CHP Deploys 120 Officers To Alameda County To Thwart Crime

ALAMEDA COUNTY — On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the deployment of 120 California Highway Patrol officers to enact a temporary enforcement surge in Oakland and the East Bay.

"Throughout the operation, the CHP's efforts will include enforcement of auto theft, cargo theft, retail crime, and high-visibility proactive traffic enforcement in and around Oakland and Alameda County," said CHP spokesperson Jaime Coffee.

The strategy is to saturate the area with officers and investigators who will work with other law enforcement agencies within Alameda County.

"This will include CHP specialty units like narcotics detecting K9 units and air support," Coffee said. "CHP will also deploy license plate reader technology to detect and recover stolen vehicles."

The move follows calls for state help from local organizations and politicians including the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. In January, a group of Oakland community leaders traveled to Sacramento and met with the governor in person.

According to a recent Oakland Police Department crime report, between 2021 and 2023 there was a 21 percent increase in violent crime, a 38 percent increase in robberies and a 45 percent increase in vehicle thefts.

"The Oakland police has a no chase policy," said Carl Chan, one of the community advocates present at the January meeting in Sacramento.

"Most of the criminals, they are jumping from one city to another and OPD cannot chase them," Chan said. "The CHP has the right to go into all the different cities within the state. So that is extremely helpful. I think it is not only helping Oakland, but it's also helping neighboring cities."

In September, the Newsom administration approved the distribution of over $267 million to local police and sheriff's departments and district attorney's offices throughout California to fight organized retail theft. The money went to create task forces, hire and train staff and purchase new technologies. There were 55 awardees, but Oakland received no funds because it missed the application deadline.

"The governor brought that up one, two, three times," said Robert Harris of the Oakland NAACP, who was also at the January meeting. "He talked about the missed deadline, and then about 10 minutes later he said the same thing over, 'We've made that available to you, and you didn't file.'"

In the governor's Tuesday statement about the surge, Mayor Sheng Thao expressed gratitude.

"The City of Oakland is hard at work turning the tide — increasing law enforcement investigations, increasing police recruitment, and investing in community and violence intervention efforts," said Thao. "I'm grateful for Governor Newsom for providing these critical law enforcement resources that are a game-changer in helping us hold more criminals accountable and make Oakland safer."

The governor's statement Tuesday listed additional measures his administration is planning or has already enacted. Some of them echoed the solutions proposed by the Oakland NAACP and community leaders in a plan they have been promoting for months.

"The state has also expanded opportunities for youth by transforming Oakland's schools into community schools, mandating and funding after-school programs, awarding Oakland grants for youth coaches, establishing targeted college and career savings accounts, and providing tuition-free community college for students at Oakland community colleges," the statement read.

Since 2019, the governor's office said, Alameda County has received over $1 billion from the state to boost affordable housing and over $200 million to address homelessness directly.

"We can see that the governor was very serious about what he was saying and he's delivering on what he said," said Bishop Bob Jackson, senior pastor of Acts Full Gospel Church. "He really cares about Oakland, and we were really glad about that."

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