Oakland Police Officers Write An Open Letter To The City: ‘WE, TOO, ARE THE 99 PERCENT’

[kpete]

OAKLAND POLICE OFFICERS WRITE AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CITY: ‘WE, TOO, ARE THE 99 PERCENT’ | In anticipation for tomorrow’s general strike in Oakland, the Oakland Police Officer’s Association has written an open letter to the city’s residents. The letter states that the police force, too, is composed of the 99 Percent who want “better working conditions, fair treatment and the ability to provide a living for our children and families.” But it also goes on to wonder why Mayor Jean Quan has both ordered the police force to clear protesters and then declare her support for the movement just a few days later. “It is all very confusing to us,” says the letter, somewhat tongue-in-cheek. Read the full letter:
http://www.opoa.org/uncategorized/an-open-letter-to-the-citizens-of-oakland-from-the-oakland-police-officers%E2%80%99-association/


We represent the 645 police officers who work hard every day to protect the citizens of Oakland. We, too, are the 99% fighting for better working conditions, fair treatment and the ability to provide a living for our children and families. We are severely understaffed with many City beats remaining unprotected by police during the day and evening hours. As your police officers, we are confused.

On Tuesday, October 25th, we were ordered by Mayor Quan to clear out the encampments at Frank Ogawa Plaza and to keep protesters out of the Plaza. We performed the job that the Mayor’s Administration asked us to do, being fully aware that past protests in Oakland have resulted in rioting, violence and destruction of property. Then, on Wednesday, October 26th, the Mayor allowed protesters back in – to camp out at the very place they were evacuated from the day before. To add to the confusion, the Administration issued a memo on Friday, October 28th to all City workers in support of the “Stop Work” strike scheduled for Wednesday, giving all employees, except for police officers, permission to take the day off.

That’s hundreds of City workers encouraged to take off work to participate in the protest against “the establishment.” But aren’t the Mayor and her Administration part of the establishment they are paying City employees to protest? Is it the City’s intention to have City employees on both sides of a skirmish line? It is all very confusing to us.


..............

http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/11/01/358761/oakland-police-we-are-99/

[EFerrari]

1. Response posted to the link. I hope others will post theirs.

Dear OPD

It’s time to man up.

You’re right about Mayor Jean Quan. What kind of executive amasses hundreds of troops from all around the Bay Area to “clear the plaza” of peaceful protesters and then, leaves town? Quan’s tenure will never recover from that act of irresponsibility and, she should resign to spare Oakland the cost of her recall.

But you are not right about Oakland being a city of violent rioters. The mountain of video widely available from that night shows that even after 12 plus hours of being baited by your police, the protesters at Occupy Oakland remained peaceful, which is more than can be said for your officers and for those called in from other communities.

Your department is not on the brink of federal takeover because of Jean Quan or because Oakland is intrinsically violent. Your department has a decade-long record of dysfunction and of the excessive use of force. It’s past time for you to man up and fix it.

There is an opportunity for you to do better tomorrow. This citizen advises you to use it. You can act as guardians of our public life or you can act as Mubarak’s thugs did, attacking peaceful protesters, under cover of darkness if possible and lying about it in the media. As you set about making your choice, remember that the Egyptian police were routed finally, their crimes against the people exposed, and they had to flee into hiding instead of celebrating with the rest of the citizenry.

[RainbowSuperfund]

5. Great Letter thanks for writing it.

Great Letter. Thanks for writing it.

Personally, I am confused also, because the OPD wants to be a part of the 99%! Yay OPD!

My advice to help them join their beloved brothers and sisters in the 99% is take off the Riot Suit because it looks to us like they want to kill us.

I personally applaud their desire to Join the 99% and hope they will Occupy the OPD, as Peace Officers, Who
Protect and serve the 99%. Everyone is welcome.

Peace & Go Oakland!

[Raksha]

11. That's a great letter. From everything I've heard, though

the OPD has an entrenched culture of corruption and police brutality that won't be so easy to clean up. Would replacing about at least half the police force do it? Sounds like a project a lot easier said than done.

[EFerrari]

12. It does, absolutely. You're right. n/t

[izquierdista]

37. Easier done than said

Just do the same trick that has been pulled on teachers who thought they had tenure -- fire everyone and have each one come in and interview individually to see if they would like to get a one-year contract with the possibility of renewal.*


*It's an unfair labor practice for sure, but for cops, I'm willing to make an exception.

[Raksha]

41. That's an excellent idea.

Re "Just do the same trick that has been pulled on teachers who thought they had tenure -- fire everyone and have each one come in and interview individually to see if they would like to get a one-year contract with the possibility of renewal.*"

You wouldn't need to actually fire them. Just put every cop in the OPD on probationary status effective immediately, which would clear up a lot of the problems right there. Then after a year each probation could be reviewed to decided whether the cop should be retained or terminated based on individual performance and number of complaints.

Re "*It's an unfair labor practice for sure, but for cops, I'm willing to make an exception."

I agree that it's an unfair labor practice. It wouldn't have to be done in all police departments, just exceptionally brutal ones like the OPD.

[coalition_unwilling]

15. Wow! I wish DU's mods could put this at the top of every friggin'

forum for the next two days and freeze it there. SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING! Cannot rec a response here but would if I could. Thanks for so eloquently summarizing my thoughts and feelings. On this, you speak for me.

[EFerrari]

18. Thanks. There is something that is bs about OPD sending out this letter

which will be forwarded by everyone but there is no platform for responses, lol, so only 1 side gets aired out. Maybe OWS will notice that and find a fix.

[coalition_unwilling]

25. Yeah, i was reluctant to post a response at the ThinkProgress link, just

because it apparently went to a Facebook destination that I could not check out before posting. (Call me a bit paranoid :).

And the link to the Oakland letter allowed for no rebuttals that I could see.

So your response will have to speak for both of us.

[Uncle Joe]

19. As another DUer posted they could start doing better tomorrow by coming as regular police, leaving

the riot gear back at the station, that would be a visible symbolic step readily apparent to the good people of Oakland and the world.

Edit to add

Keith Olberman on Current covered the negative aspects of the police coming as storm troopers as well.

'New Tactic: Instigation Merely by Preperation?'

http://current.com/

[EFerrari]

21. The last time there was a protest at the port

a lot of people got hurt and there was a multi million dollar law suit which the OPD lost. My son was there and although he didn't get hurt himself, that was just luck. There is good reason to remind these people they have a choice.

[fascisthunter]

22. well written! (nt)

[EFerrari]

24. Occupy Oakland and Occupy_Police sent it out

from their twitter accounts so it's bouncing around.

The Bay Area LEOs have OccupySF, Oakland and San Jose to deal with. Plus Berkeley. We need regional co-ordination to deal with them. This week is shot for long term planning because of the strike. Maybe we can work on it next week. :grouphug:

[Beam Me Up]

34. Excellent reply. This, and what RainbowSuperfund said

about them taking off their riot gear is right on the money. THAT is exactly the message they should hear from the CITIZENS OF OAKLAND, I having been one for over 40 years.

[kenfrequed]

35. Agreed!

In fact I couldn't agree more with you on this. (as usual)

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. Dear Oakland Police Department and those sheriffs and others who were there:

We are all Scott Olsen.

[joeybee12]

3. Fuck them...it's a CYA letter, nothing more, oh yeah, fuck them...nt

[Ed Suspicious]

26. What is "CYA"?

[EFerrari]

27. Cover your ass.

[Ed Suspicious]

31. Thank you. n/t

[Hissyspit]

4. Playing games instead of doing what is right. Previous post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2223969

[yodermon]

6. shorter OPD: shit is fucked up and bullshit

[KamaAina]

7. Did Mayor Quan order them to do this?

Pigs. :grr:

[EFerrari]

13. I'm trying to sell the idea of "piggipedia" to OSF

a site where an Egyptian activist documented the names, faces and abuses of police against protesters.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Ok folks this is an important step

As much as it looks like cya. It is, but goes beyond cya.

[Gamow]

9. So next time, they should refuse the mayor's orders. nt

[Dont call me Shirley]

10. OPD, in following orders you have the right to refuse to do those which are criminal.

[Cal Carpenter]

14. That's twisted

Wow, thanks cops for speaking out and showing the Mayor's office's hypocrisy. I hope at least some of you take it a step further and don't show up to work tomorrow.

[SomethingFishy]

16. "Hey, sorry we shot that guy in the head, we are really with you"

"it's all the mayors fault."

Sorry not buying it. I know there are a ton of good and decent cops out there, but if you go to a peaceful protest and start pepper spraying,beating, gassing, and shooting rubber bullets at the protesters, you can't come out tomorrow and say how much you support them. Not to mention doing it right after a video was posted of some Oakland cops "infiltrating" the Occupy Movement. It smells like bullshit and you look like an idiot.

[coalition_unwilling]

17. Lies and after-the-fact rationalizations. They're a bunch of murderous,

violent thugs and they have done the same or similar to peaceful protesters back in 2003 during Operation Shocking and Awful. What a bunch of losers. They may have the guns, but we have the numbers. And we aren't going away.

[Quixote1818]

20. Kick

[fascisthunter]

23. If you are part of the 99%, you should start acting like it.

Thanks in advance, asshole. You SERVE and PROTECT, not ATTACK. get it? Good.

[AsahinaKimi]

28. Wasn't in Albany NY where the Mayor ask the cops

to clear out the protesters and they refused? Or was it the governor? In which case, someone refused. Maybe the OPD should have done the same.

[Rex]

29. YES YOU ARE!

HIGH time cops realized it is THEIR pensions and THEIR salaries on the line NEXT (hell, already are in a lot of state along with fire fighters and EMTs). The 1% can buy their own private police force, blue shirts are a dime a dozen to them and as expendable as the people out protesting.

KNOW THIS!

[fasttense]

30. So I guess violently clearing out peaceful protesters was Quan's idea?

Did she really order all those paramilitary thugs to go in with projectiles flying and bullets whizzing and turn the night into a war zone?

So, what is the OPD's excuse for being so violent? From their letter it seems their excuse is "I was just following orders".

They may be getting mixed signals about those orders but they still seem to be asking in their letter to be given orders to violently attack protesters.

They have no guts. They should stand up and say we are NOT following illegal orders or take responsibility for their illegal violent attacks on the peaceful people of Oakland.

[rhett o rick]

33. I wouldnt jump to conclusions based on this letter alone. nm

[ladywnch]

32. I wondered how long it was going to take for the police to realize

that they ARE part of the 99......they sure as hell ain't part of the 1%!

Once the rest of the police departments come to this relization........Wall Street and the 1% are REEEEEEALY going to get nervous!

[DeSwiss]

36. ''We're confused?''

Look, if you don't know the difference between what is right and what is wrong, you're more than just "confused."

- You're morally deficient and should not be allowed to carry a deadly weapon nor be in any kind of position of authority over others.....

K&R

[EFerrari]

42. The whining POS spokesdick for the OPOA was on Thom's show

today. I'd put his reasoning ability at about 12 years and morals maybe at 9.

[Leopolds Ghost]

38. This is all very nice of them to say, but it doesn't excuse brutal behavior.

As one Marine noted in confronting Oakland police on Youtube, soldiers are apparently better trained to defuse crowd control situations than police officers in the States.

[Marnie]

39. With cops getting laid off all over the country and having

their union contracts altered, they damn well better remember who is most likely have their back the next time their chestnuts are in fire. And it won't be the people who want to be dictators.

Of course I guess they can all work for Black water and be even more distrusted and disliked.

[Jack Rabbit]

40. Mayor Quan is attempting to have it both ways

We should warn any politician that fails to realize that America is in a crisis that he can't have it both ways. It is reminiscent of the years leading up to the Civil War when politicians of both parties (Democrats and Whigs) talking out of both sides of mouths on the issues of slavery and secession. This culminated in the feckless President Buchanan declaring just before leaving office in 1861 that Southern states had no right to secede from the Union and that, at the same time, the federal government had no right to stop them.

Buchanan is condemned by historians to the trash bin that contains the worst presidents in American history, and all the presidents who preceded the Civil War by 12 years are there to keep him company. Contemporary Americans didn't think much of them, either. One died in office during his first term and none of the others won a second.

I certainly hope Mayor Quan has no future plans to run for higher office. Perhaps she should even scrap any plans she has to run for re-election. She cannot side with both the bankers and occupiers today any more than President Buchanan of his bizarre justification for inaction against secessionist state legislature a century and a half ago.

Today, 150 years after the start of the Civil War, Americans look back in disbelief that a nation founded on democratic principles would ever permit a class of human beings to be an economic commodity to be bought and sold on the open market. If America survives this crisis, then 150 years from now, Americans will look back in disbelief that a nation whose greatest contribution to intellectual thought is the philosophical notion known as pragmatism would even entertain the idea that an unregulated free market is capable of policing itself. Charlatans from Andrew Carnegie to Ayn Rand to Ron Paul have said this is the case because businessmen make only rational decisions and would never, never do anything to harm the goose that lays their golden eggs. However, human beings may be capable of making rational decisions, but no human being in history has been so wise to make only rational decisions. In addition, a decision that is rational in one sense may be completely nuts in another. Businessmen who act with a view to short term gain may be causing long term damage to their own interests as a result of the very same act. The act of defrauding investors, made easy when laws against fraud are repealed in a mad rush by politicians intoxicated with ecstasy promised by charlatans pushing the "benefits" of deregulation, is a good example of acts that lead to short term gain and long term disaster. These businessmen bribe politicians by contributing to their re-elction campaigns; a distinction between a bribe and a large campaign contribution can only be made by an act of positive law written by the politicians who take the bribes. When these businessmen bribe politicians to allow them to keep the casinos open and the fixed games running, they don't solve the problem but only postpones the reckoning and make the crash that follows the boom louder and more disastrous. By impoverishing the middle class through fraud, Wall Street bankers are killing the goose that laid their golden eggs. How rational is that, Mr. Objectivist? How do you justify as "the only moral economic system" a laissez-faire capitalism that leads to marching the masses off a cliff for the glory of corporate Übermenschen?

The question for elected officials is not what to do with Occupiers camping out in their individual jurisdictions. The question is what are they, or, more to the point, politicians at the federal level, going to do to fix the problems that took root thirty years ago during President Reagan's reign of error. The people, who are disenfranchised by a corrupt political system that drowns out their voices with legalized bribes and now with new legislation that makes voting difficult, have taken to the streets, the only recourse left to them. Turning on FoxNews to hear the occupational liar Sean Hannity call the Occupiers "dirty, disgusting hippies" is only fooling yourself. Sicking the Inspector Bolongias of the world on the Occupiers is only killing the messenger. The first thing that needs to be done is to bring financiers back under the law. Perhaps that's all it will take. If not, let a truly rational discussion begin on what else needs to done.