Oakland's Democratic mayor Libby Schaaf admits defund the police went too far just months after bloody Thanksgiving crime wave forced her to reverse course on budget cuts

• Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said Thursday efforts to defund her city's police department went 'too far,' after it saw crime surge to levels not seen in 15 years
• Democrat Schaaf told Politico her city needs to address the 'root causes' of rising crime, after she scrapped the anti-cop campaign in December
• 'I think it was a correction to the 'defund' conversation... I personally think went too far and got convoluted,' Schaaf, who once championed the movement, said
• Cops recorded 134 murders in 2021 - nearly double the 78  seen in 2019, before the 'defund' movement began - as well as nearly 7000 violent crimes
• The increase alarmed Schaaf, she said, spurring the politician to implement a proposal in December that scrapped funding cuts to Oakland police

The mayor of one of California's most crime-ridden cities said Thursday that efforts to defund her city's police department went 'too far' after it saw violent crime surge to levels not seen in 15 years following the movement's introduction in the summer of 2020.  

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf asserted to Politico in a sit-down interview that her city urgently needs to address the 'root causes' of rising crime, mere months after the Democrat pulled an abrupt about-face on the anti-cop campaign at the end of last year after seeing murders and violent crimes surge to concerning levels.

'I think it was a correction to the "defund" conversation, which I personally think went too far and got convoluted,' Schaaf, a Democrat who previously championed the movement, told Politico.

'I think everyone agrees we need to invest far more into prevention, into the root causes of crime, and particularly into our mental health system, which is completely failing us, both when you look at crime as well as homelessness,' Schaaf said.

The city, located a stone's throw from San Francisco - which is struggling with its own surge in violent crime - recorded 134 murders in 2021, nearly double the 78 that came two years before in 2019. Oakland also recorded nearly 7000 violent crimes last year, with many coming in a bloody crime wave around Thanksgiving.

Among the dead were retired police officer and father of two Kevin Nishita, as well as a 1-year-old boy hit by a stray bullet as he sat in the back of his mother's car. Both killings occurred in broad daylight. 

The concerning increase alarmed Schaaf, she said, spurring the city to implement a proposal in December to add two new police academies, unfreeze positions within the department and employ 60 new officers.

The move was an abrupt reversal to a decision by the city council last June that would have slashed $18.5 million from the Oakland Police Department's budget, a move criticized by Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, who said at the time that 'crime is out of control' in the city. 

'It's been particularly heart-wrenching in Oakland because we had just made national headlines for cutting gun violence in half and sustaining those lower rates for five years,' Schaaf, who was elected in 2015, said. She was referring to the city's high homicide rate, which reached levels not seen since 2006, when the city recorded a then-abnormal 148 killings.

The levels then fluctuated in the double digits for the next decade-and-a-half, before abruptly spiking from the 78 seen in 2019 to 109 in 2020 - the same years calls for defunding the police, spurred by the Black Lives Matter movement, were introduced in earnest.

'When we saw this surge come up during the pandemic - and, let's also be honest, after George Floyd, after this country just saw its faith in government justice compromised - we were just heartbroken,' Schaaf added.

Oakland’s police force of sworn officers now stands at 676, dipping below a 2014 voter-approved measure that required the police department to have at least 678 sworn officers. The city, which boasts a population of more than 400,000, began this year with 723.

'When we listen to the communities that have been most impacted,' Schaaf said Thursday, 'And when you look at gun violence, the communities that are paying the highest price are the communities that are paying the highest price in all areas, whether it's income inequality, food insecurity, [or] housing insecurity.' 

She added: 'So we are hearing loud and clear that justice is something that they want.'

Oakland, notorious for rampant gang and gun violence in the 80s and 90s that stretched into the early 2000s, had cleaned itself up over the past decade after Oakland District Attorney Nancy O'Malley, who has a reputation as being tough on crime and has employed prosecutors from across the country to address the violence, was appointed in 2009.

The Alameda County representative has opposed criminal justice reforms and managed to win the support of police unions in 2018.

Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers' Association, said late last year that officers are 'leaving in droves' for other cities where they would not be chided by 'Defund the Police' supporters. He also urged council members to thank police rather than malign them. 

Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong also said in a news conference at the time: 'I'm asking council members to step up and start having a conversation about the loss of life in this city.'   

'Shootings are a real indication of the increase in violence in our community,' Armstrong added. 'To see shootings up 50 percent is really concerning.' 

The Fresno County District Attorney has criticized Governor Newsom and branded him 'either ignorant... or a liar' over comments he made praising the work state laws have done to reduce crime, despite an uptick in crime rates. 

Governor Gavin Newsom previously claimed that a number of measures, including Proposition 47, Proposition 57 and Assembly Bill 109 had all helped to reduce crime in California, Fox News reported.

He also appeared to suggest that more work needs to be carried out by law enforcement officers and state attorneys if the state is going to see reduced crime rates. 

Gov. Newsom, who survived a recall election in September last year, has been repeatedly called 'woke' by conservatives because of his criminal justice stances. 

Newsom's support for Proposition 47, for example, is well documented. 

The three state laws were introduced under former Governor Jerry Brown, under whom Newsom had worked for eight years.

Proposition 47 downgraded some felonies to misdemeanors, Proposition 57 reduced prison sentences and Assembly Bill 109 moved detainees from state prisons to local jails.   

However, contrary to Newsom's comments, the number of high-profile murders taking place in California has been on the rise. 

Homicides in LA have grown nearly 40 percent since 2019 after the county reported nearly 400 murders at the end of 2021. 

In 2019, LA reported a total of 252 homicides, the lowest since 2014. 

Then in 2020, murders shot up to 343 and continued to rise in 2021 as LA reported 397 deaths by the end of the year.

Turning attention from the three laws he had praised, Newsom also seemed to suggest more work needed to be done by law enforcement officers and district attorneys.     

He said: 'We need arrests and we need prosecution. We need people held to account. No one condones that behavior – quite the contrary.' 

He added that he believes Proposition 47 has been used as an excuse not to make arrests or hold people accountable for their crimes.