Oakland Ceasefire Strategy

Implementation of the Oakland Ceasefire strategy was specifically demanded by community members to address gun violence. In direct response, the City of Oakland and its partners began implementation of the strategy in 2012 after years of community pressure.

Resources

  • Does Ceasefire Work?
  • Ceasefire Services and Support

Oakland's Ceasefire

The Oakland Ceasefire Strategy has Three Goals:

  1. Reduce gang/group-related shootings and homicides: Ceasefire focuses on the most violent gangs/groups and individuals who are at the greatest risk of shooting or being shot. We communicate directly with individuals through large group meetings ("Call-Ins") or by meeting with them one-on-one ("custom notifications"). Ceasefire includes community outreach, services, and support and, when necessary, multi-agency law enforcement action focused specifically on gangs/groups and individuals who continue to engage in violence.
  2. Decrease recidivism and incarceration rates of individuals participating in the intervention: Outreach and support services are provided by the City of Oakland's Department of Violence Prevention and its network of citywide community-based direct service organizations all dedicated to helping participants by offering real alternatives, resources, advocacy, mentoring life coaching.
  3. Strengthen police-community relations: Vital to the success of the Ceasefire Oakland strategy are community and faith leaders. Partners like Faith In Action East Bay and the National Institution for Criminal Justice Reform provide leadership, advocacy, and resources from a community perspective that strengthen the spectrum of support for participants while pushing for mutual accountability and transparency among all partners in achieving the strategic goals.

Ceasefire History

In Oakland, data indicates that most shootings and homicides involve gang/group members. However, out of the approximately 50 violent groups in Oakland, only a small number are active at any one time and only a small subset of these groups—approximately 0.3% of the entire City's population—is at the highest risk of driving or drawing gun violence. In 2012, a group of Oakland Community Organization (OCO) pastors, alarmed by the growing number of young men of color being killed on the streets of Oakland, met with city leaders to introduce a strategy called Ceasefire. The pastors believed that a strategy that had saved so many young lives in Boston could save lives in Oakland as well. In October 2012, the Ceasefire Oakland Partnership was created by the City of Oakland and the Oakland Police Department (OPD). The Ceasefire Strategy continues as a policing approach and as a powerful anti-violence message to groups and individuals at the highest risk of gun violence.

California Partnership for Safe Communities (CPSC) is a hands-on technical advisor who worked with Oakland to develop and implement Ceasefire. CPSC's work in Oakland focused the City on reducing gun violence, reducing incarceration, improving police-community trust, and sustaining the Ceasefire strategy.

Learn More About the Ceasefire Program

Ceasefire Oakland works in collaboration with the National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College. Our strategy is constantly informed by best practices and the help of The National Network for Safe Communities. This partnership enables Oakland and communities around the United States to adopt and implement strategies that have been proven to reduce violent crime.

About

Ceasefire is a partnership-based, intelligence-led, and data-driven violence reduction strategy. The major goal is to reduce gang/group-related homicides and shootings. Ceasefire seeks to combine the best of community energies, social services, and strategic law enforcement to reduce gun violence associated with gangs/groups far more effectively than these entities operating alone.

Contact Us

Phone

(510)238-3225

(510) 777-8510

Email

svalle@oaklandca.gov

DDavis-Howard@oaklandca.gov

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