City Government

City Hires Sean Whent to Lead Police Department

Published

11 years ago

May 14, 2014

Mayor Jean Quan announced Tuesday that interim chief Sean Whent will become the new chief of the Oakland Police Department

Whent has served as the interim chief since Howard Jordan resigned last May for medical reasons.

Whent has proven himself to be the leader that both the department and the city need, said Quan.

“He has built a strong leadership team that works together,” she said, calling new chief progressive collaborative.

“You can see and feel the difference in the community,” Quan added.

While he says there still much work to be done, Whent says he is excited to be in the position and hopes to continue the progress the department has made in the last 12 months.

Whent is an 18-year OPD veteran. He has worked in the Patrol Division, Criminal Investigations Division, Support Operations Division, Internal Affairs Division and the Office of Inspector General.

Prior to his appointment as chief, he was a Deputy Chief in charge of the Bureau of Risk Management.

Since Whent became interim chief, Oakland has seen its second-largest decline in homicides in 40 years. Crime rates are continuing to drop, with declines of more than 30 percent in shootings, robberies and home burglaries so far in 2014, according to the City.

In April, the largest graduating class of new officers from the Police Academy joined the force.

“I know it’s only with true partnership between our police and our communities that Oakland is getting safer,” he said.

Whent expressed his confidence that OPD will fully fulfill the tasks associated with the Negotiated Settlement Agreement, which has meant that the department has remained under the supervision of federal Judge Thelton Henderson and court-appointed monitors since 2003.

Oakland has had a difficult time retaining a police chief role in recent years. After the resignation of Wayne Tucker in 2009, the city hired Anthony Batts, former Long Beach Chief of Police.

Batts abruptly resigned in October 2011, citing issues working with the city’s leadership officials. Howard Jordan was named interim police chief and confirmed as chief in February 2012

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Related Topics:City of Oakland crime Fred Blackwell Jean Quan Oakland Police Department OPD Sean Whent

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

6 days ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.