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Email: ronoz@ronoz.com |
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"Ugly. Where does it end?" "Ugly. Where does it end?" "There are too many scandals, too many investigations of wrong-doing, and too little public safety in Oakland…" "All of this & Tucker is still at the helm. It is beyond mind boggling. We have no leadership in this town. None." "We've lost all faith in this circus…" *** In the latest hours, I received several emails and telephone calls from concerned OPD officers, city employees, and frenzied citizens. I answered one of them as follows: "It ends after Tucker is gone and policy makers get some balls..." "I've been truthfully informative for over two years, offered my time, knowledge, aptitude, and experience, pro bono, to volunteer in any capacity for Oakland --- and our policy makers remain in a delusionary daze... deer caught in the headlights." *** It is incomprehensible how a Chief who presided over four years of consecutively escalating violent crime can remain in office… anywhere. As presented in previous essays, there is no demographic reason for our four years of increasing violence in Oakland. There is no economic reason. There are no national or regional crime waves. Other cities have much more crime-prone demographics. Other cities have many fewer cops. Others spend much less on their police departments. Yet they have diminishing violence while ours skyrockets. Others may have noticed that OPD's Crime Analysis posted a year-end Daily Crime Report and soon took it down. It showed over a +5% increase for violent crimes in 2008 over 2007, or about a 60% increase since Chief Tucker took over OPD – four years in a row of escalating violent crimes. Only one other time in Oakland's history have violent crimes gone up four years in a row, during the national crime "crack" epidemic of the late eighties and early nineties… but even then, the acceleration was less than half of what it's been under Tucker. Crime Analysis is "recalibrating" their year-end figures, but we have been led to believe their numbers have been "real time" all along. Unfortunately, I've noticed significant discrepancies in the numbers up to December 22 [the last posted in 2008], that if anything, the crime numbers are likely to be adjusted upwards when compared with 2007. We'll see. Take Fresno as an example: "Once again Fresno saw a decrease in crime, resulting in a 43-year low in the crime index. In 2007 violent crime fell by 13.7%..." [Fresno PD website] The Fresno Police Chief says in his website statement: "I firmly believe that if we meet the needs of our employees, they in turn will meet the needs of our community." Chief Tucker early on said, "Morale is not important." The St Louis PD website shows a -3.5% decrease in violent crimes for 2008. You must remember St Louis; they were mentioned as one of only two large cities with more violence [barely] than Oakland for 2007. San Jose, under Chief Davis, has consistently reported a reduction of about -30% of the violent crime rate as experienced in 2000. Chief Tucker will report a violent crime rate in 2008 of about +160% of 2000. The San Jose Police Department heralds its Patrol Division as "The Bureau of Field Operations." In Tucker's re-organization, Patrol Division has been eliminated. Richmond is considered by many as our most similar neighbor, with respect to violent crime issues. Their PD website has posted a One might recall that Tucker/Kozicki eliminated the Patrol Division, saying it was an "old-fashioned practice." Tucker has also proclaimed his priorities have been foremost to enforce the NSA and to reduce overtime. He failed dramatically on both counts. The NSA is held in contempt because of Tucker's complete inability to subscribe the document organizationally or psychologically. Tucker's choice to head IA, an outspoken supporter of Tucker policies, has been in serious trouble himself. Overtime under Tucker has gone through the roof. (lack of) Information: Glaringly, SJPD and other police agencies post up-to-date information while Oakland can't even come up with any metrics on their year-old "Geographic Policing," the most disruptive and ineffective turmoil-producing unwarranted change in OPD history. San Jose issued a press release on Jan 20, a couple of days ago. Chief Tucker's "Recent Department Press Releases" shows one last issued on March 5 of 2006! His 2007 Annual Management Reports were first reported on-line in December of 2008. Tucker was asked by the City Council to report on empty Beats, understandably because 40% of them were empty and the others found officers significantly away from their Beats, but he said in writing he was too busy. Tucker appealed for $7.7 million of Measure Y funds for recruiting and training when he already had too many candidates in the pipeline. He soon had 834 cops with only 803 authorized. He hired/fired on the same day 41 candidates for the latest Academy. He talked of a dire "baby boomer" effect that didn't exist. All the while, he never presented any information with real facts and numbers. If there is such confusion at the entry level, imagine the confusion in operations. Please. The NSA has been around 5 years, cost Oakland citizens over $60 million, and there hasn't been a single reporting to indicate any metric of OPD's "culture" of racism, brutality, or corruption – either in terms of a benchmark or progress. Where is the light switch? Chip Johnson reported that Chief Tucker said he couldn't do his job because of the strong OPOA. Tucker long cited the "side letters" with the OPOA that tied his hands. I obtained all the side letters and wrote an essay exposing this falsity. There was nothing there to even tie Tucker's pinky. The OPOA complied with all of Tucker's edicts, without obstruction or even serious criticism. That may actually have been part of the problem over the past four years. The OPOA today is under new and promising representation. I've talked with the leadership. They will not sit idly by. They are younger and more prone to action. I don't think they will put up with Tucker's shenanigans. They want to know what's going on, and the promising part is that they want to inform the public. If you are in a neighborhood or citizen group, ask them to send you a representative. I am certainly not in any way an advocate or spokesman for the OPOA but would be pleased to attend if it will help get information forthcoming. Conclusion: It's not that Chief Tucker isn't sharing any meaningful information; it's that he doesn't have any. [I have offered, to him personally, and to others in writing, to pro bono [no cost] set up an Office of Police Management and Budget, with current personnel and less budget, to get information generating, analyzed, and distributed.] It was reported that fifty-two names were submitted to IA to investigate for violations of search warrant procedures. This speaks of gross organizational dysfunction, not gross corruption. Internally, OPD members are seething with the favoritism viewed as rewarding those who support Tucker and retaliation for those who don't. Four lieutenants who were well respected in their area commands by citizens and subordinates and who were widely appreciated for their beyond-the-call efforts have been singled out for "investigation" and threatened with probable demotions or worse. Perhaps coincidentally, they had expressed mild criticism of Tucker. It might be difficult for some to comprehend that there should be no personal axe to grind with Wayne Tucker. I accept Sheriff Plummer's [a hero of legend proportions] appraisal that Tucker was a terrific underling for him at the Sheriff's Department. However at OPD, I have to agree with Jerry Brown who was reported to have said, "Tucker is a disaster." Robert Bobb indicated in his Report that Public Safety should be measured by the crime rate. Chip Johnson said Bobb's report was an "Idiot's Guide." I would like to add to their thoughts: It should be clear to all that Wayne Tucker should be fairly evaluated as a Police Chief. Simply put, he has only two significant responsibilities: (1) Manage OPD; and (2) Lead OPD. Management is gauged by an organization's efficiencies and Leadership is gauged by the motivation of employees. This is what "production," getting the job done, is all about in any organization. It is clear, especially to the mounting victims of crimes who are too frustrated to even report them, that Tucker has failed in both management and leadership of OPD. Is it any wonder that violent crimes, the measurement of Tucker's (lack of) organizational efficiencies and (lack of) employee motivation are manifest in such severe dysfunctional degrees that public safety is in a perilous state? We have been in crisis. ronoz |
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Email: ronoz@ronoz.com |
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