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Staffing

Topic Score: 48.3

The Staffing Topic includes three Indicators that measure racial and ethnic disparities in OPD sworn staff representation, attrition from academy, and attrition from field training. The first Indicator measures disparities in how well OPD sworn staff represent the demographics of Oakland, specifically between Whites and African Americans. The second Indicator measures disparities in attrition from academy between African Americans and Whites. The third Indicator measures disparities in attrition from field training between Latinos/Asians and Whites.
Photo of the members of the 176th Oakland Police Basic Academy.
Staffing is the highest scoring Topic in the Public Safety Theme with a Topic score of 48.3. The Indicator scores were somewhat variable but all higher than the norm in this Theme. Attrition from academy scored highest at 63, followed by representation of Oakland at 45, and attrition from field training scored lowest at 37. Though these scores may be higher than most others in Public Safety, there is still substantial room for improvement. Given that staffing is also an area in which the City can employ direct strategies for change, it merits further investigation and concrete next steps.

Staffing - Representation

Score: 45
Ratio: 1.89
Citywide there were 733 sworn staff which equals 174.5 sworn staff for every 100,000 people in Oakland. For any given race/ethnicity: if their rate was lower than 174.5, that means they were underrepresented or if it was higher than 174.5, that means they were over-represented among sworn staff. We found that White people were greatly over-represented with a rate of 246.1 White sworn staff per 100,000 White people in Oakland. African Americans were the least well represented with only 129.9 African American sworn staff per 100,000 African American people in Oakland. Asians were next least well represented at a rate of 143.6 and Latinos were also slightly underrepresented with a rate of 164.9. The White community in Oakland had 1.89 times as many sworn staff of their own race/ethnicity as African Americans did in Oakland.

Staffing - Attrition from Academy

Score: 63
Ratio: 1.46
Over the past 3 years, Latinos had the lowest attrition from academy at only 34.8%, with Whites slightly higher at 37.6%. Asians were slightly higher still at 40.0%. African Americans had the highest attrition from academy at 54.8% not completing. Though Latinos had the lowest attrition rates, this Indicator is scored between African Americans and Whites because White officers were the only over-represented racial or ethnic group among OPD sworn staff (see Representation Indicator for more information). African Americans were 1.46 times more likely than White officers to not complete academy.

Staffing - Attrition from Field Training

Score: 37
Ratio: 2.56
Over the past 3 years, White officers had the lowest attrition from field training at only 8.0% not completing. African American officers were almost double that rate at 15.4%. Latino and Asian officers had the highest attrition rate from field training at 20.5% each. Latino and Asian officers were 2.56 times more likely than White officers to not complete field training. This is a different pattern across racial/ethnic groups than attrition from academy (see previous Indicator), and they both warrant further investigation into root causes and potential solutions.

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