Sloppy Justice in Oakland Car Seizure Programs

Sloppy Justice in Oakland Car Seizure Programs

Oakland motorists have no rights that the Oakland Police Department are bound to respect. The latest outrage took place a couple of weekends ago when over 100 cars were confiscated by the OPD and other East Bay police forces. While the latest wave of municipal car jackings have taken place in response to so called side shows the practice of confiscating vehicles first and asking questions later began earlier.

In 1997 Oakland introduced Beat Feet, a drug war inspired OPD program that allows
cops to seize cars based on the suspicion that the driver is soliciting for drugs or prostitution. Of course the key word here is “suspicion.” There was a time when even
suspects were presumed innocent until they were proven guilty. But with programs like
Beat Feet the cops get to play judge and jury at the alleged scene of the crime. There’s
a term for places that allow their cops to try and punish suspects in the street- a police
state.

According to the OPD car confiscation is just another “tool” they use to keep our
communities safe but there’s no evidence that the practice has had any impact on
crime reduction or neighborhood safety. On the other hand there are hundreds of
victims who have had their most valuable asset taken from them without a trial or
even a hearing. If you get you’re car taken from you in Oakland and you don’t have
a few thousand dollars laying around to get it back within a few days of the seizure
you can kiss it goodbye regardless if you’re proven innocent in subsequent court proceedings. The kicker- under Beat Feet the OPD auctions off the cars and keeps half the money. The other half goes to the City Attorney’s Office.

The majority of the cars that get confiscated by the City belong to innocent owners, not the actual motorist. Despite what confiscation boosters insist the targets for seizure are not rich, suburban, out of towners who come to Oakland looking for kicks. According to a San Francisco Chronicle survey done in 2000 the average value of the cars seized is $1200.00. The targets are the usual ones, mainly low income, black and brown motorists who more than likely share their vehicle with other members of their family and rely on it to get to work and school. Not only do these car seizure schemes encourage racial profiling they’re yet another offensive in Jerry Brown’s class warfare against working people in Oakland.

Amore constructive response to rowdy East Bay youth who drive around at night is to give them more destinations- community centers, concerts, arcades, pool halls. Teenagers
cruise because they have nothing better to do. And as for folks who ride around Oakland looking for drugs maybe some of them need help. The 1.2 million Oakland spends annually on police overtime to seize peoples cars could be spent constructing new treatment centers and teen centers. If the last 20 years of the drug war has taught us anything its that the endless crackdown in poor neighborhoods of color don’t eliminate drug dealers or users they just shuffle them from one block to another. The passage of Prop. 36 demonstrated that most California voters get it. When will the City of Oakland?

Roger White is a Criminal Justice Researcher for the Oakland based non-profit The Data Center and is a member of East Bay Uprising, a grassroots community organization fighting against state repression and corporate domination.

Come support the campaign against Beat Feat on June 27 at Defremery Park in West Oakland. Listen to speakers and help develop strategy around police repression in Oakland. Free. For more info call 415-364-1870 or e-mail East Bay Uprising at ebuprising [at] yahoo.com