I had and have nothing but respect and affection for Sgt. Barry Donelan, the former president of the Oakland Police Officers Union, who stepped down a few months ago. Sgt. Donelan was a great help to me, personally, and thus to my readers, in helping us understand the Oakland Police Department and the politics surrounding policing in Oakland.
One thing I could never understand, though, was that OPOA showed a certain timidity in taking on its critics. Oakland cops are constantly attacked by the woke members of the City Council, by the Police Commission, and by the media (particularly the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED radio, and the Oaklandside). I knew how much it annoyed Barry. Yet he was reluctant to publicly criticize any of them. He would explain to me that he had to get along with the City Council and Police Commission and that it did no good to antagonize them. But I always wished he would.
OPOA’s new president is Sgt. Huy Nguyen. I like him too, but more importantly he and OPOA are showing a new assertiveness in fighting against the powers trying to destroy public safety in our city. Sgt. Nguyen issued a statement yesterday (link unavailable) that demands Thao release “all details of the Oakland Coliseum deal,” about which we know virtually nothing. The news, of course, is that the alleged buyer of the Coliseum, the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, apparently has failed to pay their first installment, $15 million, to Oakland, as they were required to do. This drastically threatens OPD’s budget, giving police haters like Fife, Bas and Thao an excuse to radically defund the police, as they’ve tried to do for years. OPOA’s press release also slammed Thao’s recent appearance on KTVU television, in which she brazenly lied when she claimed crime is down in Oakland in order to promote herself against her impending recall.
I don’t know why the change at OPOA has occurred, but I welcome it. Maybe Sgt. Nguyen is more combative than Barry Donelan. Maybe there are internal politics at OPD and OPOA I’m unaware of. OPOA may perceive the sea change in public opinion: with voter attitudes toward Thao and Price now in the negative, OPOA may have determined it’s finally safe to resist them, especially with the two recalls looking like they’ll pass. (And a huge Thank you to Rep. Eric Swalwell for supporting the Price recall!)
Whatever the reasons for the change, it’s refreshing to see the men and women of OPD united under OPOA’s banner, and OPOA taking such bold steps in having their backs. When somebody is trying to kill you, you’ve got to fight back with everything you have. Make no mistake, there are powerful forces in Oakland and Alameda County that are trying to kill the Oakland Police Department. Let our cops fight back. Let us help them by recalling Thao and Price, by defeating Bas in her bid for Board of Supervisors and Fife in her re-election, and by standing firmly with our cops, the Thin Blue Line that protects us all!
Steve Heimoff