The Oakland Police Officer's Association says the city has become an "international embarrassment" under Mayor Sheng Thao.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the Oakland Police Officer’s Association flatly accused Thao of making Oakland “a more dangerous place" and are urging her to resign.
“For almost two years, we have been waiting and see this ship is not stirring in the right direction. The leadership in the city continues to fail again and again and the citizens on the street are suffering,” said Huy Nguyen, president of the Oakland Police Officer's Association.
The OPOA is calling for Thao to resign by an August 8 deadline.
"Resign now will help us get a leader into office immediately in November. It will also save the city millions of dollars," Nguyen said.
In a lengthy letter, the police union listed several criticisms of the mayor, including the city missing a state deadline to potentially qualify for millions in crime fighting funding. They also noted the FBI search on her home, saying it creates a lack of credibility.
The group added that under Thao and her policies, crime is out of control. They are also highlighting the past weekend, where a sideshow led to five people being shot and a separate shooting that left three people wounded.
The OPOA also blames the mayor and the Oakland City Council majority for a recently passed budget that cuts the police force from 712 to 678 officers, saying they simply don’t have enough resources.
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“We have 750 police officers. We are working backwards if we think that we can function at 600 police officers or 678 police officers in the city. The demand from our community is greater today than ever,” Nguyen said.
The letter demanding Thao’s resignation comes after a unanimous vote by the POA’s four-person executive board. However, the union said there is overwhelming support of the letter by rank-and-file officers.
Thao responded on Tuesday. She told NBC Bay Area that the letter and timing are simply meant to distract from the city’s deal to sell the Oakland Coliseum.
“It’s a huge distraction,” she said. “I believe that this is a response to the huge win that we received last week. This is just the association speaking. This is not all officers. All of this is an investment for tomorrow, of course. I wish I had a magic wand to increase our revenue overnight but that’s not going to happen."
Thao said that Oakland’s overall crime is down by 32 % including an 11% decrease in violent crime. But the OPOA said some of the crime data, including property crime and crimes reported online is delayed and inaccurate due to understaffing.
“Even if you look at four months behind delayed, you will still see crime is trending down across the board. So, it is inaccurate to go out and be so salacious to give out false facts. The facts is crime is trending down,” Thao said.
Thao was doubling down on Tuesday as she said that she’s not going anywhere.
“Absolutely not. The voters of Oakland have voted for me to be the mayor to lead the charge of change and we are creating that change,” she said.
