Oakland begins national search for police chief

After years of cycling through police chief after police chief, Oakland officials have begun a national search for a leader who will bring much-needed stability and imaginative reforms to the city’s battered department, Mayor Libby Schaaf said Monday.

“We know there is a critical national conversation happening about policing, asking questions about safety and justice,” Schaaf said at a news conference inside Oakland City Hall, at which she stood flanked by City Administrator Sabrina Landreth, East Oakland Youth Development Center head Regina Jackson, and about a dozen teenagers from Oakland.

The whole process, while exhaustive, appears designed to make all Oakland residents feel like they have a say in picking their new chief and reforming the troubled department.

“It is my experience as Oakland’s mayor that Oaklanders are hungry to continue both our progress with reforms as well as becoming the safe city that we all know Oakland deserves to be,” Schaaf said at the news conference.

[...] the pressure is on Schaaf, who — like her San Francisco counterpart, Ed Lee — is facing a recall campaign from activists who say she helped prop up a corrupt police force.

Leaders of the campaign demand that Oakland cut funding for its Police Department in half and give the money to community groups.

Some law enforcement experts are skeptical that Oakland will find a permanent leader for its department, given the recent misconduct scandal, the scrutiny of a federal judge and court monitor, and the forthcoming November ballot measure to create a powerful citizen-led police commission — adding yet another layer of supervision for whoever becomes chief.