In the budget passed on June 30, the City of Oakland managed to find funding to rehire 24 of the 80 police officers it laid off last year. More officers have also been rehired to account for some attrition on the force as well. At least half of these rehired officers are expected to rejoin the force as early as Saturday, the Tribune reports, and it couldn't be happening soon enough. Oakland's homicides have spiked this year, much like they have in nearby Richmond, with 71 total 19 more than at the same time last year.
Shootings alone are up 39% this year, and the OPD is trying to take some immediate action to reorganize and focus attention on the most violent neighborhoods. There's a 60-day plan to have rehired officers replace certain officers on the force who are most highly skilled in crime reduction, and those officers will be reorganized into three teams to concentrate on the hardest hit crime areas of the city. Also, they're relaunching a previously disbanded motorcycle squad, as "The visible presence of officers on motorcycles has been shown to be a deterrent to crime."
This announcement follows an especially violent weekend in Oakland which left three more people dead from shootings.
