Oakland police commission holding town halls to hear from the public on changes to police pursuit policy

OAKLAND, CA- There is a debate regarding the rules and policies around police pursuits in Oakland with Governor Gavin Newsom, California Highway Patrol Commissioner Ezery Beauchamp, and interim Oakland Mayor Kevin Jenkins championing the idea of relaxing the rules surrounding police going after suspects in their patrol vehicles.

According to FOX2, shortly after Christmas, Newsom said in a statement, "You could be drunk. You could run a red light You can come close to sideswiping a school bus during the morning hours, right in front of a police officer. And the pursuit policy in Oakland says we cannot pursue the suspect." In response to this, the Oakland Police Commission plans to discuss the topic at two different public forums; one on January 10th and the other on January 15th.

Back in October of 2024, Newsom chastised the Oakland Police Commission for not changing the police pursuit policies and he is now challenging them to look at the issue again. CBS News reported that the upcoming community town halls will serve as an "information discussion" on what the community wants from a police pursuit policy. 

The policy is written by the police department, but the police commission can provie guidance and comments. The police department is currently in the process of drafting a new policy. The current policy states that pursuits "may only be initiated when there is reasonable suspicion to believe the suspect committed a violent forcible crime and/or crime involving the use of a firearm, or probable cause that the suspect is in possession of a firearm."

Examples of violent forcible crime include murder, kidnapping, carjacking, sexual assault, and several other violent crimes, like possession of weapons of mass destruction. The rules are strict in order to avoid injury or death, especially that of an innocent bystander.

Oakland's own statistics show that between 2018 and 2023, police have conducted 600 pursuits, 7 percent of which have resulted in injury, 46 percent of which resulted in property damage, and 1 percent of which resulted in death. The city's numbers had slightly improved by 2022, but still more than a third of all pursuits ended in a collision involving property damage, compared to about 12 percent statewide, according to data from Oakland Police Department (OPD) and California Highway Patrol (CHP).

Despite the policy's restrictions, Oakland's statistics were worse than the statewide average, according to the CHP. The last report available from the CHP's website was from the report in June 2023, covering data from 2022. That year, among all law enforcement agencies statewide, about 0.3 percent of pursuits resulted in a fatal collision, while 6.7 percent involved an injury collision and about 12 percent resulted in property damage. 

In pursuits involving the CHP, about 0.4 percent of pursuits resulted in a fatal collision, 5 percent resulted in an injury collision, and 9 percent resulted in a non-injury collision. Statewide, pursuits were most often initiated for reasons like speeding, stolen vehicles, registration or license plate violations, or other misdemeanor traffic violations, most of which would be precluded under the OPD policy.

In 2023, Newsom responded to a request from then-Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao for more law enforcement resources by assigning CHP officers to help police city streets. In July 2024, he roughly quadrupled the number of shifts worked by CHP from 42 to 162.

In late December, Newsom announced the CHP's extra presence would be extended, but only if the city made changes to its non-pursuit policy. He said, "We're at that point in time that we need to see some commensurate support and reforms and changes as it relates to policing. Here in Oakland, in order to consider extending the state subsidized partnership, we specifically are going to need to see changes in the pursuit policy."

In a press release announcing the public forums, the police commission responded to the critique by saying that it supported the current policy but would also support exploring changes. The commission said, "Research presented to the commission clearly demonstrated that an increase in high-speed changes would lead to more injuries and fatalities among innocent bystanders in our city. Based on this evidence, the commission unanimously supported OPD's current policy and, in a memo sent in September 2024, recommended that the City Council Public Safety Committee consider potential revisions to the policy."