- “What is the purpose of this performance? Even if hiring more cops was a proven public safety practice, which it is not, Oakland does not have the money to hire more cops.” – Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP)
By Vanguard Staff
OAKLAND, CA – The Anti Police-Terror Project (APTP) issued a sharp rebuke of Oakland City Councilmember Charlene Wang and the Oakland NAACP this week after both announced a partnership with the Oakland Police Department (OPD) to boost recruitment efforts.
The initiative, unveiled Monday, calls for a joint push to attract new officers to OPD, a department currently facing a severe staffing shortage. But APTP argued the partnership was misguided and dangerous, framing it as a performance that ignores both Oakland’s financial constraints and the community’s long struggle with police misconduct.
In a strongly-worded statement, APTP said the move signaled the Oakland NAACP’s continued alignment with controversial political figure Seneca Scott, a former union leader and candidate for mayor. The group accused Scott of threatening people he disagrees with politically, including Black women, and of engaging in rhetoric that is homophobic and transphobic. APTP argued the NAACP’s refusal to distance itself from him has eroded its credibility, leaving the local branch isolated from the national organization and most progressive Black leaders in Oakland.
“Perhaps it is Councilmember’s short tenure in Oakland which prohibits her from seeing the irony in this partnership,” the statement said. “Perhaps she is unaware that the NAACP has close relationship ties to one of the most violent political operatives in Oakland, Seneca Scott. Perhaps she is unaware that Mr. Scott has on multiple occasions threatened the physical safety of Oaklanders he politically disagrees with — including Black women. Perhaps she is equally unaware that Mr. Scott has spent years engaging in homophobic and transphobic rhetoric and engaged in the stalking of former Oakland City staffers targeting them with threats of violence as well. Perhaps she is unaware that the NAACP stood and stands by Mr. Scott — refusing to condemn him or his behavior.”
APTP tied the partnership to a broader pattern of what it called misplaced priorities in Oakland city government. “What is the purpose of this performance? Even if hiring more cops was a proven public safety practice, which it is not, Oakland does not have the money to hire more cops. We are broke as a city and we are broke as a city because we throw millions of good dollars after the bad practices of the Oakland Police Department.”
The group stressed that crime has dropped in Oakland despite a decline in officer staffing, and it argued that the push for more police was a “dangerous distraction” from what residents actually need. “At a time when crime in Oakland has plummeted — even with fewer officers, calls for more police are a dangerous distraction from what the city actually needs: housing, healthcare, jobs, youth programming, and community-based violence prevention. All of which are social services that have literally been drained in order to feed the bloated and insatiable Oakland Police Department budget.”
The statement went further, condemning the NAACP’s history of backing OPD despite decades of scandals, corruption, and federal oversight. “Oakland has lived through decades of OPD abuse, corruption, and federal oversight. The Oakland NAACP knows this but they also know Defund in Oakland never happened but they continue to carry that water for the Oakland Police Officers Association as well. Sadly, this branch of the NAACP stopped being an actual friend to or caring about the safety of Black Oaklanders a long time ago. They traded in that care for their pursuit of proximity to power.”
Cat Brooks, Co-Founder of APTP, underscored the group’s position with a blunt warning. “The only thing more dangerous than OPD’s bloody history is watching our own institutions prop them up. Let’s be clear: more police have never meant more safety — not in Oakland, not anywhere. Oakland crime has gone down with fewer officers on the street. The answer isn’t more cops, it’s more resources in our communities. We need housing, jobs, healthcare, and programs for our youth — not another generation of Black and Brown residents brutalized in the name of ‘public safety.’”
Councilmember Wang defended the initiative by citing her own personal experience with police. She said that in 2018 she survived a domestic violence incident with the help of OPD. “I still think about the three police officers that came to me in 2018 and saved my life,” Wang said during the announcement. “We need hometown heroes … If you act with integrity, if you want to help us solve this crime, please sign up.”
The Oakland NAACP also defended its stance. Retired judge Brenda Harbin-Forte, a leader within the branch, said the partnership was about meeting the needs of Oakland residents. “We are partnering because our community needs the help, and the NAACP is a community organization.”
Oakland NAACP President Cynthia Adams echoed the call for unity. “We are a nonpartisan organization. We’re here to make sure that our city is safe for everyone. No more division in Oakland. It’s over as of this day.”
City officials emphasized that the effort would draw on existing budget allocations, including funding already set aside for police academies. According to OPD, the department currently has 644 sworn officers, but only 511 are available for full duty. A recent city-commissioned study found the department needs 877 officers. Last week, OPD reassigned several traffic officers to patrol duty to compensate for staffing shortages.
Mayor Lee’s office said the recruitment initiative is part of a larger plan to reach 700 officers, as mandated by voters under Measure NN. The next police academy class begins Nov. 8, with 40 seats expected to be filled.
While Oakland NAACP leaders framed the partnership as a step toward greater safety and collaboration, APTP insisted that Oakland’s scarce resources must be directed elsewhere. The organization called on city leaders to reject the recruitment drive and commit instead to housing, healthcare, jobs, and youth programs — the very solutions, it said, that communities have been demanding for decades.
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