Civilianization
Oakland could save millions by “civilianizing” desk jobs within its police department. Oakland's City Council has voted for years to move 38 police positions to civilian staff. The city administration has never followed through, and sworn officers still fill those roles on overtime Oakland cannot afford.
The Basics
For years, Oakland has kept sworn police officers in what are civilian roles in many police departments – roles like information technology, recruitment, background checks, and vehicle maintenance, among others. This is work that trained unarmed staff can do, in most cases for less money, especially with Oakland’s overtime problem.
The City Council has already approved converting at least 38 of these positions to civilian staff, in budgets going back to 2008. In many cases, however, the city never finished the conversion, and its most recent budget proposes to freeze civilian positions rather than fill them. Meanwhile, police overtime has climbed to a record, and the city is running a deep deficit that is forcing cuts to other services.
Most recently, city council members like Carroll Fife in July of 2025 and Rowena Brown and Janani Ramachandran in May of 2026 have again asked the administration for an explanation as to why civilianization isn’t moving forward was most recently legislated in the 2025-27 biennial budget, especially in light of the current structural deficit.
Any money saved via civilianizing roles between now and the passage of next year’s will help Oakland stabilize Oakland’s budget, which is currently facing a $115+ million dollar annual deficit.
By The Numbers
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By The Numbers •
The city has approved 38 sworn positions for civilian conversion and not finished the job.
At least 38 sworn officer positions have been approved for transition to civilian staff: 22 in the Internal Affairs Division, 8 in Training, 3 in the Office of the Inspector General, 2 in Information Technology, 2 in Recruitment and Background, and 1 in Public Information.
Civilianizing the 38 previously identified roles saves about $13.2 million a year.
Redeploying these officers is estimated to offset 79,000 to 83,000 overtime hours a year, worth more than $8 million, and eliminating sworn overtime inside these units is estimated to save over $5.2 million more, about $13.2 million in all.
Oaklanders want this.
When asked how to manage public safety costs, 62% of Oakland residents chose either reducing overtime or expanding the use of civilian staff.
Peer cities do this work with far fewer officers.
Oakland keeps about 8% of its sworn officers in administrative functions, compared with about 4% in San Francisco and 5% in San Jose. In Internal Affairs alone, Oakland budgets 22 sworn positions, about 3% of its officers, where San Francisco and San Jose each budget about 1%.
National experts have recommended this for thirty years.
The Police Executive Research Forum, a national policing research organization, first identified 58 Oakland positions for civilian conversion in 1995. Its current national guidance still calls for shifting work that "does not require a badge and a gun," including IT, training, recruiting, background checks, and internal affairs, to professional civilian staff.