A Winning Start to Defund Campaign

Moves Forward in Oakland

 

Defund Oakland Police Department (OPD) Coalition successfully moves community recommendations through Reimagine Public Safety task force to Oakland City Council.

 

Join Critical Resistance & Defund OPD Coalition in  submitting public comment again next week, Tuesday, April 13, 2021@ 1:30pm PT 

 

Over the past six months, Critical Resistance Oakland has participated in the Defund OPD coalition as part of the collective fight to shift Oakland’s reliance on policing. CR Oakland has rallied with the coalition in support of robust mental health response that is decoupled from policing. We have fought back against calls for increased policing in response to an escalation of violence targeting Asian community member in Oakland Chinatown – instead prioritizing community based responses. 

 

On Wednesday, March 17, the Defund OPD coalition mobilized to Oakland City Council’s Reimagine Public Safety task force meeting in order to demand that the task force follow through on its mandate – to make recommendations to defund the Oakland city police Department by at least 50%. After a fantastic presentation from coalition partner, CURYJ, the task force went through each of the 149 original recommendations one by one. After hours of debate by the task force members and strong testimony from the public that went well into the night, our priorities were included in the final recommendations.

 

Now that the reimagine public safety task force has voted to move our 33 recommendations to City Council,  Defund OPD will now need to push City Council to approve our recommendations for this year’s budget cycle. Beginning next week on April 13, City Council public safety committee will discuss recommendations and next steps before going to full council.

 

Here’s where you come in. If you are in the Bay Area, mark your calendars for Oakland City Council’s public safety committee meeting next week. Join us and demand that public safety committee push forward the recommendations that will actually keep the people of Oakland safe. Be sure to click here and check out the recommendations to find out more about how they will work for you. Also, follow our work on the Defund OPD website to continue to get updates on our work.