Left-Wing Mayor's Tough-On-Crime Rebrand Could Be Nothing But Smoke And Mirrors

dailycaller.com

Oakland’s left-wing mayor, Barbara Lee, is trying her hand at common-sense policies, for once; namely, to hire more cops. However, the back-the-blue rebrand may be nothing but smoke and mirrors.

A former congresswoman, Lee has taken strides to clean up her city since taking office in April. She has initiated a comprehensive cleanup of homeless encampments and spearheaded efforts to bolster police hiring. For the first time since 2002, all 25 Oakland firehouses are operational, according to the Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) glowing profile, published Monday. Her “Keep the Town Clean” program has cleared over 30 tons of illegally dumped waste and contributed to a visible reduction of homeless encampments along major thoroughfares, the WSJ reported. The city council has also moved to tackle a $265 million budget shortfall over two years by slashing funds for certain animal and neighborhood services. (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a free weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)

But on the policing front, her rebranding is far more complicated than the WSJ’s story makes it out to be. In fact, it might be smoke and mirrors, a cynical attempt to win a PR battle for her office. Despite a crackdown on “sideshows” — wherein lawless goons hold street racing competitions, blocking entire streets and endangering everyday citizens — the police department is still struggling.

Lee’s administration has budgeted for an increase in cops, with 511 police officers currently working for the city, according to Oakland Police Officers’ Association (OPOA) spokesman Sam Singer. But recruitment is an uphill battle. The mayor’s goal is to bump that number up to 678, and then from there, to 700, according to the WSJ. Yet that number is still well below full strength, which for the city is 877 cops. Additionally, the Oakland Police Department is losing six cops every month, the outlet reported. At this rate, they won’t reach their goal. And if they do, it will be a short-lived victory.

“The City of Oakland needs 877 police officers by its own independent study. Mayor Lee says her goal is 700 officers.  Right now, there are exactly 511 working Oakland police officers. It’s nice of the Mayor to have goals, but the reality is that she will not be able to reach this goal by the end of her first term in January 2027. Right now, Oakland is an open crime scene and officers are struggling to respond to 911 calls because of the city’s leadership failures. Police officers in Oakland are out gunned and out numbered by criminals,” Singer told the Daily Caller.

There is also the issue of crime going unreported. For example, robberies and murders in Oakland have appeared to decline—at least according to what is seen in the data. As of June, Oakland experienced a 41% decline in robberies and a 21% decrease in homicides compared to the same timeframe the previous year, according to city data. Some small business owners believe the data belies the actual crime rates, which remain high because people have given up on reporting incidents to police. Sanjiv Patel, a 68-year-old former convenience store owner, said both of his stores were broken into monthly. However, he refused to file police reports out of fear his insurance premiums would go up. He was forced to sell the stores in May, describing his experience as “death by a thousand cuts.” (RELATED: Sh*tty Sidewalks, Broken Windows And Useless Cops: Three Stories That Sum Up DC’s Gnarly Crime Problem)

“Ask most any merchant, resident, or businessperson and they will tell you that they don’t believe that crime is down. They can see broken windows, hear gunshots at all hours, and read the news reports of people being shot weekly, if not nightly,” Singer told the Caller. “Just the other day, I myself saw a man return to his car to find the window broken and something stolen. The parking lot security guard advised him to contact police and file a report. He told the guard that he didn’t think it would do any good and he didn’t have the time to wait.  That is why crime is allegedly down: people don’t report it because there are not enough police officers to respond.”

In August, Oakland was named the second most dangerous place in America, and its murder rate per 100,000 residents remains high — higher than even Chicago. Recent smash-and-grab robberies in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood prompted calls from business leaders for more police officers. And all the while, real estate values are dropping, thanks, in part, to crime.

Some residents have expressed frustration over the administration’s pace of change, and rightfully so.

“I understand their frustration, because I don’t feel like we’re moving fast enough,” Lee told the WSJ. “But I’m moving as fast as I can.”

Is she really moving as fast as she can, though? And is she even moving in the right direction? With regard to literally cleaning up the city, her progress is admirable. Yet again, with police recruitment, will extra cops even make a difference? And what difference would that make if six cops are bailing ship every month?

It may, as I suspect, be an attempt from Lee to appear more moderate and tough on crime (all while crime remains deceptively high in spite of the data) without drawing the ire of the left-wing activists who still call Oakland home.