Mar 27, 2009 5:54 pm US/Pacific
Mayor Dellums Forgoes Speech At Officers' Funeral
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / KCBS / AP) ―
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Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums.
AP
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums attended Friday's funeral for four slain city police officers, but did not speak at the request of at least one killed officer's family.
The mayor's spokesman, Paul Rose, said Dellums turned down a police offer to give opening remarks after at least one of the families requested he not be among the dignitaries speaking at the ceremony.
Rose said the mayor did not want to "make an awkward situation even more awkward."
Rose said he didn't know which families made the request or the reasons behind it. An Oakland Police Department spokesman wouldn't comment.
Among those who did speak were California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and state Attorney General Jerry Brown.
Word of Dellums being asked not to speak came just a day after a published report said the mayor had stalled a $200,000 plan to hire private, armed security guards to patrol the area around MacArthur Boulevard, where the officers were slain, despite lobbying efforts by the city councilman who represents the area.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Dellums told police brass that in the wake of the New Year's Day fatal shooting of an unarmed passenger by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer, he didn't think the city should be hiring private armed guards to patrol city streets.
Former Oakland Police Chief Richard Word, now the chief of police in Vacaville, said the affects of problems such as drug abuse, truancy and high unemployment can overwhelm police officers out on the streets, and extra help is always needed.
"It's a city where there's a lack of trust, high violent crime, truly a lack of community engagement, poor student performance," Word said.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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