Oakland Police Chief on Spike in Violent Crime: ‘Today, We Find Ourselves in a Crisis’

Oakland, California’s police chief is warning that crime is “out of control” in the city after City Council members approved a budget cut stripping $17.4 million from the police department and directing the money elsewhere.

“I’m challenged by the decisions that were made on Thursday around the budget for the city of Oakland, particularly for the Oakland Police Department,” Chief LeRonne Armstrong said at a Monday news conference.

“We find ourselves in a crisis,” he added. “We find ourselves reeling from a weekend of violence, where we’ve seen four homicides over a three-day period. It now has us currently at 65 homicides for the year—a 90 percent increase compared to last year.”