The murder of a retired police officer amid out-of-control looting is apparently the final straw for Oakland’s “defund the police” movement.
Mayor Libby Schaaf announced Monday that she wants to reverse planned cuts to the city’s police department and even hire additional officers following its 127th homicide this year. Former San Jose police officer Kevin Nishita was working as a security guard for a TV news crew last week when he was shot by robbers trying to steal their equipment.
‘WOKE’ CROWD TRICKS VOTER INTO FUNDING LOOTER-FRIENDLY PROP 47, SHERIFF SAYS
“When those messages and services are not effective … the consequences must be swift and certain,” Schaaf said in a press briefing. “There is nothing progressive about unbridled gun violence.”
The Oakland City Council removed $17.4 million in police funding on June 24 after public pressure began building last year following the death of George Floyd. Councilwoman Nikki Fortunato Bas, one of the proponents of this, said the savings would be spent on “the roots of violence and poverty” and not on filling 50 vacant police positions.
Meanwhile, across the Golden Gate Bridge, sister city San Francisco was at the forefront of the “defund the police” movement last year, but in the end, the city made only minor cuts. While the city has been wracked by small retailer and vehicle lootings for years due to a downgrading of the felony theft law, Mayor London Breed bemoaned the current wave of violent smash-and-grab incidents terrorizing residents as a problem for the city’s tax base. A mob of more than 80 people stormed a dozen stores during the past week.
Breed initially called for $120 million in police cuts but backed off this proposal and even hired private security for herself instead, MSN reported. Instead of announcing an increase in the police budget, Breed plans to limit street access to vehicles in business districts, and additional police will be pulled from other duties to patrol the area.
A groundswell of Californians has started to push back against laws that have contributed to out-of-control lootings, such as recent incidents at San Francisco-area Nordstrom and Louis Vuitton stores.
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Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike told the Washington Examiner that a 2014 law known as Prop. 47 helped create the crime surge in California by downgrading thefts under $950 to misdemeanors. This, combined with follow-up laws that removed jail as a punishment for nonfelonies, created a crime wave that law enforcement cannot keep up with.
