Video clip 1. Oakland’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force issued a recommendation in 2021 to move most traffic enforcement from police to the transportation department. (Sources: Oakland Department of Transportation; NBC Bay Area; CBS Bay Area; Oakland Police Department; ABC7 Eyewitness News; Simple Minds; Adobe Stock. Video montage by Oakland Report.)
Editors’ note: This article was originally posted by Oakland resident Rajni Mandal on her Substack page. Oakland Report is republishing it with Mandal’s permission for our readers to consider. Subscribe to Rajni Mandal’s Public Safety Updates to receive her articles directly.
Who do you call when a car is abandoned — and who actually is responsible?
At National Night Out events in East Oakland last month, residents raised concerns with police about abandoned and stolen vehicles in their neighborhoods. The police department responded with a targeted operation:1
“In all, 41 abandoned vehicles were towed, two stolen vehicles were recovered, and more than 20 additional vehicles were tagged for towing. Several residents shared that, for the first time in months, they were able to park in front of their homes after the vehicles were removed.”
— Oakland police department, Sept. 1, 2026
However, abandoned auto enforcement on Oakland’s public streets is no longer primarily a police function.
In 2023, Oakland transferred that work from the police department to the Department of Transportation (OakDOT), which created a specialized Vehicle Enforcement Unit (VEU) to respond to abandoned auto complaints and remove vehicles from the public right-of-way.
In other words, the work residents were asking police to perform was work the city had transferred out of the police department three years earlier.
Subscribe for free to Oakland Report.
Oakland’s abandoned auto problem
Abandoned vehicles are one of Oakland’s largest categories of service requests, with more than 20,000 requests received in 2025.2
Adjusted for population, Oakland receives nearly twice as many abandoned vehicle complaints as San Francisco.3
The current backlog is substantial. As of September 16, Oakland’s 311 dataset listed 15,616 abandoned auto requests as “open” or “pending.” Over 10,000 (about two-thirds) of the requests were filed before 2026.
The problem is most concentrated in East Oakland: council districts 6 and 7 account for 58% of the citywide backlog.
Historical background
In 2021, Oakland’s Reimagining Public Safety Task Force issued a recommendation to move most traffic enforcement from police to OakDOT, eliminate pretextual traffic stops, decriminalize most traffic violations and reduce fines and fees.4 It further contemplated leaving police responsible for particularly high-risk violations such as reckless driving and extreme speeding.
Oakland’s two-year 2021–23 budget shifted the police department’s Vehicle Enforcement Units to OakDOT, transferring the equivalent of 10 police services technician positions, adding three parking enforcement supervisors and eliminating three sworn police positions.5
The city described the change as part of an effort to shift services away from the police department and have departments with “civilian” subject matter expertise respond to calls previously handled by police.
The stated goal was to reduce the police department’s visible footprint while reserving police resources for more critical issues.
The operational transfer was completed in February 2023.6 OakDOT’s new Vehicle Enforcement Unit (VEU) took responsibility for abandoned auto enforcement on public streets, along with scofflaw enforcement and vehicle encampments.7 VEU initially relied on existing parking control employees rotating through acting assignments while OakDOT developed permanent specialized positions.
Demand quickly exceeded capacity. By early 2024, OakDOT reported a backlog of approximately 9,600 open or pending abandoned vehicle requests.8 Staff concluded that the size of the problem and the resources devoted to it were “out of alignment.”
In March 2024, the city council appropriated approximately $840,000 for additional personnel, program support and towing technology.9
The 311 data show a substantial improvement during the same period. For most of 2024, only a small percentage of each month’s abandoned auto requests remained open or pending, coinciding with the additional funding. The VEU’s tow data show that it towed 2,751 vehicles in 2023 and 3,979 in 2024 — an increase of about 45%.10
Unfortunately, the improvement did not last. By late 2024, the percentage of unresolved 311 requests began to rise again. The deterioration accelerated during 2025, even as the number of new requests declined: VEU tows fell to 2,851 in 2025; a 28% decline from 2024.
Should abandoned auto enforcement go back to the police department?
In January 2026, the city administration proposed reorganizing Oakland’s parking operations again.11 Administrative and revenue-related functions would move from OakDOT to the finance department, while the Vehicle Enforcement Unit responsible for abandoned autos would move to the police department.
City administration said the changes would better align related functions across departments. For abandoned autos, it noted that the work had previously been housed in the police department and said police were already handling the majority of abandoned auto cases. The proposal would place enforcement and management of the civilian abandoned auto staff under the police department.
Share this story with someone you know
The proposal came before OakDOT had finished implementing the previous reorganization. The city had created a permanent specialized classification for the Vehicle Enforcement Unit, but appointments and recruitment were still underway. The proposal also raised a more fundamental question about how abandoned auto work was already divided between the two departments.
At a February public works and transportation committee meeting, then-city administrator Jestin Johnson said that, “anecdotally, as I understand it, about 70 to 80% of the abandoned auto operation” was already being handled “in many respects” by the police department.12
Council members pressed for more details about the proposed division of responsibilities. The discussion included whether stolen vehicles should be distinguished from ordinary abandoned vehicles, what moving VEU to OPD would accomplish, and what would happen to the civilian employees and specialized positions created for the unit.
The administration delayed the proposed transition until mid-May while it continued working through the reorganization.13 By June, the plan had changed again, moving administrative parking functions to the finance department, and retaining parking enforcement and VEU in OakDOT.14
The line between stolen and abandoned
The division between OakDOT and the police department looks relatively straightforward on paper: OakDOT handles abandoned vehicles on public streets, and police investigate vehicle theft.
On the street, the work overlaps. A vehicle can be reported stolen to police, dumped somewhere else, stripped, reported to Oak311 as abandoned and eventually encountered by OakDOT’s Vehicle Enforcement Unit.
That overlap was built into VEU from the beginning. The city’s 2024 VEU report said that stolen vehicles were being treated as emergency or high priority cases. In the unit’s first nine months, 778 of 2,508 VEU tows (31%) were stolen vehicles.
The report also established a division of responsibility: when VEU encountered a stolen vehicle while responding to a 311 request, the police department was to take the lead if the vehicle had an associated felony warrant.
Measurements remain unclear
Oakland ultimately kept the VEU in OakDOT. However, abandoned auto enforcement crosses departmental lines, particularly when abandoned vehicles are also stolen. What is less clear is how that coordination is working today and how its performance is measured.
That matters significantly in East Oakland, where districts 6 and 7 account for nearly 60% of Oakland’s current open and pending abandoned auto requests. This is the same area where residents voiced their concerns to police department representatives at the National Night Out event — and police responded with a targeted vehicle removal operation.
The question may no longer be whether abandoned auto enforcement belongs in OakDOT or the police department. It is whether Oakland can make the two departments work together effectively.
Oakland Report is an experiment in a new form of media: reasoned, data-driven, well-sourced analysis focused on observable and verifiable evidence. We present the facts and let the reader decide. Do you have an idea for a story on local government issues? Learn more at oaklandreport.org/about.
Endnotes
See the methodology and source data for this story here.
City of Oakland. “OPD tows 60+ abandoned and stolen vehicles.” City of Oakland news release, Sept. 1, 2026. https://www.oaklandca.gov/News-Releases/OPD-Tows-60-Abandoned-and-Stolen-Vehicles
City of Oakland. “Service requests received by the Oakland call center (Oak311).” City of Oakland open data portal, accessed Sept. 16, 2026. https://data.oaklandca.gov/Infrastructure/Service-requests-received-by-the-Oakland-Call-Cent/quth-gb8e/about_data
City and County of San Francisco. “311 online services.” SF.gov webpage, accessed Sept. 16, 2026. https://www.sf.gov/topics--311-online-services
City of Oakland. “Reimagining public safety task force report and recommendations.” Community policing advisory board, Apr. 29. 2021. https://www.oaklandca.gov/files/assets/city/v/1/boards-amp-commissions/documents/cpab/oakland-rpstf-report-final-4-29-21.pdf
City of Oakland. "Adopted policy budget, fiscal years 2021–23." City of Oakland budget portal, accessed Sept. 16, 2026. https://stories.opengov.com/oaklandca/published/3fGcp45Oz
City of Oakland. "Report on status of implementing policy directives: vehicle enforcement unit transition." Oakland city council meeting, May 29, 2024. https://oakland.legistar.com/View.ashx?GUID=6F1937C1-7B05-4C04-A1AA-B30D3AB1F8BC&ID=12960037&M=F
City of Oakland. “Abandoned auto unit / vehicle enforcement unit.” Oakland Department of Transportation webpage, accessed Sept. 16, 2026. https://www.oaklandca.gov/Government/Departments/Transportation-OakDOT/abandoned auto-Unit
City of Oakland. "FY 2022-23 policy directives: transfer of vehicle enforcement functions from OPD to Oakland Department of Transportation." Oakland Legistar, file document ID 12723393, 2024. https://oakland.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12723393&GUID=83CB3935-4FA0-4F28-8E4A-6BA25246E1EA
City of Oakland. "Abandoned auto program funding." Oakland city council meeting, Mar. 19, 2024. https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?GUID=BF8E1D7A-1A7C-4B13-A5F6-877155C77ADB&ID=6565602
Johnson, Bradley. "Supplemental: reorganizing of the parking division." Oakland city council meeting, Feb. 26, 2026. https://oakland.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15297209&GUID=6659885F-E87A-4B3E-B771-83A9F6FB9A15
Johnson, Bradley. "Reorganizing of the parking division." Oakland city council meeting, Jan. 29, 2026. https://oakland.legistar.com/View.ashx?GUID=4D10021B-AA0F-4331-950D-D4E9AD693702&ID=15158185&M=F
City of Oakland. “Receive an informational report from the city administrator on the proposed reorganization of the department of transportation’s parking division.” Council public works and transportation committee meeting, Feb. 10, 2026. https://oakland.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1382373&GUID=B7DA7F3D-0A94-4D03-9C0B-CDECF40D19E7&Options=info|&Search=
City of Oakland. "Receive an informational report from the city administrator on the proposed reorganization of the department of transportation’s parking division.” Oakland city council meeting, Jun. 16, 2026. https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7803655&GUID=0CF2640A-FEFF-40DF-A548-4C315824FCC4
Johnson, Bradley. "Supplemental: reorganizing of the parking division." Oakland city council meeting, Mar. 5, 2026. https://oakland.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=15576613&GUID=DCD2D9CE-E185-415B-BC8A-34BD20D76CA0
What I know about DOT operations and current abandoned auto stats is nothing. Absolutely nothing.
However, as an admin support volunteer for OPD for many years, I worked in the traffic unit for about one year (2016-17) taking calls for service off voicemail and email and forwarding them to the techs assigned to each area. I can say with absolute certainty that the number of vehicles abandoned in our fair city was simply stupefying. We are a dumping ground for the greater Bay Area. Any day would see at least 50, although some were certainly repeat requests. After a 3-day holiday weekend, 75-100+ calls were the norm. By far, the majority were for East Oakland streets, the farther east, the higher the number. West Oakland was a smaller area but a very close second. Again, these aren’t numbers I pulled off a report, they are from my direct experience.
Because there were real risks to our techs from people angry about being towed, or under various chemical influences, they wore ballistic vests and had radios to call for officer assistance if needed quickly. DOT techs do not have these, at least they didn’t at the start. If a vehicle was ‘inhabited,’ or being used as a market for drugs, techs had to call on officers and/or social services to deal with those issues first.
This was not, is not a job for sissies. The reimaginers were committed to dealing with fantasies. With the exception of the three members who were firmly grounded in reality, they seemed to think: Cars. Parked on public streets. So…a parking, not police problem. (For awhile, they were also proposing the combination of 311 with 911, which demonstrated their profound level of ignorance about the work 911 dispatchers do as actual first responders, 24/7. The thinking, I guess, was 311 answers phones, 911 answers phones. Same same. All just a bunch of operations like the old AT&T switchboard operators. I read their proposals regularly and nearly tore all my hair out.)
There -are- ways to improve police and other services to Oaklanders. But to make realistic, effective, lasting changes, the deciders need to know the nuts and bolts of how and why things are currently done. Some current operations don’t work well due to badly outdated technology. Some are contingent upon other systems or department functions. Some are done because of laws and regulations. If one thing is changed, another may need to be as well.
I’ve never seen it happen in 50 years working in a wide variety of industries, but it would also be smart if the deciders would actually -listen- to those currently doing the work and hear their concerns not as resistance to change but as actual knowledge, based on years of experience, about how those changes could be managed and whether they will actually result in the intended improvements.
Hopin’ and wishin’ are notoriously ineffective, even destructive, management strategies. Cue Jiminy Cricket…
I think it would be an interesting exercise to compare the abandoned auto numbers with other cities. This wasn’t even a discussion in Atlanta. Also, it would be an interesting exercise to compare Oakland to SF. When it comes to towing, SFMTA is the lead agency, and all tow related activities go through their dispatch center. It’s an impressive facility, and they have been gracious to take time to show us how they do things. OakDOT doesn’t have the dispatch center. It doesn’t even have a dispatcher.