"I stood in a photo with you before I knocked doors for Measure E on Saturday." IFTPE Local 21 union members remind council members who "worked really hard to help elect" them.
Union members have advocated for "civilianizing" certain sworn officer positions, including transferring Internal Affairs functions to CPRA.
I wrote about this nearly a year ago. Since then, CPRA has acknowledged significant infrastructure challenges, including the lack of written operating procedures, training manuals, and modern case-management systems. The Police Commission, which oversees CPRA, also has not publicly released performance evaluations of the agency's leadership.
Before transferring additional responsibilities, Oakland should first ensure the underlying oversight infrastructure is functioning effectively and sustainably. Council should step in and have more of an oversight role over both CPRA and OIG (Office of Inspector General), because right now, adding staff to a system that isn't working is not a solution.
The CRPA has gone through staff like a box of tissues.
I’d be interested to know exactly which sworn positions union members should be done by civilians. Not arguing but trying to asses how much they actually know about the work currently being done by sworn staff and how that work relates to other positions in the department. Dr. Mandal knows a lot about the nuts and bolts of OPD—she is the only commentator I’ve read anywhere who’s become this informed.
Thanks for the reply! In the biannual budget passed last year, Council approved "civilianizing" five positions including intake technicians, a fleet services coordinator and a forensic analyst. But what the city worker unions (and police accountability advocates) have been pushing for is completely civilianizing IAB, which is what I was referring to. Former Chief Mitchell had commented that there is no way to completely dissolve IAB, as there are state and federal reporting requirements that must be performed by sworn staff.
In the staffing study released last year, the scope did not include assessment of non-sworn/professional staff. I've heard that there is a new staffing study in progress (as part of the reassessment of patrol beats, recommended by the city auditor) that will assess the non-sworn/professional staffing levels as well.
Probably the biggest sticking point with the fleet services position is that patrol cars have weapons in them, and only sworn personnel can have access to them.
This is off on a bit of a tangent, but one of the craziest proposals to come out of the task force to reimagine public safety was to combine 311 with 911. They’re all “just call center operators,” right? Um, no. 911 dispatchers are truly first responders, often trying to juggle 6 plates while blindfolded. The training for those positions is as long as that for sworn personnel.
Unions have pillaged and held city governments hostage for too long. I'm sick of it. There's a reason that Unions thrive where taxing people is involved. It's an old-school racket.
Amazing how this guy said the quiet part out loud. Technically electeds are supposed to vote for what is in the public's best interest, not for the special interest that spread money and resources around for the purpose of influence. Its almost pure thuggery. Quite unbelievable really.
Thanks for this article. I’ll be out super early to vote against E. I’d like a raise. The union rep couldn’t have said it more clearly: We got you elected and now it’s time for the Oakland tax payers to give us what we want (demand) or we’ll make them suffer even more.
I am so against Measure E!!! Enough with your raises! Let's see some action cleaning up the streets of Oakland. No more raises for you until everyone in this city has a roof over their head and food to eat.
Wow! That’s quite a statement. I guess we know who’s actually in charge of the city and it isn’t anyone we elected.
I don’t know why the union thinks it deserves better benefits and pay than the private sector. Lots of people don’t get raises. Why does the union deserve a pension?
As for a strike, what do any of these people actually do? Trash is everywhere, graffiti is everywhere, apparently taxes don’t get collected. I see cars in my neighborhood that have piles of tickets on them that never get towed.
I want to be pro labor. Workers deserve to be protected and paid decent wages and benefits. But workers do not deserve extravagant salaries and benefits.
There absolutely should not be public-sector unions. Unlike private sector unions, they cannot put their employers out of business by demanding too much. They simply become rent-seeking graft machines that continuously bleed taxpayers more and more dry.
I hope Measure E goes down in flames. Oakland almost never fulfills its promises and has been illegally misappropriating funds for decades due to purposeful lack of oversight. You want more money, show us you’ve EARNED IT!
The rising costs of living in Oakland affects residents across the board and these realities should be acknowledged.
The discussion should not be framed as employees versus Electeds versus residents, rather, it should focus on how to balance employee needs and the Oakland public’s expectations.
The overall effectiveness accountability, service delivery, of city government, has become the LEADING resident frustration.
This is playing out on the public streets of Oakland, seen as filthy and dysfunctional under a lack of enforcement of on-the-books laws.
We see the City and how it’s being managed on optics alone and it’s failing the residents. We don’t have to wonder: we actually can see folks are teleworking in jobs that require in-person presence to accomplish the work.
Oakland residents are increasingly vocal about concerns regarding city and municipal non-performance.
Oaklanders have needs; as part of their daily lives to interact with city government every day, whether disputing speed camera citations, addressing parking issues, obtaining permits, seeking services, reporting problems, or navigating countless other city processes.
Residents understandably expect the employees responsible for delivering services to be accessible and available to the public, especially in a fair wage performance for supportive healthcare and retirement environments.
This raises an important question: What does a telework proposal look like for positions where residents reasonably expect an in-person presence?
AI is growing and is becoming something more businesses explore for these reasons alone. We are now viewing public sector services with the exact same discernment as we do managing our own households and machines are taking human roles.
Let’s balance expectations and do better across the board.
Telework should end for City staff, as it has for almost all for-profit and nonprofit staff throughout the Bay Area. The return of City staff to City Hall and other work locations will also support local businesses which have been hurt by the absence of staff.
Similarly, people in for-profits and non-profits are dealing with benefit reductions, higher co-pays for health care, and they don't have the massive pension benefits of Oakland City staff, most of whom only started paying into their pensions in 2013.
What value per $$$ do these people provide to us taxpayers? I assume they are better than our elected government people, but this a bar so low a child could step over it. Honestly, I don't know. Do they work from home or actually show up?
Union members have advocated for "civilianizing" certain sworn officer positions, including transferring Internal Affairs functions to CPRA.
I wrote about this nearly a year ago. Since then, CPRA has acknowledged significant infrastructure challenges, including the lack of written operating procedures, training manuals, and modern case-management systems. The Police Commission, which oversees CPRA, also has not publicly released performance evaluations of the agency's leadership.
Before transferring additional responsibilities, Oakland should first ensure the underlying oversight infrastructure is functioning effectively and sustainably. Council should step in and have more of an oversight role over both CPRA and OIG (Office of Inspector General), because right now, adding staff to a system that isn't working is not a solution.
https://www.oaklandreport.org/p/policing-the-police-the-push-to-replace
The CRPA has gone through staff like a box of tissues.
I’d be interested to know exactly which sworn positions union members should be done by civilians. Not arguing but trying to asses how much they actually know about the work currently being done by sworn staff and how that work relates to other positions in the department. Dr. Mandal knows a lot about the nuts and bolts of OPD—she is the only commentator I’ve read anywhere who’s become this informed.
Thanks for the reply! In the biannual budget passed last year, Council approved "civilianizing" five positions including intake technicians, a fleet services coordinator and a forensic analyst. But what the city worker unions (and police accountability advocates) have been pushing for is completely civilianizing IAB, which is what I was referring to. Former Chief Mitchell had commented that there is no way to completely dissolve IAB, as there are state and federal reporting requirements that must be performed by sworn staff.
In the staffing study released last year, the scope did not include assessment of non-sworn/professional staff. I've heard that there is a new staffing study in progress (as part of the reassessment of patrol beats, recommended by the city auditor) that will assess the non-sworn/professional staffing levels as well.
Probably the biggest sticking point with the fleet services position is that patrol cars have weapons in them, and only sworn personnel can have access to them.
This is off on a bit of a tangent, but one of the craziest proposals to come out of the task force to reimagine public safety was to combine 311 with 911. They’re all “just call center operators,” right? Um, no. 911 dispatchers are truly first responders, often trying to juggle 6 plates while blindfolded. The training for those positions is as long as that for sworn personnel.
Unions have pillaged and held city governments hostage for too long. I'm sick of it. There's a reason that Unions thrive where taxing people is involved. It's an old-school racket.
Snarky comment: how do we tell when they are on strike? They don't do anything around here.
Agree! In fact, we might also save on fuel costs if fewer city vehicles are in operation.
Amazing how this guy said the quiet part out loud. Technically electeds are supposed to vote for what is in the public's best interest, not for the special interest that spread money and resources around for the purpose of influence. Its almost pure thuggery. Quite unbelievable really.
Thanks for this article. I’ll be out super early to vote against E. I’d like a raise. The union rep couldn’t have said it more clearly: We got you elected and now it’s time for the Oakland tax payers to give us what we want (demand) or we’ll make them suffer even more.
I am so against Measure E!!! Enough with your raises! Let's see some action cleaning up the streets of Oakland. No more raises for you until everyone in this city has a roof over their head and food to eat.
Wow! That’s quite a statement. I guess we know who’s actually in charge of the city and it isn’t anyone we elected.
I don’t know why the union thinks it deserves better benefits and pay than the private sector. Lots of people don’t get raises. Why does the union deserve a pension?
As for a strike, what do any of these people actually do? Trash is everywhere, graffiti is everywhere, apparently taxes don’t get collected. I see cars in my neighborhood that have piles of tickets on them that never get towed.
I want to be pro labor. Workers deserve to be protected and paid decent wages and benefits. But workers do not deserve extravagant salaries and benefits.
So they are saying the quiet part out loud now?
There absolutely should not be public-sector unions. Unlike private sector unions, they cannot put their employers out of business by demanding too much. They simply become rent-seeking graft machines that continuously bleed taxpayers more and more dry.
I hope Measure E goes down in flames. Oakland almost never fulfills its promises and has been illegally misappropriating funds for decades due to purposeful lack of oversight. You want more money, show us you’ve EARNED IT!
What special skills do these union members have? Let them strike and see if Oaklanders will notice. This is called “scream test”.
Yiiiikes.
The rising costs of living in Oakland affects residents across the board and these realities should be acknowledged.
The discussion should not be framed as employees versus Electeds versus residents, rather, it should focus on how to balance employee needs and the Oakland public’s expectations.
The overall effectiveness accountability, service delivery, of city government, has become the LEADING resident frustration.
This is playing out on the public streets of Oakland, seen as filthy and dysfunctional under a lack of enforcement of on-the-books laws.
We see the City and how it’s being managed on optics alone and it’s failing the residents. We don’t have to wonder: we actually can see folks are teleworking in jobs that require in-person presence to accomplish the work.
Oakland residents are increasingly vocal about concerns regarding city and municipal non-performance.
Oaklanders have needs; as part of their daily lives to interact with city government every day, whether disputing speed camera citations, addressing parking issues, obtaining permits, seeking services, reporting problems, or navigating countless other city processes.
Residents understandably expect the employees responsible for delivering services to be accessible and available to the public, especially in a fair wage performance for supportive healthcare and retirement environments.
This raises an important question: What does a telework proposal look like for positions where residents reasonably expect an in-person presence?
AI is growing and is becoming something more businesses explore for these reasons alone. We are now viewing public sector services with the exact same discernment as we do managing our own households and machines are taking human roles.
Let’s balance expectations and do better across the board.
I do believe this is being held hostage to monopoly unions (much like monopoly capital).
Telework should end for City staff, as it has for almost all for-profit and nonprofit staff throughout the Bay Area. The return of City staff to City Hall and other work locations will also support local businesses which have been hurt by the absence of staff.
Similarly, people in for-profits and non-profits are dealing with benefit reductions, higher co-pays for health care, and they don't have the massive pension benefits of Oakland City staff, most of whom only started paying into their pensions in 2013.
What value per $$$ do these people provide to us taxpayers? I assume they are better than our elected government people, but this a bar so low a child could step over it. Honestly, I don't know. Do they work from home or actually show up?