With multi-year projections of massive budget shortfalls, Oakland and Mayor Barbara Lee are turning to private funding in a joint effort to boost the city’s police staffing. Mayor Lee Wednesday announced a joint public-private partnership with Kaiser Permanente and PGE, who committed to fund $9 00,000 to reinstate the Oakland police’s cadet program. All parties said it took months to build the coalition of corporate and community partners, with the goal of not just sharing money but also ideas and innovations in efforts to fight crime in Oakland. Last week, a new class of 14 Oakland Police Department officers graduated from the police academy. Like many U.S. cities, Oakland police needs more officers, with the Oakland Police Officer’s Union describing it as a “critical” shortage, saying nearly 400 officers need to be sworn in. Thom Jensen has the full report in the video above. ...read more read less