To: Oakland Police Commission Selection Panel
Re: Recommendation for Omar Farmer
Dear Police Commission Selection Panel,
I have watched as the Police Commission has become less & less effective, which I think is in part due to not having the right people on the Commission. I am currently the chair of the Public Safety and Services Commission (SSOC) and I have a member of our Commission, Omar Farmer, who I think would be outstanding on the Police Commission. I am recommending him to you hoping Omar can continue with SSOC in addition to being on the Police Commission, but even if he can’t stay with us I am recommending him to you. I do this because, although I am committed to the SSOC’s role of overseeing the spending of Measure Z revenues, we all know that is hardly important at all compared to the enormously important task of holding OPD accountable.
I am a Gun Violence Prevention advocate. There is a clear, well documented correlation between community gun violence and a lack of trust in the police. For Oakland’s terrible homicide rate to come down we must increase the community’s trust in OPD by putting in place policies that both will hold OPD accountable and that the community trusts will hold them accountable. I have worked with Omar on the SSOC for two years and I have found him to be both detail-oriented, so he reads and understands proposed policies, and strategically oriented, so he looks at the overall effect of the proposed policies.
But most importantly, Omar is a good leader within the Commission. When the League of Women Voters analyzed some of Oakland’s commissions and noted that SSOC did not have a strategic plan, Omar organized commissioners to devise a plan, all along working with the other commissioners. He saw that the work of the SSOC was not well known, and with another commissioner has been giving talks on the SSOC to various groups. He is patient at meetings, focused, cooperative, and always does what he commits to do.
Part of the SSOC duties is to oversee the Measure Z funding of OPD, including Community Policing. Omar is the one commissioner who always has insightful questions. Seeing him ask these questions is what made me say: I think the Police Commission needs someone like him.
If you have questions, please contact me.
Paula Hawthorn