ONYX ORGANIZING COMMITTEE’s POSITION AGAINST WILLIAM BRATTON
AS A CONSULTANT FOR THE OAKLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT.
Given by Chairwoman Cat Brooks on January 1, 2013 at the
Public Safety Committee Meeting
City Hall, Oakland, CA
City Hall, Oakland, CA
“When I lived in
South Central, Los Angeles, William Bratton was appointed Chief of Police.
Shortly after arriving, he was quoted as telling his officers that South LA was
Beirut and that they should patrol it as such.
What do you think that did to the mindset of the police officers
patrolling Afrikan and Latino neighborhoods in Los Angeles?
Many police officers enter this line of work after serving
tours of duty overseas. They return home
with PTSD and a military mindset that has no place in the community
streets. Comments like the one above
only reinforce that mentality.
Case in point – the police officer that murdered Alan
Blueford had served several tours overseas and was clearly suffering from
PTSD. After executing Alan, he shot
himself in the foot and blamed it on Alan in an attempt to cover up his
actions. Reports are that officers found
him dazed and confused holding the gun looking at his foot. It is speculated that he was having a
flashback.
Bratton is not the answer to crime in Oakland. A military-minded man is not the answer to a
police department already plagued with brutality, corruption and deceit.
Yes, there is crime in Oakland, but WHY is there a crime
problem in Oakland? Is it because Black
and Brown men just have compunction to kill? Or is it because we have created a society
where opportunities to build productive lives are few and prisons are plenty?
$250,000 spent on a man with a proven track record of
increasing police brutality incidents on the forces he leads is not the answer.
If public safety is the #1 concern, then let’s invest in
public welfare – jobs, education and social services. Or better yet, why don’t
we take that $250,000 and find a consultant somewhere, somehow that can figure
out why the Oakland Police Department can’t stop killing unarmed Black and
Brown Men? I would pay $250,000 for
that.
If we could arrest our way out of this problem, America
would have the safest streets in the world because criminalize and arrest is
all we do.
My seven-year old is terrified of OPD because she has
already seen first-hand what they are capable of … from the murder of Oscar
Grant to them tear gassing her as she engaged in peaceful protest.
Ask yourself, why are people in this room so angry that they
are willing to go to jail? They are so
angry because they know that there is something fundamentally wrong with how
OPD is run and we want real solutions not publicity stunt quick fixes.
Finally, as far as I am concerned, OPD’s track record of
brutality and murder does not deem them fit to create a violence reduction
program for the city of Oakland!”
