Bay Area
Oakland Will Revive “Ceasefire” Program After Audit Reports Show Slowing Violence
Oakland City Council held a meeting Tuesday evening to discuss an audit report of an abandoned city program that helped lower gun violence and is now being reinstated. The program, called Ceasefire, was implemented in 2012. During the years that followed, it was credited for a 42% drop in murders in the city, from 2012 to 2017. In 2020, however, it was disbanded after the COVID-19 pandemic began, and homicides started to rise.

By Magaly Muñoz
Oakland City Council held a meeting Tuesday evening to discuss an audit report of an abandoned city program that helped lower gun violence and is now being reinstated.
The program, called Ceasefire, was implemented in 2012. During the years that followed, it was credited for a 42% drop in murders in the city, from 2012 to 2017. In 2020, however, it was disbanded after the COVID-19 pandemic began, and homicides started to rise.
Mayor Sheng Thao requested the audit in 2023 to assess Ceasefire’s impact on the city.
“Operation Ceasefire is a critical component of my comprehensive community safety strategy. Ceasefire is an evidence-based strategy that achieved success in reducing shootings, homicides, recidivism and victimization for those at highest risk,” Thao said in a statement.
The report gave numerous recommendations for the program if the city chose to go forward with the revival, including making a clear structure for direct communication between Oakland Police Department and the Department of Violence Prevention (DVP).
One issue that they attributed to the rise in crimes, is the lack of staffing for the program. Staff who were originally a part of Ceasefire had been distributed amongst other roles, including the Violent Crimes Operation Center (VCOC) that was created in 2021 by former police chief LeRonne Armstrong.
The VCOC focused on solving past crimes to boost clearance rates, the report found. As a result, that impacted its ability to prevent and solve more recent crimes. It also didn’t create a channel for communication between perpetrators and victims impacted by their violence, increasing the rates of reoffences and recidivism. Homicide clearance rates dropped from 50% in 2020 to 35% in 2022, according to the audit report.
The team that conducted the audit, the California Partnership for Safe Communities (CPSC), recommended disbanding the VCOC and instead fully staffing the Ceasefire team with a director, a community engagement specialist, life coaches and more.
Other recommendations by the CPSC included refocusing shooting review meetings with OPD; ensuring meetings are led by the mayor’s administration team; and improving management, governance and oversight of the program.
Before showing their support for bringing back the program, the city council members shared their comments and concerns about the Ceasefire program.
Councilmember Janani Ramachandran asked how the specific focus on a small group of people affected by gun violence helps those affected by other rising crimes in Oakland, such as property crimes and retail theft — both of which were up 22% and 9% in 2023, according to OPD reports.
Vaughn Crandell, a member of the CPSC audit team, stated that those who were committing violent crimes have a long history in the justice system and have repeatedly been linked to property crimes and other escalating crimes. He added that burglaries and robberies were areas where numbers consistently lowered along with homicides during the active years of Ceasefire.
“If you can get the strategy working effectively, we should see benefits across multiple categories beyond just shootings and homicides,” Crandell said.
While other members asked questions about how the program will operate, Councilmember Noel Gallo pointed out what he sees as the obvious miscommunication amongst public safety departments, which he believes is a factor contributing to the Oakland’s high crime rate.
“We’re going in circles as a community, that’s why we’re not getting a response,” Gallo said.
He stated that he supported the revitalization of Ceasefire because it meant the possibility of all government entities coming together to focus on the common goal of preventing crime and having clear channels of communication to facilitate it.
Members of the community also showed their support for the reinstatement of the program, stating that they wanted more done around prevention.,
“127 people have been killed, 127 too many,” one speaker said during public comment.
The council agreed to come back at a later date to discuss a new budget for Ceasefire and how they will begin to integrate it back into the city’s public safety plans.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of February 19 – 25, 2025
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Activism
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Lateefah Simon to Speak at Elihu Harris Lecture Series
The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.

By Scott Horton
United States House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY-8) will be a speaker at the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series on Friday, Feb. 21.
The event will be held at the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, 10 Tenth Street in Oakland, at 7 p.m.
The popular lecture series is co-produced by the Oakland-based Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Peralta Community College District. Jeffries’ appearance marks the 32nd lecture of the Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series, which has provided thousands of individuals with accessible, free, high-quality information.
The overarching goal of the lecture series is to provide speakers from diverse backgrounds a platform to offer their answers to Dr. King’s urgent question, which is also the title of Jeffries’ latest book: “Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community?”
In addition to Jeffries, Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) will also speak.
“Certainly, now is a time for humanity, in general, and Americans in particular to honestly and genuinely answer Dr. King’s question,” said Dr. Roy D. Wilson, Executive Director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center and Executive Producer of the lecture series.
“Dr. King teaches that time is neutral but not static. Like the water in a river, it arrives and then quickly moves on,” continued Wilson. “We must urgently create conditions for listening to many different answers to this vital question, and generate the development of unity of action among all those who struggle for a stronger democracy.”
In his book, Jeffries shares his experience of being unanimously elected by his colleagues as the first African American in history to ever hold the position of House Minority Leader.
In January 2023 in Washington, Jeffries made his first official speech as House Minority Leader. He affirmed Democratic values one letter of the alphabet at a time. His words and how he framed them as the alphabet caught the attention of Americans, and the speech was later turned into a book, The ABCs of Democracy, bringing Congressman Jeffries rousing speech to vivid, colorful life, including illustrations by Shaniya Carrington. The speech and book are inspiring and urgent as a timeless reminder of what it means to be a country with equal opportunities for all. Jeffries paints a road map for a brighter American future and warns of the perils of taking a different path.
Before his colleagues unanimously elected him Minority Leader in 2022, Jeffries previously served as Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and as an Impeachment Manager during the first Senate trial of the 45th President of the United States.
Jeffries was born in Brooklyn Hospital, raised in Crown Heights, grew up in the Cornerstone Baptist Church and he is a product of New York City’s public school system, graduating from Midwood High School. Jefferies went on to Binghamton University (BA), Georgetown University (master’s in public policy) and New York University (JD).
He served in the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.
Admission is free for the Feb. 21 Barbara Lee and Elihu Harris Lecture Series featuring Congressman Jeffries. Please reserve seats by calling the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center at (510) 434-3988.
Signed copies of his book will be available for purchase at the event.
Alameda County
After Years of Working Remotely, Oakland Requires All City Employees to Return to Office by April 7
City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week. These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.
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By Post Staff
The City Oakland is requiring all employees to return to the office, thereby ending the telecommuting policy established during the pandemic that has left some City Hall departments understaffed.
City Administrator Jestin Johnson recently told city unions that he is ending Oakland’s telecommuting program. The new policy will require employees to come to work at least four days a week.
These new regulations go into effect on Feb. 18 for non-union department heads, assistant and deputy directors, managers, and supervisors. All other employees must be back at work by April 7.
The administration may still grant the right to work remotely on a case-by-case basis.
In his memo to city unions, Johnson said former President Joe Biden had declared an end to the pandemic in September 2022, and that since then, “We have collectively moved into newer, safer health conditions.”
Johnson said “multiple departments” already have all their staff back in the office or workplace.
The City’s COVID-era policy, enacted in September 2021, was designed to reduce the spread of the debilitating and potentially fatal virus.
Many cities and companies across the country are now ending their pandemic-related remote work policies. Locally, mayoral candidate Loren Taylor in a press conference made the policy a central issue in his campaign for mayor.
City Hall reopened for in-person meetings two years ago, and the city’s decision to end remote work occurred before Taylor’s press conference.
At an endorsement meeting last Saturday of the John George Democratic Club, mayoral candidate Barbara Lee said she agreed that city workers should return to the job.
At the same time, she said, the city should allow employees time to readjust their lives, which were disrupted by the pandemic, and should recognize individual needs, taking care to maintain staff morale.
The John George club endorsed Lee for Mayor and Charlene Wang for City Council representative for District 2. The club also voted to take no position on the sales tax measure that will be on the April 15 ballot.
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