All out to full City Council! TUESDAY JAN 22, NO TO THE SUPERCOP!‏ : Indybay

Last week we succeeded in debunking the myth that Bratton could work in Oakland.

JOIN US TO KEEP HIM OUT OF OUR CITY!

TUESDAY JANUARY 22, 5:30 pm (roll through anytime you can! 7pm is not too late to arrive.)

Oakland City Hall

OUR DEMANDS: Remove Supercop William Bratton from the Wasserman contract or reject the contract altogether.
Bratton is too toxic for Oakland!

Sign up here and fill out a speaker card if you want to voice your opinion at the meeting. We will provide talking points to support you.

In the wake of Tuesday night’s Oakland City Council Pubic Safety Committee meeting, during which nearly a hundred residents spoke against the a proposed contract with controversial police consultant William Bratton, STIC and other community organizations continue to debunk the myth surrounding the so-called supercop. With members of the Council wondering if his reputation is too toxic for Oakland, scrutiny has focused on Bratton’s zero tolerance police policies—including gang injunctions, stop and frisk, curfews, and quality of life ordinances—causing Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordon to publicly distance himself from those measures. Speaking earlier this week on consulting the OPD, Bratton himself defended stop and frisk saying, “I’m sorry, but any police department in America that tries to function without some form of ‘stop-and-frisk,’ or whatever terminology they use, is doomed to failure. It’s that simple.”

Resolute in their opposition to Bratton consulting with the OPD, community organizations and concerned residents vow to return to City Hall for the full City Council meeting on Tuesday, when the controversial contract will be back for a vote.

The fierce opposition to Bratton expressed at the Public Safety Committee suggests that Bratton is a greater liability than an asset, as he may be unable to garner enough community support to fulfill the work indicated in the Wasserman contract. If Jordon says hey won’t pursue zero tolerance policing, then he shouldn’t pursue Bratton. The two come hand in hand.

While Robert Wasserman of Strategic Policy Partnership insists that Bratton’s strengths lie in his ability to work well with communities, Bratton’s track record tells another story. Through his implementation of the Secure Communities Initiative in Los Angeles, rather than securing community buy-in, Bratton unleashed the full force of zero-tolerance policing, displacing residents, driving up complaints of harassment and brutality, and alienating residents from the police force. According to the Los Angeles Times, Bratton stated, “Is there some displacement? But what’s wrong with that in some respects? …If there is displacement, all well and good.” (Sounds like former City Attorney John Russo, the original stalwart for Oakland’s gang injunctions, right?!) Additionally, reports indicate that while aggressive policing and substantial resources for policing strategies were applied to the community under the Safer Cities Initiative, the social services promised through the Initiative never really came. Similar tensions were generated among immigrant communities when the LAPD brutalized protestors during a May First protest in MacArthur Park in 2007.

Furthermore, if Jordon want to put his money where his mouth is on zero-tolerance, then he needs to recommend to the Council and the City Attorney that Oakland abandon its two temporary gang injunctions, reject the advice of zero tolerance proponents, and invest in community-based solutions.

All out to full City Council! TUESDAY JAN 22, NO TO THE SUPERCOP!‏

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