NEW REPORT RELEASED: Performance Audit – Oakland’s Police Emergency Response Times

I am proud to release my Office’s latest audit report titled, Inadequate 9-1-1 Staffing and Outdated Beat Boundaries Lead to Slow and Inequitable Police Emergency Response Times. The report contains findings concerning the Oakland Police Department’s Emergency Communications Center, which handles 9-1-1 calls within Oakland.  

First, the audit found that the Police Department did not meet state timeliness standards for answering 9-1-1 calls in 10 of the past 11 years. Delays were caused by persistent staff vacancies and minimum staffing standards that haven’t been updated to reflect recent trends in emergency call volume. 

The audit also identified disparities in Oaklanders’ access to timely emergency response. For example, a lack of bilingual staff within the Police Department led to its reliance on external interpreters to serve callers with limited English proficiency. Emergency calls that used interpreters were longer than the average 9-1-1 call by five minutes. The audit also found that the median response time for Priority 2 calls—including situations with the potential for violence or property damage, and incidents that have just occurred—was two hours longer in the city’s East Bureau than in its West Bureau.  

Moreover, Oakland’s police beat boundaries—which determine which officers respond to specific calls—have not been updated to reflect current call volume, and existing GPS technology in patrol cars has not been activated to enable the nearest available officers to respond to emergency calls. 

For more details on the audit findings and our 10 recommendations to help improve the Police Department’s response times and service delivery, my team and I invite you to read the full report. 

NEW: Oakland Auditor Successfully Passes External Quality Control Review

Every three years, as required by City Charter Section 403 and Government Auditing Standards, my Office’s work, including our reports, policies, and procedures, is reviewed by independent local government auditors to assess whether our work complies with Government Auditing Standards. Those standards — for those of you who read every word of our audit reports know — “require that we plan and perform [an] audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions…”. Passing the peer review means that we have a system of quality control that we — and you — can count on. Click this link to read what the reviewers had to say.