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Feb 11, 2008 9:58 pm US/Pacific
Dellums To Present Police Recruitment Strategy
OAKLAND (BCN) ―
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Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums
CBS 5
Mayor Ron Dellums announced Monday that he will be asking the City Council to approve a new police recruitment, training and retention plan at its meeting next week.
The plan would authorize the city to use $7.7 million from the existing Measure Y funds to increase the number of officers in the city's police force.
The city's goal is for the police department to reach its maximum staffing level of 803 officers this year, according to Dellums' office.
"The only strategy to break through the current hiring and retiring revolving door that is preventing the city from achieving a fully staffed police department is to engage in a significantly augmented recruitment drive that rapidly brings up the number of new officers on the force, as envisioned by Measure Y," Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker said in a press release.
Measure Y, a 2004 initiative, provides approximately $19 million annually in violence prevention and public safety programs and services.
The mayor's plan, which will be presented to the City Council during its Feb. 19 meeting, proposes strategies for increasing the number of applicants entering the city's police academy, increasing the success rate of recruits in the academy and ultimately increasing the number of sworn officers on the police force, according to Dellums' office.
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