OAKLAND, Calif. (NewsNation) — There’s a new push to refund the police as cities grapple with increased violence. In response, the Oakland NAACP and religious leaders are calling for a state of emergency over crime.
“Failed leadership, including the movement to defund the police, our District Attorney’s unwillingness to charge and prosecute people who murder and commit life-threatening serious crimes, and the proliferation of anti-police rhetoric have created a heyday for Oakland criminals,” the Oakland Branch of the NAACP wrote in a letter to elected leaders.
The letter calls for leaders to unite and declare a state of emergency to end what it says is Oakland’s public safety crisis.
Deadly shootings, home invasions, carjackings, illegal sideshows, businesses robbed at gunpoint and a gun used to rob an 80-year-old ice cream vendor are just some of the crimes that have happened throughout the city recently.
Oakland NAACP President Cynthia Adams spoke with NewsNation on calling for these measures in an effort to combat the crime crisis.
“We had to say something. We were too quiet, we were too quiet. As you know, the old saying says a ‘closed mouth never gets fed.’ We had to open our mouth. We had to say something,” Adams said.
Crime is an issue the country has been grappling with, and one that may send voters to the polls next November.
Adams warned that everyone in Oakland is in danger: “You can’t go to the grocery stores, you can’t put groceries in your car. You can’t do anything. We have to say something.”
The letter is asking leaders to acknowledge and declare a public safety emergency; seek assistance from California, Alameda County and state law enforcement; and provide job training and mentorship so the youth will have alternatives to crime.
The call to end Oakland’s public safety crisis is going out to all elected and appointed public officials responsible for public safety. Adams says no one is being singled out.
“Everyone should come together. We’re not singling out just one person,” Adams said. “Everyone needs to come together on this issue — even — including me. This is a crisis.”
However, the local district attorney’s office says the group is pushing a “false narrative.”
Civil and human rights attorney Robert Patillo agrees that the “defund the police” movement hasn’t had any effects on the increase in crime.
“Nobody has been talking seriously about defunding the police. It’s been this conceptualization of reallocating resources to ensure that law enforcement is acting effectively,” Patillo said. “People have the right to seek both security from criminals and security from abuses from law enforcement.”
He said people should not have to sacrifice security in order to have freedom.
Funding social services, providing educational systems, job opportunities and cleaning up neighborhoods are all things that Patillo says help cut down crime in communities.
But WMAL radio talk show host Vince Coglianese disagreed with Patillo, saying that the “defund the police” movement turned police into the enemy across the country.
“Defunding the police meant taking away resources from the guys with the badges and the guns and the ability to actually address this crime and sending it somewhere else and then taking their money away,” Coglianese said.
He said that the victims of violent crimes are the communities that want more police.
“What they don’t need is to lose the cops. And what they don’t need is prosecutors who fail to prosecute crimes or hold people meaningfully accountable,” Coglianese said.
The NAACP is doing the right thing by standing up for Oakland communities, he said.
KRON contributed to this report.
