California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Tuesday he plans to send 120 Highway Patrol officers to Oakland and the East Bay to respond to an “alarming” wave of crime.
The announcement said California would temporarily increase state law enforcement personnel in Oakland and the East Bay, including sending 120 California Highway Patrol officers to conduct a “targeted crackdown on criminal activity, including vehicle theft, retail theft, and violent crime.”
“As crime rates across California decrease — including right across the Bay in San Francisco — Oakland is seeing the opposite trend,” Newsom said in a statement. “What’s happening in this beautiful city and surrounding area is alarming and unacceptable.”
“I’m sending the California Highway Patrol to assist local efforts to restore a sense of safety that the hardworking people of Oakland and the East Bay demand and deserve,” he said.
The surge in law enforcement will be a 900 percent increase from the typical presence in Oakland and within Alameda County, according to the governor’s office. The office said officers will be “targeting auto theft, cargo theft, retail crime, violent crime, and high-visibility traffic enforcement.”