With the city of Oakland in limbo, awaiting special elections to replace two politicians recalled from office, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he will keep California Highway Patrol officers on city streets as he continues to pressure local officials to drop a policy that limits police chases.
Friday’s announcement that the CHP will remain in Oakland for an additional month amounts to an extra boost to Newsom’s previous CHP deployment, which began in the city in February.
The move comes as a batch of new anti-theft laws will go into effect in the new year and as local prosecutors begin charging repeat theft and drug offenders under Proposition 36, the tough-on-crime measure voters approved in November.
“This is a spectacular city and it remains a spectacular city, but it’s lost its way a little bit,” Newsom said during Friday’s press conference in Oakland.
The governor criticized local officials for not changing a policy that limits police pursuits of fleeing criminals after he asked them to this summer. He called the policy an “extreme outlier” compared to other cities and said Oakland officials “turned their back” on his requests.
“They had a chance and they didn’t do it,” he said.
His decision to expand the CHP’s presence also comes amid a flurry of headlines about high crime rates, and after a contentious election in which voters recalled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County Dist. Atty. Pamela Price, reflecting widespread dissatisfaction with the way officials are handling public safety issues.
Newsom first deployed 120 CHP officers to Oakland in February. He has also sent CHP units to a handful of other cities across California, as local police departments claim that a rise in organized thefts, illegal drug sales and carjackings has put a strain on them. By the summer, the governor announced he would quadruple the number of officers; in October he announced extending the program in Oakland until the end of the year.
In the newest wave of grievances, residents of Vallejo, an East Bay city 20 minutes north of Oakland, signed a petition last week pleading with Newsom to deploy CHP officers there, citing an “alarming increase” in crimes amid an understaffed police department and a “regular location for large and violent sideshows.”
Newsom acknowledged those requests on Friday but pushed back, saying if the Vallejo Police Department is understaffed, it should first make attempts to partner with its county sheriffs like other departments do across the state.
“I just want the folks in Vallejo to know you’re not getting the work of CHP,” he said. “I think there’s an assumption the state will provide the support for free. They have a lot of vacant positions and instead of contracting, for example, with the sheriff’s office, they’re hoping to get the state to do it for free. We’re not going to be in that business.”
Newsom’s aggressive deployment of officers has enraged some anti-police advocates who say that over-policing the region is not a solution.
While crime rates have generally dropped in California’s largest 15 counties, Oakland has continued to struggle with issues such as car break-ins. Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento have said they are listening and have taken steps to address retail theft.
The Legislature passed a package of bills to make it easier to arrest repeat offenders and streamline the prosecution of large theft operations. The laws will go into effect in January, with seven bills focusing on repeat offenders and new legal mechanisms to protect retailers.
Over the last few weeks, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister), along with business leaders and other politicians, has been traveling the state to promote the passage of what he calls a “historic” package of bills. The 11-bill package mostly targets repeat retail theft offenders and streamlines prosecution of large theft operations.
