Oakland Police Department (OPD) officers detained and handcuffed two volunteers last Saturday who were maintaining a freshwater supply for a large community of unhoused residents that live near Wood Street in West Oakland for possession of a stolen vehicle, but let them go after approximately five minutes when they determined the vehicle wasn’t stolen.
Taylor is a member of the United Front Against Displacement (UFAD), a group that provides survival and life enrichment services for unhoused Wood Street residents while advocating and protesting for the city of Oakland to provide permanent housing for all its residents.
Dale Smith, who’s worked with UFAD for over a year and is on or near Wood Street at least three to four times a week says he sees police there every time he’s on-site, “a noticeable increase” from before shelter in place, when he says he’d only see them sometimes on Wood Street, as opposed to now, when he sees them just west of Wood Street, closer to where more people live.
Jesse Parker, a long term unhoused resident of Wood Street and lifelong Oakland resident expressed concern about the increased police presence.
On May 18, Taylor and over a dozen members of the UFAD as well as unhoused Wood Street residents, protested OPD’s increased presence at Wood Street.
