Opinion

Oakland arrests undermine the public trust in police

Mayor Jean Quan hoping new pact paves the way for labor peace. Chronicle photo by Paul Chinn Mayor Jean Quan hoping new pact paves the way for labor peace. Chronicle photo by Paul Chinn Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Oakland arrests undermine the public trust in police 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan's response to the rising tide of violence in the city apparently was to round up the usual suspects and tout the arrests of eight unnamed people as a major bust under Operation Ceasefire.

Yet, when the Oakland police finally named the eight, they weren't the ones whose arrests the police had trumpeted at an earlier press conference. Further, they had no central connection to the mayor's keystone crime-fighting program, Operation Ceasefire.

This operation now appears to be one of misinformation - or perhaps disinformation - and has only served to further undermine public trust in the police and the mayor.

The mayor says the police spokeswoman read out the wrong list of names, and the whole incident "seems to be an honest mistake."

Mistake or not, the incident raises troubling questions about the city's ability to use Operation Ceasefire to address widespread property crime and gang violence, including the murder of a baby and an 8-year-old girl. Also disturbing is the notion that the city would think it could set aside one of our most basic democratic protections: that people do not disappear into the hands of the police. Americans expect the police to name whom they have arrested and why.

For her part, the mayor says, she wasn't involved in the details, but the police have acknowledged the mistake of releasing the wrong names. "I was on vacation or in Washington," she said.

In March, the city adopted Operation Ceasefire, patterned on a federal program used to some success in other cities, after an earlier crime-busting program failed to launch. In April, the city identified 14 gangs and hundreds of gang members and began calling gang leaders to put them on notice that they must reduce criminal activity or face arrest.

On Aug. 14-15, the police arrested eight men but then refused to release their names at a press conference called to publicize the results of the sweep. This week the police released eight names of men arrested and charged with multiple felonies, but a Chronicle check of the arrest records revealed that these men were arrested in subsequent raids. Those arrested on Aug. 14-15 were charged with lesser crimes, including suspicion of robbery and selling marijuana.

The mayor downplayed the mistake and focused on the subsequent felony arrests. "They made a good bust," she said.

It's a sad commentary on the state of Oakland leadership that ineptitude would appear to be the most favorable explanation for why journalists were given inaccurate information about one of the mayor's priority public-safety projects.