Spring Break
Criminal justice system to blame in Oakland police shooting
Kyle Kershner
Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: Opinion
Last month in Oakland, the deadliest attack on California law enforcement since 1970 occurred.
Lovelle Mixon, 26, of Oakland, opened fire on police in two separate incidents, killing four officers and injuring another.
It's incidents like this that make you wonder about California's parole system. This tragedy did not have to happen. With a better parole system, we wouldn't even be talking about this.
Scott Kernan, the undersecretary of Adult Operations at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has echoed these sentiments, as has Don Specter, the director at the Prison Law Office.
Mixon, who was killed by police, had been on parole since November. He had contacts with his parole officer but also missed a number of appointments. Because of this, he had been declared a parole violator, and a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
How can something like this be overlooked? When you consider that a total of five people - including Mixon - were killed, it's a pretty costly oversight.
Senate Bill 441, introduced just weeks prior to the shootings, is an attempt to enact legislation that would include "creating stronger, more focused leadership, increased public safety and reduced recidivism by prioritizing parolee and probationer integration."
It sounds good on paper, but this needs to be reinforced. Let's examine the bill deeper.
The bill aims to "create a department that has sufficient focus and collaboration on public safety and parolee and probationer rehabilitation…" Well, with a parole violator on the loose, is there really "sufficient focus" here?
Another intent of the bill is to "create a more effective and efficient public safety infrastructure, thereby resulting in decreased crime rates, incarceration rates and recidivism." Well, at least the legislation has the right idea.
Even still, the system needs revamping. It may be unfair to say that the Oakland Police Department was lax in terms of focusing its energy on Mixon, but hindsight is 20/20.
Of course, Oakland Police had no idea it would ever come to this. It is a tragedy that four officers died, and now this will raise the sense of urgency regarding parole violators.
Supervised parole might not be the best idea. Does it really help ex-cons transition back into a normal life outside of prison? I think the jury is still out on that one.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown praised the Oakland police.
"We know in Oakland there are those who find fault with the police and criticize them," Brown said. "And yet, I can't think of any more honorable, exemplary profession than the men in blue who defend the people of this city every day that they're on the job."
Brown has a right to defend the Oakland Police Department. The department has its work cut out, as Oakland was rated as the fifth most dangerous city in the United States in 2008, according to Wallet Pop, a personal and consumer finance site.
Oakland was ranked the worst in terms of motor vehicle theft, third worst for robbery and 14th for assault and murder.
"What a tribute to what the human spirit can be when it soars as high as these four individuals did," Brown said. "Yes, they were gunned down in hatred and in anger, but they stand very tall in our hearts, in our memory, forever."
These are powerful words, but with a collective effort from the Legislature, local police departments and the community, hopefully it is something we won't have to hear about in the future.
Kyle Kershner can be reached at kkershner@statehornet.com
Lovelle Mixon, 26, of Oakland, opened fire on police in two separate incidents, killing four officers and injuring another.
It's incidents like this that make you wonder about California's parole system. This tragedy did not have to happen. With a better parole system, we wouldn't even be talking about this.
Scott Kernan, the undersecretary of Adult Operations at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has echoed these sentiments, as has Don Specter, the director at the Prison Law Office.
Mixon, who was killed by police, had been on parole since November. He had contacts with his parole officer but also missed a number of appointments. Because of this, he had been declared a parole violator, and a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
How can something like this be overlooked? When you consider that a total of five people - including Mixon - were killed, it's a pretty costly oversight.
Senate Bill 441, introduced just weeks prior to the shootings, is an attempt to enact legislation that would include "creating stronger, more focused leadership, increased public safety and reduced recidivism by prioritizing parolee and probationer integration."
It sounds good on paper, but this needs to be reinforced. Let's examine the bill deeper.
The bill aims to "create a department that has sufficient focus and collaboration on public safety and parolee and probationer rehabilitation…" Well, with a parole violator on the loose, is there really "sufficient focus" here?
Another intent of the bill is to "create a more effective and efficient public safety infrastructure, thereby resulting in decreased crime rates, incarceration rates and recidivism." Well, at least the legislation has the right idea.
Even still, the system needs revamping. It may be unfair to say that the Oakland Police Department was lax in terms of focusing its energy on Mixon, but hindsight is 20/20.
Of course, Oakland Police had no idea it would ever come to this. It is a tragedy that four officers died, and now this will raise the sense of urgency regarding parole violators.
Supervised parole might not be the best idea. Does it really help ex-cons transition back into a normal life outside of prison? I think the jury is still out on that one.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown praised the Oakland police.
"We know in Oakland there are those who find fault with the police and criticize them," Brown said. "And yet, I can't think of any more honorable, exemplary profession than the men in blue who defend the people of this city every day that they're on the job."
Brown has a right to defend the Oakland Police Department. The department has its work cut out, as Oakland was rated as the fifth most dangerous city in the United States in 2008, according to Wallet Pop, a personal and consumer finance site.
Oakland was ranked the worst in terms of motor vehicle theft, third worst for robbery and 14th for assault and murder.
"What a tribute to what the human spirit can be when it soars as high as these four individuals did," Brown said. "Yes, they were gunned down in hatred and in anger, but they stand very tall in our hearts, in our memory, forever."
These are powerful words, but with a collective effort from the Legislature, local police departments and the community, hopefully it is something we won't have to hear about in the future.
Kyle Kershner can be reached at kkershner@statehornet.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Lioness
posted 4/09/09 @ 2:18 PM PST
Mixon missed exactly ONE scheduled meeting with his parole officer and the no-bail arrest warrant was promptly issued. There were failures in assignment of fugitive task force to timely capture him and also failure inside OPD to issue the alert that he was now positively identified as ARMED through the DNA match to an armed rape case, but the parole worked as it was supposed to. (Continued…)
Post a Comment