Editorial: Oakland's History with Police Chiefs is Crazy

Note: This article was written before Oakland hired Floyd Mitchell as its latest police chief. It is not intended as a commentary on him personally.

A common sight in many offices back in the days when most people worked in offices was a sign that read: “You don’t have to be crazy to work here…But it helps.”

I often think about that sign when I hear that a major American city that has been overwhelmed by crime and progressive politics is looking for a new police chief.  Case in point, Oakland, California.

In January a federal judge all but ordered Oakland to hire a chief, as the Oakland Police Department has been led by an acting chief since early last year when the chief was fired. Obeying that order is much easier said than done. One of the things that makes the position so difficult to fill is the fact that a federal judge has the power to suggest very strongly how the city should manage its police.

And that’s because the Oakland Police Department has a recent history that is…shall we say…complicated.

To start with, the Oakland PD has been operating under a federal consent decree since January 2003. That’s not a typo. The police department has been under the control of federal courts and court-appointed monitors for 21 years.

The root of that consent decree goes back to 2000 when dozens of allegations were raised against the members of an anti-gang unit. A fellow officer said the unit made false arrests, planted evidence, and used excessive force. The accused leader of the group reportedly fled to Mexico and is still on the lam. Three other officers were tried, none were convicted. A federal lawsuit—Allen v. City of Oakland—was also filed. In the settlement the city paid $11 million and agreed to the consent decree and its 150 points of reform. The department inches closer to achieving those reforms with every passing year but never quite seems to make it.

That’s one of the factors why the Oakland Police Department has had 13 chiefs since 2004. I’m counting interim and acting chiefs. But even if you don’t count the fill-ins, six people have officially worn the stars of the Oakland PD chief over the last 20 years. The longest tenured of any of them was Wayne Tucker, who served from 2004 to 2009.

Tucker resigned in 2009 and, on his way out, he initiated what has become an Oakland tradition: an outgoing police chief taking shots at the city government, which is not exactly a police booster club.

Tucker’s successors were Anthony Batts, Howard Jordan, Sean Whent, Anne Kirkpatrick, and LeRonne Armstrong. All six of these chiefs have had issues with the consent decree. When Batts resigned in 2011, he expressed frustration with the reform regime. “You have to pass everything by federal court,” he told the media.

After she was fired in 2020, Anne Kirkpatrick also attacked the reform regime. Kirkpatrick told KPIX, “I will be asking the Department of Justice to come in and open an inquiry into this whole (Oakland PD) reform process. Because something is wrong.” She later pointed her finger at the monitor as what was wrong. “It’s a million-dollar [annual] contract. Where is the incentive to find you in compliance?” she told KTVU. Kirkpatrick sued the city for wrongful termination, settled for $1.5 million, and is now the chief of the New Orleans Police Department.

The consent decree makes life miserable for Oakland chiefs. So does the progressive city government, the demoralized force, and the crime rate. If you think you’re going to Oakland to make a difference as chief, think again. No one is going to let you even address the problems regardless of how bad they get. And they are getting really bad.

Oakland’s 2023 crime stats are startling. Violent crimes are up 31% over 2022, robberies up 38%, and burglaries up 23%. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that some downtown businesses have stopped accepting cash because they believe cash on the premises makes it more likely for them to be robbed. In-N-Out Burger, California’s most revered fast food chain, is closing its only Oakland location because employees nor customers are safe. Worse, Kaiser Permanente—headquartered in downtown Oakland and the city’s largest private employer—has warned employees not to leave the building for lunch. The warning was made after employees were robbed as they went out to eat.

Some locals blame Alameda County’s criminal-coddling District Attorney Pamela Price. She is the target of a recall.

Another possible source of the crisis is the city’s shortage of police officers. In 2022, the Oakland PD was budgeted for 726 officers, but it could only field 681. And it’s not just the officer shortage that’s the problem. All consent decrees create more work for the average officer, so how much of their time is being spent on paperwork for the monitors vs. patrolling?

That’s a snapshot of what a mess Oakland has become. And I didn’t even mention the fierce battles between past chiefs, the mayor, the police commission, and the city council.

You don’t have to be crazy to want to be chief of the Oakland PD…but it surely will help. And the absolutely insane thing is somebody will still want the job.