OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) - Oakland's police department is getting another police academy.
The decision made by the city council on Tuesday reverses a summer proposal to reject adding more officers to the department.
KRON4 spoke with an Oakland City Councilmember about the change of course amid a rise in violent crimes.
Just three months after saying no to boosting the staff within the Oakland Police Department, the city council this week approved a fifth police academy.
The move comes as Oakland is seeing a dramatic increase in homicides.
Oakland City Council President Pro Tem Sheng Thao says after voting no on adding more police academies in June, there's since been a concern over Measure Z.
It's a tax parcel that funds police services that would no longer be collected by the city if the number of officers drops below 678.
Thao says her District 4 constituents have also convinced her that adding more police is necessary.
Oakland, like many cities in the Bay Area, has been debating over the last year whether funding should continue to go to the police departments or go to community outreach programs.
Organizations, like the Anti-Police Terror Project, have repeatedly called for cuts to the police department in-order to invest in violence prevention resources.
Thao says the city is capable of adding police and adding funding for those resources.
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