and writing in and it is disheartening to see you ignore us after we've spent hours in your meetings to let you know how we want our money spent. We know that policing has always been racist— beginning as slave patrols and continuing to be a source of racial terror. We also know that using punitive solutions for social problems doesn’t work and that funding schools, housing, mental health care and crisis response, restorative justice, and jobs programs is what will actually keep us safe. I urge you to follow Black and Brown people’s leadership and invest in these essential resources, pass the Black New Deal, cut the city’s contract with CHP, and stop the use of violence against protestors. Thank you.

Hello,

My name is Emma LaPlante and I am an Oakland resident (District 3). I am emailing you to voice my unequivocal support for defunding OPD and reinvesting in alternate community safety measures, per Agenda Item #10 for today’s City Council meeting.

I also strongly support immediately banning and harshly disincentivizing police use of chokeholds.

As an OUSD teacher, I’ve seen firsthand the traumatic effects that OPD has on our community and our children, harming our most vulnerable Black, Brown, and queer youth and keeping them in a cycle of terror and disproportionate surveillance. It is wonderful that OUSD is cutting ties with OPD, but the positive effects of that will be limited if youths are still routinely harassed and criminalized by police in their communities.

As you know, numerous impartial studies have been conducted proving how mismanaged, misbudgeted, and ineffective police departments are, and how they manufacture more crime (and overpolice for nonviolent misdemeanors) far more than they actually work to keep us safe.

Oakland is EXACTLY the sort of progressive city that needs to follow Minneapolis’s lead in immediately making good on our unfulfilled promises to our citizens by defunding the police and reinvesting that money in social programs and nonpolicing community based safety structures. We keep us safe!

Sincerely,
Emma LaPlante

I am a resident of District 2. I support police budgetary review and efforts to redirect police duties to alternative social services. However, the current measure does not go far enough. The so-called Equity Caucus rushed a vote on a police-friendly budget last time around, which we can't let happen again. You will be held accountable - stand with the Bas proposal and go further.

I urge you to implement the demands of the APTP:

- 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, mental health workers and other services that actually keep the community safe.

Thank you.