Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has rejected all three candidates for Chief of Police that were recommended by the city’s police commission. The commission will now go back to the drawing board and compile a new list of people for Thao to consider.
Oakland has been without a police chief for nearly a year, as the city struggles to address a public safety problem. Between 2019 and 2022, violent crime increased 18%.
Neither the city nor the commission have released the names of the three candidates who were rejected, but KTVU says it obtained them from sources with knowledge of the situation. According to the station, they are former Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, San Leandro Police Chief Abdul Pridgen, and Tucson, Arizona Assistant Police Chief Kevin Hall.
The inclusion of Armstrong looked to some observers like a slap in the face. Armstrong was fired by Thao last February — a move that the commission opposed.
The inclusion of Armstrong’s name may have been justified. It has been determined that the investigation which led to his termination was riddled with inaccuracies. Politically though, it was a non-starter.
One of the other candidates, Pridgen, was placed on leave in September amid an investigation into potential violations of department policy.
Read more about the ongoing search for Oakland’s police chief here.