OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – A rally in Oakland on Wednesday is calling for police to chase criminals, regardless of the nature of the crime. Several business owners voiced their support for the change while the Oakland Police Commission discussed the fate of the current pursuit policy.
The police commission held a town hall at the East Bay Church of Religious Science. Ahead of the town hall, several Oakland businesses showed up saying the current pursuit policy is failing them.
Oakland’s current policy bans officers from chasing after suspects unless the suspects have a gun or are accused of a violent crime, like sexual assault or murder.
Oakland business owner Ali Albasiery says the Oakland Police Department doesn’t protect small business owners like himself. He says throughout his 40 years of being a business owner, he’s been robbed and has had little-to-no help from OPD.
“We’ve been seeing so many businesses broken into. We see it every single day, they get robbed, police come in, the robbers are there, they don’t chase them. We say, ‘Why don’t you chase them?’ They say, ‘We have a policy. We cannot chase criminals, we cannot chase anybody within the City of Oakland,’” Albasiery said.
Another factor that was up for discussion at the town hall was the current 50 MPH cap in cases of commercial burglaries. Many of the business owners at the rally say criminals know this rule and increase their speed on purpose to get away with crimes. Oakland resident Cathy Leonard supports this law.
“I’m concerned that innocent people will be grievously harmed or killed if the police decided to extend this pursuit policy,” she said.
According to Oakland police, there are 19 factors that officers consider before a pursuit, including direction of travel and weather conditions.
“Information like that may cause the officer to disengage the pursuit themselves or terminate the pursuit, or the supervising sergeant may cancel the pursuit,” OPD Sergeant Gabriel Urquiza-Leibin said.
Oakland police didn’t make any decision Wednesday on whether or not any changes will be made to their current pursuit policy.
OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – A rally in Oakland on Wednesday is calling for police to chase criminals, regardless of the nature of the crime. Several business owners voiced their support for the change while the Oakland Police Commission discussed the fate of the current pursuit policy. The police commission held a town hall at the […]
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