East Oakland community organizers seek to resurrect proposed University police department to secure nearby neighborhoods | Law Enforcement Today

OAKLAND, CA— As critical budget woes and the utter insufficiency of political support for policing in Oakland, CA have dominated recent news cycles, community activists began a public campaign revisiting the concept of establishing an independent Northeastern University police department to patrol both the school and adjacent areas of the city.

According to reporting from KQED however, inconsistent news on the effort has garnered significant controversy surrounding the campaign. The East Oakland Neighbors, a group composed of current and former area residents, is at the head of the present effort after the Oakland City Attorney’s Office rejected an initial proposal from Northeastern.

The outlet reported that a 2024 draft memorandum was submitted by the university’s regional security director and a former Oakland police captain Clay Burch detailing the creation of a new University Police Department that would function in conjunction with, but outside of the command structure of the Oakland PD.

The proposal called for the new department’s officers to be fully empowered by law enforcement officers with the authority to carry firearms and employ lethal force as necessary, like any other sworn agency. It also described a jurisdiction-sharing agreement between the new department and the Oakland Police Department over the East Oakland neighborhoods near the campus.

Burch wrote a “letter to East Oaklanders” on the community’s website: "For Oakland specifically, first and foremost, the campus and its surroundings must be safe and inviting.” He added, “This town needs a procedurally just, constitutional police force that not only enforces the law — actually enforces the law — but also incorporates robust community outreach.”

He explained,

“The City and the University must enter into a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU. Under this MOU, the City would permit this new department, and the University would fully fund it. The University provided a draft MOU to the City in August of 2024.At the time, several City officials expressed their full support for this effort, including City Administrator Jestin Johnson and East Oakland City Council member and now interim Mayor  Kevin Jenkins. Other Council members including Carrol Fife, Janani Ramachandran and Noel Gallo have expressed support for the effort. The Oakland Police Chief and his command staff are completely on board. Lastly, a number of local community leaders familiar with the effort have  also pledged their support.”

However, as Burch observed despite meetings with the Oakland Police Chiefs Office, Kevin Jenkins, the City Administrator, and various city attorneys he was informed that the City Attorney’s “were unable to find a legal pathway for the MOU.” Responding to this he wrote, “This is troubling because the University provided a draft MOU to the City Attorney that documents that there is a pathway.”

In a statement to KQED Burch confirmed that neither he nor the University are leading the effort at this point suggesting that local news coverage has misrepresented this. Rather the current effort is being led by East Oakland Neighbors. Stephanie Hayden, the group’s founder and a former Oakland resident told KQED that the group is working on an outreach campaign to encourage the city and University to come together and consider a revised version of the Northeastern proposal.

She told the outlet, “There’s no government involved in this, and Northeastern doesn’t have anything to do with us.”