OAKLAND, Calif. — The Anti-Police Terror Project is calling for increased funding and stronger accountability measures following the removal of federal oversight from the Oakland Police Department, arguing that the move threatens public accountability and disproportionately harms Black and Brown communities.
In a recent statement, the Anti-Police Terror Project declared its opposition to the removal of federal oversight from the Oakland Police Department. Citing a history of “corruption, brutality, unconstitutional policing, racial profiling, and abuse targeting Black and Brown communities,” the project strongly opposed this shift in authority.
Recent studies of Oakland have shown significant distrust in government, particularly among Black communities. The Anti-Police Terror Project is a predominantly Black coalition with a goal of eliminating police terror in marginalized communities.
While the project recognized the faults of federal oversight, it maintained its claim that the process “still provided a level of public scrutiny over a department with a long history of harm.” According to the statement, with oversight being removed, “Oakland is left with accountability systems that are severely underfunded and unable to fully do their jobs.”
While the Oakland Police Commission holds the primary responsibility for enforcing discipline within the Oakland Police Department, the statement notes that the Community Police Review Agency is the investigative component responsible for reviewing police misconduct within the city.
With both entities being severely under-resourced, the statement explained that “removing federal oversight without fully funding the Police Commission and CPRA does not create accountability. It creates a blank check. It sends a dangerous message that OPD can once again operate without meaningful public oversight.”
The statement further noted that federal oversight was established to govern a department with “a legacy of violence, corruption, and abuse that harmed generations of Oakland residents.” As such, “Oakland cannot afford to remove oversight while simultaneously weakening the very bodies meant to protect the public from abuse of power.”
In releasing the statement, the Anti-Police Terror Project urged Oakland elected officials to “immediately and fully fund the Independent Police Commission and the Community Police Review Agency” in an effort to maintain the strength of community oversight. According to the coalition, “accountability must be strengthened, not dismantled, at the exact moment the federal government walks away.”
“Oakland’s Black and Brown communities have paid the price for OPD’s failures for generations. We will not accept a future where there is no one left to hold this department accountable,” the group stated.
The Anti-Police Terror Project found that revoking federal oversight from the Oakland Police Department would be detrimental to the overall community, as it has served as a key source of accountability and protection for many Black residents.
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