Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown’s crusade to crack down on sideshows and open-air drug markets has reached new lows. In an attempt to make Oakland safer the Mayor, with the support of most of the City Council, has stepped up efforts at harassing motorists and youth of color through Operation Impact. According to Sitara Nieves, Critical Resistance National Development Organizer, the operation is “a policing program where the Oakland Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, and Alameda County Sheriff’s Department pool their resources to lock down an entire neighborhood for a few days, stopping drivers and confiscating their cars for minor infractions like broken tail lights or loud music…” Critical Resistance is working on a campaign to stop Operation Impact, and has launched an East Oakland cop watch to document police abuses and organize to stop Operation Impact. The DataCenter has helped by working with Critical Resistance to get information on the number of cars the Oakland Police Department and City Attorney’s Office have seized and the amount of money they’ve collected through car auctions.

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Photo courtesy of Critical Resistance.