As Alamedans cast their votes amid a national dialogue over “defunding” of police, they will not find the issue directly on the ballot, even as official city studies on the matter are underway.
They will however, cast votes for two open seats on The Alameda City Council, with incumbents and candidates alike holding varied, sometimes equivocal, sometimes polar opposite views on the matter.
Four incumbent members of the Council and two of the three candidates, Gig Codiga, and Trish Spencer responded with differing promptness and depth to a survey of nine detailed questions seeking their basic stances on the defund matter and asking about potential impacts and changes to Alameda Police operations, funding and staffing.
Sitting council members received the survey on 8/20 whereas the candidates were canvassed beginning on October 5th.
Three days after receiving the survey, candidate and former Mayor, Trish Spencer, provided the most particularized and unequivocal response.
“I do not agree with the recent decision to unfund/defund/cut the current vacant police officer positions,” she said.
Spencer claimed that an earlier city council call to “reallocate” funding up to 42% based on a resolution co sponsored in mid July by Vice Mayor Knox-White and Council member Jim Oddie was “politically motivated,” “arbitrary,” and “done without any substantive plan.”
In a detailed and forthright response that arrived ten days after he first saw the survey, Vice Mayor Knox White made clear that he supports defunding in some form and suggested some level of support from police.
“Yes. I believe that there are many areas of common agreement with our law enforcement staff on where they have been asked to respond to issues that are not law enforcement issues and result in redirecting…. resources” to non violent matters that should not require police involvement.
Knox White said that the 42% number to trim police funding is “a mischaracterization” and was “simply a request for information if we reduced all response calls by 42% “ and reduced the police budget equally.
“There was no proposal to do so,” he said, augmenting an initial, one day reply to a more basic inquiry on the matter back in July .
The Knox-White/Oddie July proposal urged funding shifts to other entities to “support public health, wellness and resilience” so police could “respond to emergency calls (which) are not necessary as identified by Alameda’s chief of police,” according to Knox White.
In a terse, same day reply to the survey, Councilperson Tony Daysog said only that, ” I think it’s pretty clear I didn’t and don’t support “defunding” police, so I didn’t see a need to answer your questions. Thanks for asking them anyways.”
Candidate Gil Codiga took just three days to fully respond and made clear in a detailed statement that “I do not support the outright call for ‘defunding’, now (called) ‘reimaging,’ particularly based on the 42% metric to cut” or redistribute dollars.
He said he is opposed to “shaving” any dollars from the APD budget, citing staffing shortfalls of 11 officers and one detective.
Codiga acknowledged, though,that “’reengineering’ or ‘right sizing’ may make sense. In these tight fiscal times we may have to make adjustments,” adding later that “we should stay the course on enforcement and service levels” for public safety.
Codiga proposed that APD be the “single point of contact” to take 911 and such ancillary service calls as those concerning homeless people, stray animals, mental health issues and the like and then “allocate to others” the tasks of dealing with them.
He also said “we should enhance our social injustice training,” and “revisit protocols on tactics” to help officers
Councilperson Vella, responding eleven days after the survey send, was less direct than the others, stating, “I’m awaiting the recommendations of our community led committees and my positions have been to that effect and clearly articulated at our numerous council meetings, ” before recommending a visit on her stance to council minutes on the city website.
After multiple requests for a response from the end of July through the end of September, Councilperson Oddie replied on October 2nd and seemed less certain in contrast to his earlier, co-authorship of the July proposal.
“I’m supportive of what our community led process is doing—looking at the future of policing in Alameda and recommending what types of calls, if any, should be answered by alternate responders,” which he characterized as “social workers, paramedics, police/paramedics, etc.”
He said he wants a community that is “safe for ALL of our residents,” without elaborating on demographics or providing any deeper meaning.
Mayor Ashcraft, on 8/28, declined to reply to the survey, saying that she would be discussing the matter in public meetings and would seek public input, information from “community led sub-committees my City Council colleagues and staff before determining my position.”
“When I am contacted by a reporter, print or media, it is with one or two succinct questions and they want succinct answers,” she added before referring to the time demands of handling Covid and other pressing community matters.
Candidate Amos White did not respond to the survey questions by 10/15, following three earlier e mails and a four minute phone call with him.
When the council voted at the end of July to reject the original defund proposal in favor of further study on the issue, as alluded to by the Mayor, –to begin in “early October” according to Knox White — they seemed to embrace an idea formally requested in November of 2017 by then Mayor Spencer.
She called, at that time, for a “citizen police oversight committee” to process community input, and advise the council to help “facilitate communication” define police roles and expectations and “optimize police resources.”
None of the other four Council members at the time, including Ashcraft, Oddie and Knox-White supported it, “thus it failed,” she said.
After the defund controversy became a local flashpoint over the summer, city leadership sought citizen input regarding the role of police in Alameda.
Currently, citizen’s group’s defunding conversations, led by four sub-committees created in August under the auspices of City Manager, Eric Levitt, are ongoing, and he expects a final report of recommendations sometime in February or March of next year to be presented to the City Council for consideration.
“Actions could include legislative and/or budgetary considerations,” said Levitt.
APD is “being used as a resource” and will be “providing subject expertise to various committees,” followed by further involvement depending or recommendations, he added.
Sergeant Alan Kuboyama, President of The Alameda Police Officer’s Association, said that, “We would love to participate and engage to provide feedback,” and embrace the “opportunity to have the committees work with law enforcement partners.”
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