Since 1996, the Oakland Police Department has assigned several officers to develop relationships and solve problems in specific neighborhoods corresponding with their geographic police beat. Known as community resource officers, they attend monthly neighborhood council meetings and help residents with towing abandoned vehicles, responding to sideshows, preventing home break-ins, and lots more.
Unlike patrol officers, community resource officers do not respond to 911 calls, focusing instead on their assigned beats. Their workload is often determined with input from the members of neighborhood councils, which are volunteer-run groups of residents.
But this will soon change…