Oakland is following San Francisco and Portland in ending its relationship with the Joint Terror Task Force, an intelligence gathering arm of the FBI. The City Council last week unanimously approved the termination of an agreement. The action had been recommended since last year by the city’s Privacy Advisory Commission. “We’re just asking you to defend Oakland values,” said Brian Hofer, a member of the Privacy Advisory Commission.
The council’s move does not preclude the FBI working with the Oakland Police Department, Hofer noted. “It would not prevent us from responding to a public safety threat,” he said. “It would not prohibit OPD with speaking with or sharing information with the FBI. It would not disturb the FBI’s mandatory duty to warn us of a public safety threat.”
Oakland business owners of Yemeni descent, many who live and work in West Oakland, have felt targeted in the past by the federal government.
Wind gusts Monday were recorded as high as 58 mph at the Oakland International Airport and over 100 mph in the Sierras.
Teachers unions across Alameda County have launched demands for on-site covid-19 testing, contact tracing, greater ventilation of classrooms and an online dashboard tracking outbreaks of the coronavirus.
San Leandro police officers critically wounded a man suspected of pulling a gun on them. The shooting followed a traffic stop about two hours earlier Saturday night. The officer-involved shooting comes after a 33-year-old Black man was fatally shot by a San Leandro police officer last April.
Killings in Oakland have increased by 38 percent over last year, including 51 unsolved murders, according to KRON. The uptick in homicides might be fueled by the pandemic, which began in March. Crime, overall, was down during the first quarter of this year.