Oakland’s Police Commission — established in 2016 by a charter amendment with 83% of the vote — unanimously passed a new policy which requires that police officers have an actual reason to search a person on probation or parole for a non-violent offense. The commission drafted the new policy after consulting with people who had been subjected to repeated searches, criminal justice advocates, and the Oakland Police Department (OPD).

The Police Commission will consider comments from OPD until May 9 before submitting the new policy to the Public Safety Committee and then to the full City Council. Unless the council votes to reject it, the policy will go into effect.

OPD statistics show that random searches based solely on the person being on probation or parole do little to promote public safety as few weapons are recovered and little evidence of criminal activity is found. A common condition of parole or probation is submitting to searches at any time. The new policy covers Oakland residents and visitors on probation, parole, mandatory supervision, or post-release community supervision (PRCS).

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