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Forums - Politics - Oakland police played by the Mayor?

Galaki on 02 November 2011

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An Open Letter to the Citizens of Oakland from the Oakland Police Officers’ Association

1 November 2011 – Oakland, Ca.

We represent the 645 police officers who work hard every day to protect the citizens of Oakland. We, too, are the 99% fighting for better working conditions, fair treatment and the ability to provide a living for our children and families. We are severely understaffed with many City beats remaining unprotected by police during the day and evening hours.

As your police officers, we are confused.

On Tuesday, October 25th, we were ordered by Mayor Quan to clear out the encampments at Frank Ogawa Plaza and to keep protesters out of the Plaza. We performed the job that the Mayor’s Administration asked us to do, being fully aware that past protests in Oakland have resulted in rioting, violence and destruction of property.

Then, on Wednesday, October 26th, the Mayor allowed protesters back in – to camp out at the very place they were evacuated from the day before.

To add to the confusion, the Administration issued a memo on Friday, October 28th to all City workers in support of the “Stop Work” strike scheduled for Wednesday, giving all employees, except for police officers, permission to take the day off.

That’s hundreds of City workers encouraged to take off work to participate in the protest against “the establishment.” But aren’t the Mayor and her Administration part of the establishment they are paying City employees to protest? Is it the City’s intention to have City employees on both sides of a skirmish line?

It is all very confusing to us.

Meanwhile, a message has been sent to all police officers: Everyone, including those who have the day off, must show up for work on Wednesday. This is also being paid for by Oakland taxpayers. Last week’s events alone cost Oakland taxpayers over $1 million.

The Mayor and her Administration are beefing up police presence for Wednesday’s work strike they are encouraging and even “staffing,” spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars for additional police presence – at a time when the Mayor is also asking Oakland residents to vote on an $80 parcel tax to bail out the City’s failing finances.

All of these mixed messages are confusing.

We love Oakland and just want to do our jobs to protect Oakland residents. We respectfully ask the citizens of Oakland to join us in demanding that our City officials, including Mayor Quan, make sound decisions and take responsibility for these decisions. Oakland is struggling – we need real leaders NOW who will step up and lead – not send mixed messages. Thank you for listening.


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Baalzamon on 02 November 2011

Just wow.



Money can't buy happiness. Just video games, which make me happy.

Kasz216 on 02 November 2011

Being played? No, it's just shows the mayor is gutless.

After the riots went poorly he gave in to pissed off people even if it does hurt the city.



Mr Khan on 02 November 2011

The working masses must beware the attempts of the government to buy them off. All too often in history has efforts to effect changed been mediated by those who just pitch the protesters a full lunchpail to shut them up

Now it is interesting that the Oakland mayor is taking the movement seriously. My perception is that most officials have been successfully marginalizing the movement through a sort of "ignore these nuts" strategy



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

deskpro2k3 on 02 November 2011

i think they want to put undercover agents in the protest and assume leading roles in the movement. then break them up from the inside out.



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Mr Khan on 02 November 2011
deskpro2k3 said:
i think they want to put undercover agents in the protest and assume leading roles in the movement. then break them up from the inside out.

That would be viciously illegal, since the Occupy movement's criminality is, as a whole, sporadic, and the illegal acts they commit are isolated (large in number, but on the whole committed by individuals of the group and not the group itself), and it would be tremendously illegal to infiltrate a peacable organization to deliberately disrupt its activities, especially if such activities are about expression

Now they could have moles in the group to weed out the troublemakers from the group at large, but they couldn't be agitating internally within the group



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

Kasz216 on 02 November 2011
Mr Khan said:
deskpro2k3 said:
i think they want to put undercover agents in the protest and assume leading roles in the movement. then break them up from the inside out.

That would be viciously illegal, since the Occupy movement's criminality is, as a whole, sporadic, and the illegal acts they commit are isolated (large in number, but on the whole committed by individuals of the group and not the group itself), and it would be tremendously illegal to infiltrate a peacable organization to deliberately disrupt its activities, especially if such activities are about expression

Now they could have moles in the group to weed out the troublemakers from the group at large, but they couldn't be agitating internally within the group

It would also be kinda pointless.  I mean the movement already is screwed up enough in Oakland to attack the police.

It's just a political play through and through.

She's a first run mayor elected in 2010 who was accused of joining the protests against the killing of Oscar Grant by a transportation officer.

So really she likely used force to show she wasn't "with the protestors", but relented when her demos went against her, and because well.... she's with the protestors.