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Oakland police union calls for mayor to resign, citing ‘failures in this city’

August 7, 2024 | | Print Article

Calling out daily “mayhem,” a California city’s police union implored the mayor to resign “immediately” as citizens “cannot exit their own home.”

(Video Credit: KTVU)

In the same way that leftists touted their economic policies while people filled their shopping carts with increasingly fewer goods at ever-climbing prices, reports of decreased violent crime rates didn’t match the sentiment in the streets. Tuesday, after a weekend where KTVU reported nine people were shot over a 30-hour period in Oakland, California, the president of the police union officially called for Mayor Sheng Thao (D) to resign.

“Every day, our citizens feel the tragedies. That they cannot exit their own home or walk to the streets of Oakland, calling 911 and not getting the services they need,” said Oakland Police Officer’s Association President Huy Nguyen as he called for Thao to resign, “immediately for a lot of the failures in this city, going from crime, the budget crisis, the distraction of the FBI raid that prevents our ability to function as a city.”

As had been reported in June, the mayor blamed “right-wing forces” when her home was raided by the FBI which was speculated to have been related to an alleged financial connection to a recycling contractor. Meanwhile, conditions in the city had gotten so bad that even California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) urged the city to allow the police to “pursue suspects in more circumstances.”

“We don’t have the resources,” lamented Nguyen who recounted one instance where it had taken three days for police to respond to a shooting where 100 rounds had been fired.

In the POA’s letter, the leaders wrote, “Oakland’s hard-working, dedicated, and brave police officers put their lives on the line every day to protect the citizens of Oakland. But your policies, and those of the council majority, continue to whittle away at police officers’ ability to protect Oakland from violent crimes, murders, shootings, carjackings, burglaries, robberies, sideshows, and the mayhem that Oakland experiences daily.”

Meanwhile, as a recall effort was underway to see the mayor removed as crime rates increased 17% from 2022 to 2023 and the police force was cut down to 678 officers when estimates projected “full strength” was between 1,000-1,200, Thao released a video responding to the demand that she step down.

“It’s unfortunate that the POA is obviously playing politics. Right now, during this very sensitive time, we need to come together,” she argued. “We see that what we are working on in terms of the comprehensive approach for public safety is working.”

Oakland POA Vice President Tim Dolan disagreed as he said, “This is a time to invest more in the city, hire more police officers, retain the police officers, and fix the crime issue. And going forward, that’s what we’d like to see from the next mayor.”

Nguyen further justified the call for Thao to resign as he told the press it would ultimately save the city time and money that would otherwise be used toward the recall, “If she resigns by this week, the election will take place in November, versus where wait until the recall. Then it will happen in April and the process even drags out longer when we need to work into the new budget immediately.”

Kevin Haggerty
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