OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – Nearly three months after it was made public that the City of Oakland missed out on millions of dollars in state grants to fight retail crimes, the Oakland Police Officers Association says Mayor Sheng Thao is blaming the police.
OPOA President Barry Donelan says he believes they would have received grant money if the city applied on time, and despite the mayor initially taking responsibility, Donelan says the mayor is now trying to point fingers at the police department. That money was going to be used for surveillance cameras, foot patrol officers, and a new fleet of cars.
“What we’ve seen over the last couple of days is a smear campaign against the police department by various media outlets that are connected to the mayor,” Donelan said.
One of the articles Donelan is referring to is from the Oaklandside, titled “Emails raise questions about OPD’s role in missed retail theft prevention grant.”
The report says Oakland’s Economic and Workforce Development (EWD) Department collaborated with OPD on the application for a share of the $267 million state grant, and that both agencies learned about the grant in late April. The article points out that the police department has not disclosed what they did for the application between then and the deadline, while EWD released internal emails to the Oaklandside.
But Donelan says it was Thao’s staff at EWD who derailed the application and missed the deadline to hand it in.
“The mayor should be ashamed of what’s happening in her own administration that these folks cannot stand up and take responsibility for their own actions,” he said.
In a statement to KRON4, the mayor’s office says she has not changed her position and she is taking accountability. The office referred back to her statement from the state of the city.
“We missed an opportunity with the retail theft grant. As mayor, I own that, and the buck stops with me. Let me tell you what we are doing moving forward. We are fast-tracking the hiring of a grants coordinator, we are bringing in additional grant management expertise, and we are upgrading and modernizing the city’s grant management software tools. We will learn from this experience and do better for our city.”
But Donelan says it doesn’t make up for missing the deadline. The money would have been used for surveillance cameras, foot patrol officers, and a new fleet of cars.
“This police department is not over-resourced. It has limited resources. They’re trying with a little amount of resources to try and respond to a significant demand for service across this city. This grant would have helped us meet those service requirements and help out our residents,” Donelan said.
Donelan also says the department continues to struggle after Mayor Thao’s administration eliminated more than 90 police officers.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/QOophEF
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