Deputy Chief: Oakland Police Cuts Affecting Patrols, Investigations
OAKLAND (BCN) -- The Oakland Police Department's staffing has decreased so much that some patrol beats are uncovered and investigations are taking longer, Deputy Police Chief Eric Breshears admitted Monday.
But the department is doing the best it can with its shrinking resources, Breshears said, and Oakland's crime rate is down 14 percent compared to last year. Its homicide rate is also down 21 percent even though it has fewer officers.
"Our officers are working very hard and are making a difference, and you can see that in the crime statistics," Breshears told officers at a briefing at police headquarters.
The Police Department reached a peak level of 830 officers in 2008, although Police Chief Anthony Batts believes it should have a minimum of 925 officers, Breshears said.
But he said the department is now down to 669 sworn officers due to the Oakland City Council's decision to lay off 80 officers to help the city balance its budget and a variety of other factors.
The department is losing about 6 percent of its officers each month because of attrition, and 70 officers currently aren't working because of injuries, according to Breshears.
Another 22 officers are only on light duty due to injuries, he said.
Breshears said the department has been able to maintain its goal of having 420 officers in field operations and patrol duties, but that number will decrease to 350 in January.
All of the city's 35 patrol beats are staffed at some point each day, but there are periods when some of the beats aren't covered because of staffing problems, he said.
"It impacts our ability to get to crime scenes quickly," Breshears said.
He added that the number of officers available to investigate some crimes has decreased because some officers have had to be transferred from investigations to patrol.
Batts is trying to make up for his reduced staffing by partnering with federal law enforcement agencies and hiring some non-sworn officers who are paid at a lower rate than regular officers, according to Breshears.
He said Batts has talked with Oakland Mayor-elect Jean Quan and the City Council about the possibility of getting funding to hire more officers, but nothing has come from those discussions so far.
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