Lots of people have heard of the Oakland Police Commission (OPC), but I bet not 1 in a 100 can tell you what they do. The fact is, OPC runs the Police Department. The Chief of Police is answerable to them. The rank-and-file cops are answerable to the Chief. So OPC has enormous power.
If you talk to the average cop (and I do), you’ll find there’s quite a bit of mistrust of OPC. The feeling is that it’s stacked with cop haters who want to defund the police department, if not actually abolish it. Cops feel like they have a target on their backs. As if their jobs aren’t dangerous enough, they now feel that their ultimate bosses harass and intimidate them and subject them to inordinate stress.
Is this true? Is OPC the menace that many cops think it is?
It’s a complicated topic. I’ve only begun my research, and like other complicated topics (police unions, qualified immunity), there are nuances that have got to be understood before it’s fair to take a position. Here are a couple things I’ve discovered.
First, the 9 Commissioners who comprise OPC are exceptionally talented and accomplished men and women. Their resumes are outstanding, showing advanced degrees from top colleges and universities, an unswerving commitment to social justice issues, great professional achievement in their careers, and a vast amount of unpaid time devoted to service in Oakland city government.
That surprised me, I must say. I thought I’d find that the Commissioners were rabid, cop-hating “wokesters.” I was wrong. Instead, most of them strike me as thoughtful people, many of whom are nonpartisan and seek to do the right thing, from a legal and public policy point of view.
Well, that’s the good news. The bad news is that there are “woke” people with extreme, and to me irrational, points of view on the Commission. They have some very severe and untrue things to say about cops, and they invite speakers to their public forums who are even more radical than they are. Any particular Commissioner may be hesitant, for political and P.R. reasons, to publicly call cops brutal terrorists, but if that Commissioner repeatedly invites people to testify who say they are, then I have to infer that represents the Commissioner’s true thoughts.
I said that I think a lot of Commissioners are fair-minded and moderate. But I also think they’re dominated by OPC’s Chair and by one or two others who are decidedly not moderate. I don’t completely understand the internal dynamics of the Commission. It’s a very un-transparent public agency. They’re supposed to hold two “offsite” public meetings a year (meaning in the neighborhoods, not City Hall, so “the people” can speak their minds), but City Auditor Courtney Ruby severely criticized OPC for failing to do that. It’s as if OPC doesn’t really want to hear from the people. They invite speakers they like, and then they refuse to hold public hearings in the neighborhoods. What other conclusion can you reach?
Still, as president of the Coalition for a Better Oakland, I’m committed to at least trying to understand OPC. I’d like to get to know as many of the Commissioners as will welcome me. Ultimately, we’re all Oaklanders. We all love The Town and want it to be the best city in the world, and that can only happen if we reach out to each other in love and respect.
Steve Heimoff