This is the same department that claims to be so under-funded that they basically won’t respond to your 911 call unless someone is actively in the process of murdering you.
(removes Oakland from his list of places to visit, changes travel plans to go around)
Totally… friends in Oakland have said that police won’t respond when their home was broken into… And yet… and yet…
And the $7 Million in funding is coming from the same Federal Govt that’s moaning, crying and predicting doom if we try to actually balance the budget, restrain costs or cut any programs.
And that 7-mil is a drop in the bucket.
Ah, Oaktown. Where “selective enforcement” always asks if you’re white before responding.
How much surveillance state can $7m possibly purchase? At ten times that I don’t see that sort of project getting anywhere near completion.
No grants. Pass a state law.
Next they will be hiring pre-cogs to stop crime before it happens.
not really, on local neighborhood mailing lists, people have reported that opd dispatchers have refused to respond to 911 calls made by north oakland residents, chastising them for calling 911 about things the dispatchers considered harmless. statistically speaking, the demographic in north oakland is mostly white.
the department is completely underfunded. our political leadership has let this happen. we have less than half a proper-sized police department. i don’t condone the PD’s violence but i can see how it gets that way when the PD is understaffed.
by the way whenever there’s a protest in downtown oakland, invariably it turns into a riot with stores looted and property destroyed. the oscar grant protests come to mind.
this $7M would be much better spent on basic policing stuff, not surveillance. but that’s what the feds are giving, so oakland is taking. as jackbird says, it’s probably just going to be a waste of money.
I didnt realize oakland was such a terrorist hotbet
They already exist in Oaksterdam
I abhor the “total surveillance state” initiatives like this bring us closer too, but at the same time crime in Oakland seems to be terrifying - “The robbery capitol of America”, and forcible rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. …your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Oakland is one in 59.
…the center would be able to “paint a pretty detailed picture of someone’s personal life, someone who may be innocent.”
With fine enough resolution, nobody is innocent.
It might be worth spending time and money on addressing Oakland’s underlying issues rather than trying to stamp out the behavior those issues generate. America’s various wars abroad take this same tact: kill all the terrorists, even if that process generates yet more terrorism.
Yes, this is because Oakland refuses to hire decent police or enough of them to actually do anything. When the law is enforced by criminals and criminals learn to have no real fear of repercussions from said law enforcement, you tend to get crime problems.
Oakland ALREADY knows about way more crimes than they can be bothered to do anything about - I don’t see how this would help. And the quality of Oakland policing leaves basically no chance it doesn’t end up abused quite seriously.
The terrorists are easy to spot - look for the uniforms.
Pffft, but that wouldn’t employ more overzealous cops, get the upper echelon re-elected, bring in Federal Homeland Security funds, etc.
It’s not about solving problems. It’s about money and power.
Did I just read that these police are collecting an storing red light camera footage for cars passing but not committing an offense?
So they are collecting evidence on people not currently under investigation? Isn’t that illegal?
I actually live in Oakland, how many of you do? The majority of Oaklanders want what remains of Occupy Oakland gone, they break shit, serve no purpose and cost the city money we do not have. It’s not that they can’t or won’t hire quality cops, they can’t get good candidates that can get through the academy, the drop out rate is terrible. Articles like this keep people away thinking that Oakland is something it’s not. I’ve never had a problem with the cops not coming if it’s something urgent. The problem of an understaffed PD has been going on for a decade or more, it’s not a new thing.
