Newsom urges Oakland to let police pursue more criminals

( KRON ) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging Oakland officials to expand the criteria under which police can pursue criminal suspects. In a letter to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and other city leaders, Newsom called the Oakland Police Department’s current pursuit policy “an outlier among California law enforcement agencies.”

Referencing the recently expanded California Highway Patrol deployment to the city, Newsom cited CHP observations regarding OPD’s pursuit policy.

“The CHP has brought to my attention that they observed criminals fleeing with impunity because it’s common knowledge that the Oakland Police Department’s pursuit policy allows vehicle pursuits in only very limited circumstances,” Newsom said.

According to the governor, CHP officers “observed suspects attempting to escape arrest by using the same routes, concluding that they knew where OPD would discontinue a pursuit.”

The current OPD pursuit policy, as laid out by Gov. Newsom, allows for pursuits only for “violent forcible crimes” and those involving firearms.

“That means that, unlike in nearly all other California jurisdictions, local police in Oakland cannot pursue individuals suspected of committing many felonies, any misdemeanor, even if violent, and other offenses that endanger public safety, such as reckless driving, sideshow activity, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” Newsom said.

While the governor said he was “mindful of the sensitivities around vehicle pursuits, which can be dangerous to police, suspects, and innocent bystanders,” he warned of “extreme danger to the public in allowing criminals to act with impunity, and the reckless driving associated with sideshows and other criminal acts.”

Gov. Newsom said he supported recent action by Oakland City Council to direct a review of the pursuit policy and urged Mayor Thao to “reconsider whether OPD should be permitted to pursue suspects in more circumstances.”

KRON4.com has reached out to the Oakland Police Department and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s office for a response to Newsom’s letter. We have not yet heard back.

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