Guillermo Cespedes, Oakland\u2019s first permanent Chief of Violence Prevention<\/p>\n
Critics of the defund the police movement in Oakland, California, are highlighting a recent attempted robbery as the perfect example of what inevitably happens when a local government decides to slash its police budget.<\/p>\n
On Monday, a local Bay Area news crew, KNTV-TV, was interviewing Oakland’s violence prevention director on the steps of City Hall when a pair of armed robbers\u00a0approached the group<\/a>\u00a0with guns and attempted to steal the camera equipment.<\/p>\n According to the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>, a scuffle ensued during the attempted robbery before a security officer brandished a firearm and drove the would-be burglars away.<\/p>\n Only days earlier, Oakland’s City Council voted to reallocate $18 million of police funding to community violence prevention programs. The bulk of that money\u00a0will now go to the Department of Violence Prevention<\/a>, a group that reportedly aims to counter violence in the city by sending out “civilian violence interrupters and life coaches.”<\/p>\n A spokesperson for KNTV-TV later confirmed the incident to the Chronicle.<\/p>\n “Our colleagues were conducting an interview at Oakland City Hall when they were approached by two armed individuals,” said Liza Catalan, a spokeswoman for the station. “Thankfully our colleagues are safe and unharmed.”<\/p>\n The suspects fled without any equipment and no injuries were reported, but given the irony of the situation, news of the incident quickly spread online.<\/p>\nWhat are people saying?<\/h2>\n