Let me see if I have this straight.

At least three members of the Oakland City Council believe the city’s police and fire departments should be mirrored reflections of its ethnic makeup.

And because the U.S. census says Oakland’s population is 28 percent African American (or 26.5 percent, according to a city study released in March), anything less than an equal percentage of police officers is unacceptable, never mind shortfalls among police officers from the city’s Latino and Asian communities.

The biggest problem, of course, is the percentage of presumably oppressive white officers who make up 41 percent of the Police Department while white residents represent only 35 percent of Oakland’s population.

For a city that sees itself on the front lines in the changing nature of race relations in America, that’s a nitpicking position to try to defend.

Have we actually come to the point in Oakland where we have to divide and count up our police officers like M&M’s to make sure we get as many red ones as green ones?

Councilwoman Desley Brooks, who proposed the change, and council President Lynette McElhaney, who supports it, better be careful what they are asking for.

If it’s such a worthy plan, why stop with the city’s emergency services? It should be applied to every aspect of city employment, from our elected officials to the makeup of city staff.

Uh-oh.

If the same formula were applied to city government and city employment, I’m not so sure anyone would see it as fair.

With 33 percent of Oakland city staff made up of African Americans, under the council formula there would be quite a few African Americans looking for work. If the city’s falling short anywhere in reflecting Oakland, it’s in hiring Latinos — who make up 26 percent of the city’s population, but just 17 percent of city staff.

And with three African American City Council members out of eight, the ethnic balance on the council is also out of whack. Three council members make up 37.5 percent of the council, nearly 10 points higher than the city’s African American population. So if we apply that standard evenly, one of them should step down ’cause it’s the right thing to do racially. Fair is fair, right?

If that weren’t enough, Brooks’ proposal would require a city that has paid out tens of millions of dollars to settle police abuse cases in the past decade to actually lower the passing score on a standard statewide written exam.

Oakland already allows a lower passing score than most neighboring cities, but that didn’t discourage Brooks from proposing that Oakland adopt a completely different examination format that de-emphasizes intellect.

So it’s OK to hire a police officer who doesn’t otherwise qualify and give him or her a gun and authority so long as it helps the city to strike the appropriate racial balance for its police and fire departments.

Sorry, folks. I’m not down with that.

In support of the measure, McElhaney claimed the city’s police and fire academies are “overwhelmingly white and male.”

Really?

Because according to city stats, the most recent police academy is made up of 11 Asian and African American cadets each, 13 Hispanics and 17 Caucasians. Twelve cadets from the class live in Oakland.

Those figures are not as disproportionate as some council members’ insistence on laying a racial template over every single issue that comes before them.

I understand where Brooks and her supporters are coming from. Unfortunately, they are miles and miles away from the target.

Of course Oakland needs officers of all skin colors and ethnic backgrounds, all big cities do, but that doesn’t mean hiring more African American or Latino officers from hither and yon. What the city needs, and has identified, in the ranks of the Oakland Police Department are homegrown officers of all ilks — and there is a program in place at Merritt College to prepare local residents for law enforcement jobs in Oakland.

Brooks and her backers are badly confused.

It’s not about race. It’s about place, and Oakland’s thick, rich, smoky ethnic stew, its activist politics and its reputation as one of the nation’s liberal strongholds are what make it so different from other cities.

Our politicians would serve the citizens of this city a whole lot better with sound, race-neutral public policies that address the problem instead of the race-based grandstanding path they have chosen to walk.