This evaluation report presents findings regarding the implementation of the Oakland Police Department’s violence reduction strategies that were funded by a local parcel tax referred to as Measure Z. The funding supported geographic policing and crime reduction teams, community policing services, and the Special Victims Section. This evaluation examines how the services were implemented, including successes and challenges, as well as community members’ perceptions of safety and the police.
Key Takeaways
The rate of violent crime in Oakland was on a downward trend from 2013 to 2017, then plateaued from 2018 to 2020. It then increased by 35 percent from 2020 to 2023. Relatedly, shootings and homicides increased in 2020 and 2021 compared with 2017 through 2019. They then decreased in 2022 and 2023 but remained above 2017–2019 levels.
The City of Oakland receives hundreds of thousands of 911 calls for police service a year, with a large increase having occurred in calls involving shootings in 2020. The number of shooting calls decreased from 2022 to 2024, but remained higher than in 2017 to 2019. From 2018 to 2024, the average response time to 911 calls for potential violent crimes became slower.
The OPD is implementing all three of the policing strategies funded under Measure Z: (1) geographic policing through crime reduction teams, (2) community policing through community resource officers (CROs), and (3) addressing domestic violence and child abuse through the Special Victims Section. All three strategies face staffing shortages, with fewer officers assigned to the positions than were authorized or envisioned at the outset of Measure Z. Coinciding with the reduced staffing, CROs implemented markedly fewer community policing projects annually from 2022 to 2024 than from 2011 to 2019. Alongside a rise in violent crime, the Special Victims Section (SVS), operating with approximately two-thirds of its positions filled, had several hundred cases a year assigned to each investigator in 2022 to 2024.
Oakland residents who participated in a community survey administered by the project team in the summer of 2023 reported mixed views of the social cohesion in their neighborhoods, but were overall happy with living in Oakland. Most did not feel safe after dark, and more than 7 in 10 were concerned about becoming victims of many types of crime, including robbery, burglary, and shootings. Roughly 4 in 10 had negative views of the OPD’s ability to make fair decisions and keep their neighborhoods safe, while 2 in 10 had positive views of the OPD’s ability to do so. The remaining 3 in 10 had neutral views. For respondents who had called 911 in the past year, half said that the dispatcher treated them respectfully and half said the call was not answered in a timely manner.
How We Did It
To conduct this evaluation, we analyzed multiple administrative OPD data sources, interviewed OPD staff, participated in ridealongs with officers, reviewed program documents, observed neighborhood council meetings, and surveyed Oakland residents regarding their experiences with crime and their perceptions of the OPD.
