OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is once again defending herself against calls for her resignation. This time from the Oakland Police Officers’ Association.
“I respectfully ask the mayor resign immediately,” says Sergeant Huy Nguyen, President of the Oakland POA.
It sent the mayor a four-page letter to the mayor detailing their concerns. It comes after a unanimous vote by the police officers association executive board Monday night.
“We don’t have the staffing to be able to meet that trust that out community needs,” says Sgt. Nguyen.
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The letter states the recent FBI raid of Mayor Thao’s home and missing a state grant deadline for money to tackle retail theft, among the many reasons they are calling for her resignation. The union is also concerned about inadequate staffing.
“Twenty-five years ago when I came here as a young police officer, we had 750 polices officers. We are working backwards if we think we can function at 600 police officers or 678 police officers in this city,” says Sgt. Nguyen.
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Nguyen says the fact that Governor Gavin Newsom had to send in the CHP to help fight crime and asked for loosening restrictions on the police pursuit policy, are examples of how the shortfall is affecting the city.
The police union also doesn’t think the recent sale of the Oakland Coliseum as a solution, even though it pumps $105 million into the city coffers amidst a historic deficit. They want a long term fix.
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“This is going to be an issue that’s going to come up again later, next year, with budget. This is the time to invest more in the city, hire more police officers, retain the police officers and fix the crime issue,” says Timothy Dolan, Vice President of the police union.
But Mayor Thao sees the Oakland Coliseum deal as historic.
“That we will have money coming in, in the future to fix our structural deficit that the city has been struggling with for decades,” explains Thao.
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Mayor Thao called the letter “unfortunate” and a “distraction.” She says the coliseum sale prevents layoffs and provides money for new police academies.
She also points out that the budget is prepared with input from the police department – not the mayor alone.
“Stop with the infighting. There is no reason for that. My door is always open to anybody that wants to have a conversation,” says Thao. “And at the end of the day, what this is going to cause more instability that we in the city of Oakland cannot afford.”
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