Governor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that he is sending 120 California Highway Patrol officers to Alameda County and Oakland. It’s part of a law enforcement surge operation, meant to crack down on rising crime in the East Bay.
The CHP officers will assist local law enforcement in tackling vehicle theft, retail theft, and violent crime.
“As crime rates across California decrease — including right across the Bay in San Francisco — Oakland is seeing the opposite trend,” Newsom said. “What’s happening in this beautiful city and surrounding area is alarming and unacceptable. I’m sending the California Highway Patrol to assist local efforts to restore a sense of safety that the hardworking people of Oakland and the East Bay demand and deserve.”
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who has faced heavy criticism for the city’s public safety woes, said she is “grateful” for the governor’s support.
Newsom has taken similar actions in other California communities. The governor sent CHP officers to Los Angeles last year amid a rise in retail theft. He also deployed CHP officers to San Francisco after Mayor London Breed pleaded for help to root out open-air drug markets and crime.
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