City Government

Oakland City Council Adopts New Department of Violence Prevention

Published

8 years ago

June 23, 2017

The Oakland City Council voted this week to establish a Department of Violence Prevention (DVP) as hundreds of Oaklanders came to City Hall to support the ordinance authored by President Larry Reid and Councilmembers Lynette Gibson McElhaney and Rebecca Kaplan.

The passage of the ordinance means that the city will soon hire a Chief of Violence Prevention, who will be at the same level as the Chiefs of Police and Fire in the City’s decision-making structure.

Advocates for the new department believe that an empowered, executive-level leader is the next step in making real the city’s commitment to a public health approach as an effective solution to reducing homicides, domestic violence and the sexual exploitation of children.

“I have been in office for 20 years fighting for public safety for this city,” said Reid. “This legislation gives me a renewed sense of hope that we will stop accepting the violence in our community as ‘normal.’
“I thank my colleagues for taking this bold step to truly make Oakland safe and loving for everyone,” he said.

In establishing the department, the council has set an aspirational goal to realize an 80 percent reduction in homicides and at least an 80 percent clearance rate for homicides within the next three years.

Richmond had realized a 71 percent reduction after adopting a similar initiative, according to supporters. The new department will also establish a victims’ support unit to combat sex trafficking and domestic violence and help families with cold case advocacy.

“When Oaklanders generously passed the Measure Z Safety and Services tax in 2014, they entrusted the City with $25 million per year to reduce violence on the condition that we would give equal weight to policing and violence prevention,” said Councilmember McElhaney.

“(This week) we took a major step forward in fulfilling that promise to the voters,” she added.

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Related Topics:community Coucilwoman Lynette McElhaney crime Department of Violence Prevention Oakland Oakland City Council violence

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

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3 days ago

June 7, 2025

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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

1 week 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.