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The Oakland police chief is making some dire claims about what his force will and will not respond to if layoffs go as planned. Chief Anthony Batts listed exactly 44 situations that his officers will no longer respond to and they include grand theft, burglary, car wrecks, identity theft and vandalism.

80 officers were to be let go at midnight last night if a last-minute deal was not reached.  That's about ten percent of the work force.

"I came here to build an organization, not downsize one," said Batts, who was given the top job in October.

Someone might want to tell him exactly how much the police force has grown in Oakland over the past 10 years. 80 jobs would barely put a dent in the number of new officers hired in that period.  Since Oakland continues to claim a reduced crime rate one can argue these 80 officers really haven't had that much to do anyway. Logic follows that 10 years ago fewer officers were responding to more crime. 

This threat is nothing more than the unions and bureaucracy trying to scare the public into funding their already bloated budgets.  Here is a list of "minor" crimes the Police Chief says he will no longer cover:

Here's a partial list:

• burglary
• theft
• embezzlement
• grand theft
• grand theft:dog
• identity theft
• false information to peace officer
• required to register as sex or arson offender
• dump waste or offensive matter
• discard appliance with lock
• loud music
• possess forged notes
• pass fictitious check
• obtain money by false voucher
• fraudulent use of access cards
• stolen license plate
• embezzlement by an employee (over $ 400)
• extortion
• attempted extortion
• false personification of other
• injure telephone/ power line
• interfere with power line
• unauthorized cable tv connection
• vandalism
• administer/expose poison to another

According to the city of Oakland, each of the 776 police officers currently employed at OPD costs around $188,000 per year.  It must be nice to be a cop in Oakland. Perhaps our recently laid off teachers might want to consider a career change.

By the way, in the last five years, the police budget -- along with the fire department budget -- have amount to 75 percent of the entire general fund for the city.