Oakland, California Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “The Faulkner Focus” that the Democrat-led city council voting to remove $18.5 million from a proposed increase to the Oakland Police Department is “inconsistent” with citizens telling him they want more police on the streets.
Armstrong said, “I think clearly with 60 homicides currently in our city we’re facing a crisis and we were in significant need of additional resources and to have less resources, I just felt like it was important to let the community know that this was not going to help us address crime in our city.”
Harris asked, “People saying they want to defund the police, what does that actually mean in terms of keeping all of us safe?”
Armstrong said, “I think that’s the issue with that conversation is how do we do both? How do we achieve police reform, which some are calling for when they talk about defunding, but also how do we make sure our communities are safe? Violence has continued to increase despite these conversations around defund, and we clearly know having less police officers is not going to have a safer community. That is what my major concern is.”
He continued, “Everywhere I go in the city of Oakland, I’m often told by community members they don’t feel safe. They would like to see more police. They want to feel safer in their communities, and like you spoke of, they want to walk in their communities and not have the fear of being victimized in any way. What we are see from city hall is inconsistent with what we are hearing directly by those impacted by violence.”
Armstrong said, “The reality is we’re facing some significant challenges with crime, and I think investing in violence prevention is important, but it won’t have an immediate impact on the violence we’re experiencing day-to-day in the city of Oakland. We need the resources.”
Harris asked, “Is Oakland a dangerous place right now?”
Armstrong said, “Oakland is a city with a crisis around violence. It is a tough city to be in right now.”
Harris said, “What would you say to the leaders?”
Armstrong said, “I would say to know that I am not opposed to any new and innovative ways of keeping our community safe, but currently, with 65 homicides, we have a real issue of violence that law enforcement has to step in and do its job and make this community safer.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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