Oakland mayoral candidates on how they'd address crime
Full Video: Oakland Mayoral Debate with Loren Taylor, Barbara Lee
Barbara Lee and Loren Taylor participate in the Oakland mayoral debate hosted by KTVUs Dave Clark.
OAKLAND, Calif. - Two mayoral candidates in the upcoming April 15 special election went toe-to-toe on the issues important to Oaklanders.
Former Rep. Barbara Lee and former Oakland City Council member Loren Taylor participated in Tuesday night's debate hosted by KTVU.
Early in the debate, Taylor characterized Oakland as a city in "crisis" and that the city is failing its residents.
Lee also used the word crisis when describing Oakland. She relied on her background and experience as a long-term member of Congress when making her case as to why she should be mayor.
'Oakland is broken'
"We have to be honest with ourselves. Oakland is broken. We need a lot of things fixed and we need them fixed immediately," said Taylor. "If we don't respond with urgency, we could lose more residents, lose more businesses, lose more revenues, driving us closer to bankruptcy."
Taylor told a cautionary tale of a West Oakland resident who had a multi-million-dollar growing business. He said that because of crime and homelessness that the businessowner took his jobs and set up in a Southern California city rather than Oakland. "That's investment that could and should have been right here in Oakland," Taylor said.
Taylor said when he was in charge of District 6, he brought 48 additional officers on the ground.
"We actually saw, during my tenure, a reduction in violent crime by 8% while the rest of the city saw an increase," Taylor said.
He ties the lack of affordable housing to crime rates, saying it's unacceptable for parents to walk their children through homeless encampments on their way to school.
Lee said the city needs new leadership that will work with the community on crime reduction.
Moderator Dave Clark, who is Black, asked the two candidates, who are also Black, a poignant question prefaced with some commentary:
"As a newscaster on TV every day. I hate it when I see sideshows, when I see smash and grabs, when I see people who are carjacked, shootings on the freeway, all of that. I hate it. And I hate it when the perpetrators look like me. But I know it's not just people who look like me. How does it make you feel and what do you think you can do about it?"
"So we all hate it, and we've got to do something about it. Just this morning, three Chevron gas stations were robbed. And the crashes, the (smash) and grabs, the violence and some of these crimes that are nonviolent still create a sense of fear in the city," Lee said.
What can be done?
Lee said it's time to look at the policing in Oakland.
She said the police pursuit policy is something that needs to be revised. "We know that people do get killed and hurt behind police chases," said Lee. She is not suggesting getting rid of police pursuits.
"We need to come up with a framework that allows for those who are coming into Oakland to know that there's a consequence for doing what they're doing and that's extremely important," said Lee.
She also wants to get guns off the streets by expanding gun buyback programs, increase work with violence interrupters and continue to fund proven strategies like the Oakland Ceasefire Strategy, which was brought back by Mayor Sheng Thao.
"We need more crime prevention efforts taking place here in Oakland and as mayor, I would work hard to make sure we'd increase the budget for crime prevention, getting guns off the streets," Lee said. "Too many young people have nothing to do and that should be part of an overall public safety strategy, which measure NN laid out, which voters voted for in November."
More Police Officers:
Measure NN allocated local tax dollars to reduce gun violence and property crimes by expanding police and fire services along with improving 911 response times.
Lee said the measure allows the police force to increase to 700 officers. "We have less than…we have probably 650, 660 right now." She said as many as 10% of the force is currently on leave.
"I believe we need about 850 officers and it's important because community policing is part of this," said Lee. "And I know for a fact that our neighborhoods need more foot patrols and more community policing, and the police need to engage more with the residents of Oakland."
She said achieving these staffing levels on the police force will be difficult, but that it also includes a mental-health component such as Oakland's Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland. MACRO is the city's non-emergency crisis response team. "We need to strengthen MACRO. We need alternatives," she said.
Taylor said he sees a multi-pronged approach as part of the solution – one that includes more "constitutional policing" and deeper investments in violence prevention.
"No one should be walking around our city, afraid that they will be the next crime victim," said Taylor.
While the former city council member talked about the racial reckoning in regard to policing in the aftermath of George Floyd's killing and the ensuing protests, he agrees, Oakland needs more police officers.
"I have a plan to get to 800 (more officers) in three years with three academies per year," Taylor said.
Public Private Partnerships:
Taylor said local corporations should be doing their part to invest in the community and acknowledged some are already doing so.
"We also know that there are corporations based in Oakland that have already committed to investing $10 million per year; the big four: Kaiser, PG&E, Clorox and Blue Shield, to improve safety and revitalization of downtown where their businesses are headquartered," Taylor said.
He said other businesses are ready to "support, partner and invest" but that, due to previous corruption, those businesses don't necessarily trust the City of Oakland's government, which is why there is a need for change in leadership.
Odds and ends :
Taylor said getting 911 wait times down is imperative.
"We can't have folks waiting on hold multiple minutes for someone to come," he said.
Lee said Oakland's homelessness crisis is in part what contributes to Oakland's "bad reputation that has spread around the country" and that as many as a third of the unhoused population is drug-addicted. She said the homeless crisis is a "moral disgrace" and that housing is a "basic human right."
Vote
- Vote by mail ballots for the special election will be mailed March 17 and early voting begins.
- March 31 is the last day to register to vote
- Polling centers open on April 5
- April 15 is Election Day in the special election
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