Safety First

By Mario Juarez

Public safety is my top priority. I believe that Oakland's biggest challenge is crime. Our violent crime rate is over 250% higher than California's and nearly 300% higher than the rest of our nation's. This unacceptably high crime rate discourages new businesses from locating here and keeps many of us afraid to leave our own homes at night. We must reduce our crime rate dramatically if our city is to prosper.

Much of today's crime is committed either by young people - many of whom did not finish school + or recent parolees (Oakland sees an influx of 250 new parolees each month). Each of these populations has extremely limited employment opportunities. It is crucial that we give those who are most vulnerable to falling into a life of crime the tools necessary to make them productive members of society.

Solutions:

More Support for Youth

A quality education is the best way to prevent our children from turning to crime. Once a child drops out of school, he or she has very few options to make a decent living. So, they turn to the streets for the quick, though dangerous, rewards they might offer.

We must make sure our children finish school. On the City Council, I'll fight to provide funding to boost student retention. It is important that we invest in counselors and after-school programs that will not only keep our children off the streets, but lead them to higher academic or vocational education resulting in successful careers.

We need to keep our children in class during the school day and make sure that they are off the streets at night. Although Oakland currently has a curfew law, children as young as 11 and 12 years old can be seen out, on the streets, alone, at all hours of the night. The only thing our children will find on the street, late at night, is trouble.

I will pursue stronger enforcement of the existing city-wide curfew for minors with an approach that will not criminalize our young people or subject them to arrest. In conjunction with curfew enforcement, I'll push to establish a new, friendly and supportive curfew center. Young people will be picked up and taken there for assessment by various social service agencies to determine why they're on the streets so late and what their issues are that need to be addressed. Following evaluation, their parents or guardians will be notified to pick them up.

Better Job Training Programs for Parolees

One of the best crime deterrents is a job. Excellent and effective employment preparation and support programs already exist. I will work to better coordinate existing job development and training services and programs to make them more accessible to parolees.

A Large, Home-Grown Police Force and a Commitment to Community Policing We need to get back to an effective community policing model. We all knew the local beat officer when I was growing up and he or she knew many of us and our parents. Because of this community oriented approach to policing, we were less likely to act out.

I support filling currently empty Oakland Police Department positions and then growing the Department to 1100 officers (a need that has been established by an outside auditor). When this happens, we can dedicate sufficient officers to community policing while not reducing the Department's ability to respond to urgent situations.

Another essential piece of my plan is making sure we hire new officers who are actually from Oakland. Home-grown officers have personal connections to the neighborhoods they protect. They have an inherent knowledge of the people, culture and idiosyncrasies of these areas that help to guide responses and actions in challenging situations.

I will work with the Peralta Community Colleges to expand the CADET program to develop more home-grown officers. The CADET Program currently consists of 15 to 30 high school graduates who work in support and training positions with the Oakland Police Department.

My goal is to expand the CADET Program to 300 participants. These students will be required to complete an Administration of Justice curriculum through the Peralta Community College District. After graduation, CADETs will be fast-tracked into our police department. This program has been successful in cities like San Jose and I will promote its effectiveness in Oakland to expand our home-grown our police force.

A Reasonable Way to Pay for It

Crime in Oakland affects everything about our city. Until we get a handle on crime, Oakland's future will remain constrained. We must be willing to invest in solving our crime problem.

Other cities facing challenges in funding critical crime prevention programs have turned to user fees. I will pursue a reasonable ($5-$7) new user fee for passengers flying out of Oakland International Airport. This fee, that would be included in the fee section at the point of ticket purchase, would generate upwards of $50 million a year. A similar fee has been successfully implemented in New York City airports and is being suggested for San Francisco Airport.

This reasonable user fee will provide the funds needed to increase student retention and keep our children off the streets at night, improve job training programs for recent parolees, hire more home-grown officers, and dedicate sufficient resources to community policing. All of these efforts together will enable us to reduce crime. Because these efforts will be funded by a reasonable fee levied at the airport, we will be able to do so without increasing the tax burden on Oakland residents.