
An Oakland city councilmember proposed Tuesday to create two police academies to alleviate the dwindling number of officers working in the city.
Councilmember Sheng Thao’s proposal will be heard at the next scheduled City Council meeting on Sept. 21.

The number of working officers in the Oakland Police Department recently dropped below 700, the lowest it’s been in six years, according to the Oakland Police Officers' Association, the police union.
If the number of officers falls below 678, the city will no longer be able to collect Measure Z taxes, which help fund among other things fire safety and violence prevention programs, according to reporting by KTVU.
"We must act now," said Thao.
Funding for one of the two proposed academies would come from a surplus discovered by OPD Chief LeRonne Armstrong when paying for the already budgeted police academies.
City Council approval is needed for money for the second additional police academy, which would be held in the city's 2022-23 fiscal year under Thao's proposal.
Neither of the two academies would affect funding for other services, according to Thao.
Thao said the academy has a 60 percent failure rate. "We all know that's a failing grade," she said.
The new proposal would require the chief to do better at local hiring, hiring people of color, women, and the department needs to provide childcare for new recruits.
Violent crime has risen again this year in Oakland, police data shows, with shootings and killings up. Eighty-eight people have been killed in homicides this year, according to police.