City Government

Gallo Backs Community Call for Police Accountability

Published

12 years ago

June 5, 2014

Councilmember Noel Gallo is pushing the City Council to consider placing a charter amendment on the November ballot. The measure would create a public safety oversight commission to assume most of the authority over the police department, including discipline of officers, currently in the hands of the City Administrator’s office.

“There are some legitimate concerns here. – (Many people) in Oakland are talking about how they lack the trust in the City Council to even listen to and talk about their concerns,” said Gallo, speaking Thursday to the members of the council’s Rules Committee, which puts items on council agendas.

Gallois chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee.

The Rules Committee agreed Thursday to put the item on the June 24 Public Safety Committee meeting agenda only as informational item, which means it could not be passed at Public Safety and sent to the full council.

Councilmember Dan Kalb asked for the matter to be discussed again at next Thursday, Rules Committee meeting, indicating he would support Gallo’s motion, which would allow for possible action on the motion.

Supporters of placing a measure to create a Public Safety Oversight Commission on the November ballot include from left: Claudine Tong; child Dahlia Wong; Maria Dominguez from Ella Baker Center; Gwen Hardy of PUEBLO; Susan Schawl, a former CPRB member; PUEBLO Executive Director Rashidah Grinage; and Kyle Hudson, member of Oakland Youth Policy Builders. Photo by Ken Epstein

Councilmember Larry Reid says he opposes allowing the issue to go to the full council, and Councilmember Libby Schaaf appears to be reluctant.

Oakland Police Officers Association President Barry Donelan attended the meeting but declined to comment.

If it makes the ballot and passes, the oversight commission will combine the staff and responsibilities of the currently existing Citizens’ Police Review Board and the Community Policing Advisory Board. By combining the staff of existing boards, the new commission would not require additional funds.

To be on the November ballot, the City Council must vote in favor of putting the measure on the ballot before the council breaks in August for its regular summer recess.

The proposal is supported by the Coalition of Police Accountability, which includes the Oakland-Berkeley chapter of Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA), the Ella Baker Center, the Mentoring Center, Oakland NAACP, People United for a Better Life in Oakland (PUEBLO), Chair of the Measure Y Oversight Committee Jose Dorado, as well an mayoral candidates Dan Siegel and Jason “Shake” Anderson.

Rashidah Grinage, PUEBLO’s executive director, spoke on behalf of the Coalition for Police Accountability. “If it’s just an information item, it dies right there,” she said. “If it doesn’t go to the council now, it will not make it to the ballot” until 2016.

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

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Oakland Council Expands Citywide Security Cameras Despite Major Opposition

In a 7-1 vote in favor of the contract, with only District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife voting no, the Council agreed to maintain its existing network of 291 cameras and add 40 new “pan-tilt-zoom cameras.”

Published

4 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

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At the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, Flock Safety introduces new public safety technology – Amplified Intelligence, a suite of AI-powered tools designed to improve law enforcement investigations. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

The Oakland City Council this week approved a $2.25 million contract with Flock Safety for a mass surveillance network of hundreds of security cameras to track vehicles in the city.

In recent weeks hundreds of local residents have spoken against the camera system, raising concerns that data will be shared with immigration authorities and other federal agencies at a time when mass surveillance is growing across the country with little regard for individual rights.

The Flock network, supported by the Oakland Police Department, has the backing of residents and councilmembers who see it as an important tool to protect public safety.

“This system makes the Department more efficient as it allows for information related to disruptive/violent criminal activities to be captured … and allows for precise and focused enforcement,” OPD wrote in its proposal to City Council.

According to OPD, police made 232 arrests using data from Flock cameras between July 2024 and November of this year.

Based on the data, police say they recovered 68 guns, and utilizing the countywide system, they have found 1,100 stolen vehicles.

However, Flock’s cameras cast a wide net. The company’s cameras in Oakland last month captured license plate numbers and other information from about 1.4 million vehicles.

Speaking at Tuesday’s Council meeting, Fife was critical of her colleagues for signing a contract with a company that has been in the national spotlight for sharing data with federal agencies.

Flock’s cameras – which are automated license plate readers – have been used in tracking people who have had abortions, monitoring protesters, and aiding in deportation roundups.

“I don’t know how we get up and have several press conferences talking about how we are supportive of a sanctuary city status but then use a vendor that has been shown to have a direct relationship with (the U.S.) Border Control,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Several councilmembers who voted in favor of the contract said they supported the deal as long as some safeguards were written into the Council’s resolution.

“We’re not aiming for perfection,” said District 1 Councilmember Zac Unger. “This is not Orwellian facial recognition technology — that’s prohibited in Oakland. The road forward here is to add as many amendments as we can.”

Amendments passed by the Council prohibit OPD from sharing camera data with any other agencies for the purpose of “criminalizing reproductive or gender affirming healthcare” or for federal immigration enforcement. California state law also prohibits the sharing of license plate reader data with the federal government, and because Oakland’s sanctuary city status, OPD is not allowed to cooperate with immigration authorities.

A former member of Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission has sued OPD, alleging that it has violated its own rules around data sharing.

So far, OPD has shared Flock data with 50 other law enforcement agencies.