A coalition of families of homicide victims and violence prevention organizations led a news conference Saturday afternoon in Oakland addressing the firing of former Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong.
Armstrong was fired in February without cause by Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. In her announcement, Thao cited comments Armstrong allegedly made minimizing misconduct by an officer. However, the chief has the support from many in the community, and Armstrong maintains that his firing was retaliatory and wrongful. The chief has officially appealed his firing.
"(Mayor Thao) never had a one-on-one conversation with the chief. She never actually spoke to him," said Brenda Grisham, executive director of the Christopher L. Jones Foundation, an advocacy organization for families of homicide victims.
"She (the mayor) should have given him a chance to give his side," said Armstrong, whose organization took the lead in organizing Saturday's press conference.
For about 20 years, the police department has been under federal oversight caused by police misconduct. Armstrong nearly restored oversight of the Police Department to the city. Under his leadership, Oakland police met or exceeded 51 of 52 reforms necessary to be relieved of federal oversight.
"We are going to continue to address the firing of the chief," said Grisham. "We want the mayor to revisit her decision. We need her to see what the community is going through and give us a reason. You have to say why you fired him."
Thao said on the day she fired Armstrong that Federal Monitor Robert Warshaw was "profoundly disappointed in the evidence" brought to light in a report on alleged police misconduct and saw "significant cultural problems in the department."
The evidence included allegations that a police sergeant crashed a police vehicle into a parked vehicle in 2021 and left the scene. The following year, the same officer is alleged to have accidentally discharged his gun in the freight elevator of police headquarters and waited a week to report it.
Armstrong said Thao, "accepted the Monitor's conclusions at face value" and has ignored the community, which the mayor has said she wants to bring together.
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Organizations participating in Saturday's press conference include Family Support Advocates, Coalition of Million Mothers for Justice, Their Lives Matter, Oakland Community Chaplains and Pastors of Oakland.
The news conference was scheduled to take place at noon at the Lighthouse Community School multipurpose room in the 400 block of Hegenberger Road.
