Public Uproar At Oakland Council Meeting

Public uproar at Oakland Council meeting Hundreds of protesters rallied in front of City Hall and then packed the council chambers, and Gallo was shouted down within minutes of the meeting's start. On Tuesday, the issue that brought out all those protesters to the Public Safety Committee meeting was the proposed hiring of consultant William Bratton, a former New York and Los Angeles police chief known for innovative - and aggressive - tactics. In particular, Bratton has come to be known for "stop and frisk," in which officers seek to reduce crime by stopping and questioning people they deem suspicious. Lashing out at Bratton"William Bratton is the mastermind of stop and frisk, which has led to the harassment of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers - overwhelmingly Latino and black," said Todd Chretien, a longtime organizer and activist with the International Socialist Organization, who helped organize the rally. Anticipating the high level of agitation, Police Chief Howard Jordan issued a press release minutes before the meeting stating that the department firmly and unequivocally stand(s) with our community against racial profiling. Jim Dexter, a longtime community policing advocate, spoke out in favor of Bratton's hire.