In a busy night for the Bay Area, both Oakland and Berkeley, cities which will be considering surveillance equipment transparency ordinances in the next month, made important strides towards increasing community oversight of policing and law enforcement.
In Oakland, an overflowing crowd that filled up the full council chamber pushed back against the removal of the Oakland ICE raid public hearing and prevailed: reinstating the hearing for December 5, and starting the process for a revised city policy eliminating future police cooperation with HSI/ICE raids in the city. The group also called for an independent investigation of false statements by the police chief about the raid and the now-terminated memorandum of understanding with ICE.
In Berkeley, acquisitions of military surplus equipment through the DHS 10333 program will now require council approval, an item to address racial profiling in stops data passed unanimously, and the city’s Police Review Commission was given permission to draft up measures to increase their powers, including a possible ballot amendment revising the city charter.