On Tuesday, January 15th, hundreds of community activists from groups including Stop the Injunctions Coalition and Justice for Alan Blueford gathered at Oakland's City Council Public Safety Committee meeting to protest Oakland's plans to hire former NYPD and LAPD police chief William Bratton as a consultant to the OPD. Bratton is well known for the implementation of policing tactics known as "zero tolerance" policy which applies aggressive policing such as New York's infamous "stop and frisk" to target minor infractions within the city. The proposed contract with Bratton follows shortly on the heals of the settlement between the City of Oakland and the courts avoiding federal receivership of the Oakland Police Department.

The meeting was packed with those opposed to the contract and 82 community members signed to speak at the meeting. Recently elected council member, Noel Gallo, who has publicly supported curfews and "stop and frisk" policies, threatened to eject vociferous members of the audience and demanded police officers to forcibly remove loud protesters. Even though the public safety meeting was well attended by those opposed to the contract, the committee voted unanimously to recommend that the city council vote on the proposal.

Public Safety Committee Protest Announcement | Why Stop the “Super Cop”? | Unraveling the Fraying Edges of Zero Tolerance