The City of Oakland is paying $18 million per year in police overtime. The current, inefficient work schedule — four, ten-hour days — must be abandoned. A change in shift schedules would be a giant step toward providing more efficient, cost effective, and higher quality service to the public.

In this third of a four-part series, City Council member Desley Brooks argues that the “past practices” clause in the City’s current contract with the police officers’ union is a major roadblock to the effective delivery of police services in Oakland, and it must be eliminated from the upcoming labor contract.

In this second of a four-part series, City Council member Desley Brooks stresses that it is important that the police department’s management team be independent of the police officers’ union, and she defends the City’s action to remove the deputy chiefs from the bargaining unit.

In this introduction to a four-part series, City Council member Desley Brooks opines that many of the issues regarding the level and sufficiency of service provided by the Oakland Police Department can be addressed through the renegotiation process of the labor contract between the City and Oakland Police Officers Association.