This is an edited transcript of a videotaped interview Cat Brooks gave to a CBS News reporter. (The video is contained within the body of the article.) The interviewer began by asking Brooks what she thinks of the CHP surge into Oakland initiated by Gov. Newsom. Brooks gave cops kudos for resolving stolen car cases: “That is actually the one thing that law enforcement is good at, because they ride along all day, popping license plate readers.”
But then she geared into full-on anti-cop mode. The founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project said, “While having your car stolen is annoying, it is actually not the most pressing issue facing Oakland or Oaklanders. The most pressing thing are [sic] the rise of homicides and robberies…So our cars may be safer, but we as Oaklanders are not.”
CBS: Do more officers mean safer streets?
CB: They absolutely do not. There is little to no data, actually, unless that data is being put forth by a law enforcement lobby. What the data does show is, the more engagement with law enforcement our communities have, the more violence at the hands of law enforcement our communities endure, without our communities becoming any safer. And the thing that is absolutely fact…is that cops do not prevent crime.
CBS: Where would you like to see the money go?
CB: I’d like to see it go into housing, education, living wage jobs, mental health, trauma supports, and the reason for that is simple: healthy, happy, housed people do not harm people. Wounded, desperate, disregarded people hurt people. So if we keep responding to violent people with the violence of the carceral state, we are going to to live in and exacerbate the violence that we are living in right now.
CBS: Did the [short duration] of the surge [which lasted only 5 days] surprise you, or did you expect more of a longterm solution?
CB: It actually did surprise me…I did expect a longer tenure…I was bracing myself for the first Black, Brown, Indigenous or poor person that ended up seriously harmed or killed.
CBS: So any chance this works?
Not in stopping crime. They may arrest more people for sure than OPD has been doing, as OPD has been engaged in “blue flu” for the past four years, but do I think there’s going to be a direct correlation to homicides and robberies going down because CHP is doing sporadic surges? I absolutely do not…
My take [this is Steve]: Brooks continues as always to disparage law enforcement, and to protect and promote the interests of criminals. No rational person believes that more cops on the streets does not mean safer streets. Even Brooks admits that there is data showing that more cops equals safer streets, but she implies that such data is propaganda from “a law enforcement lobby.” Most fair-minded people know that Brooks’ allegation that Black, Brown, Indigenous and poor people suffer “violence at the hands of law enforcement” is a lie. The violence that plagues them comes at the hands of vicious criminals. Voters also understand that the charge of “blue flu” is a slur on the brave women and men of law enforcement. There are substantive reasons why Oakland cops are unable to deal with the crime surge, mainly a police force that is far below the number actually needed because this City Council and Mayor refuse to adequately fund OPD. As long as Brooks continues her campaign of disinformation, there will be people dumb enough to believe it and vote for politicians like Nikki Bas and Carroll Fife, who really are doing their best to run Oakland into the ground. By the way, aren’t you glad I’m here to watch these videos, so you don’t have to?
Have a wonderful, safe weekend!
Steve Heimoff