First surge of 120 CHP officers to Oakland now over, yields 71 arrests

OAKLAND, Calif. - The initial deployment of 120 California Highway Patrol officers to Oakland and the East Bay in a blitz to fight surging crime ended after five days, KTVU has learned. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom last week touted the special crime-fighting blitz as a temporary effort to address growing concerns about safety. Now, the public knows the first surge was a short-term effort that lasted from Feb. 5 to 9, answering for the first time how long the state troopers stayed in Oakland.

It's not clear when the next deployment will be; the CHP wouldn't specify, saying only that they would conduct "additional unannounced surge operations."

However, in an interview Tuesday, CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee said that future operations would be conducted with about ½ or ⅓ the number of officers. 

"Are we going to maintain that 120 moving forward?" Duryee said. "No, because we want to provide services throughout the rest of the county. But I can tell you we are going to have a more significant footprint than what we normally maintain in Oakland. If I were to give you a number, I would estimate that number to be somewhere between, 40 to 60, 65 officers a week."

There are typically 72 CHP officers patrolling freeways in the greater Oakland area.

In a first peek at the arrest data released to KTVU on Tuesday night, the CHP said in that five-day period, 71 people were arrested, 145 stolen cars were recovered, and four guns linked to crimes were seized. 

People were arrested in connection with stealing property and cars, possessing drugs and guns, drinking and driving, as well as being arrested on outstanding warrants, the CHP said.

CHP officers were also the ones to arrest three suspects, including Tylor Mims, 22, who was seen allegedly grabbing dozens of iPhones from the Apple store in Emeryville last Wednesday.

"We ultimately turned him over to Berkeley PD, who was the lead on the investigation," Duryee said. "But I think just being in the right place, right time, having, a high number of officers out there, they were able to apprehend him and recovered the stolen property."

The CHP seized four guns over five days in Oakland. Photo: CHP 

Duryee stressed that the CHP isn't trying to bigfoot local police. 

Instead, he said, CHP officers want to do what they do best: catch car thieves, recover stolen vehicles, conduct high-visibility traffic enforcement stops. 

"We're not going in and taking over beat responsibilities or handling calls for service for the Oakland Police Department, although we would obviously respond in an emergency and be there side by side with them," he said. "And so I think what we're doing is this proactive approach, to serve as a deterrent that naturally is going to free up time for Oakland to be a little more efficient in their response."

Duryee also gave a nod to Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.

He said the CHP is working "side by side" with the DA's Office, which has dedicated a special prosecutor to liaise with his office.  

Bishop Bob Jackson, senior pastor of Acts Full Gospel Church of God, said he was happy the CHP officers were here, but he wished they could have stayed longer. 

Jackson was part of a group of two dozen community members from organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce and The Unity Council that asked Newsom personally for help in late January.

He said they were pleased that the governor responded with the CHP blitz. 

All the group members were so excited about the deployment, none of them asked how long they would be there. 

"At least he did something," Jackson said. "It was shocking that he took any action at all. Five days is better than none. I guess the CHP is short on staff too, and had to get back to the highways."

Chris Iglesisas, executive director of The Unity Council, who was also at the meeting with Newsom, said this week that he had no idea that the officers had come and gone.

"Five days, come on?" he said. "That's not going to do it. It's alarming. You have a lot of people paying attention to this."

Iglesias was very happy to have seen the CHP out in force when they were in town.

"There was a good buzz about it, people were pretty excited because we saw them on Foothill and International," he said. "We were pleased about that."

Neither Iglesias nor Jackson are mad at Newsom, even if they're surprised that this highly publicized arrangement is over so quickly.

Noting that the agency couldn't sustain keeping 120 officers in Oakland for too long, Duryee also said it wasn't that onerous to move CHP officers around the Golden Gate Division to help, saying they mostly came from flexible, specialty units who are used to being assigned different tasks.

He also apologized if the agency gave the impression that CHP officers were going to stay longer than five days in the first massive deployment. 

"We probably could have done a better job just communicating that," he said. "But let me be clear now, we have no intention of leaving tomorrow or anytime soon. We're all in on this. We want to help the Oakland Police Department. We want to help Alameda County. We want to help the communities of Oakland become safer. And we feel like we're an asset to that effort."
 

CHP officers arrested 71 people and recovered 145 stolen cars from Feb. 5 to 9, 2024. Photo: CHP 

A total of 120 CHP officers were deployed in Oakland from Feb. 5 to Feb. 9, 2024. Photo: CHP 

The CHP seized guns and drugs during a 5-day deployment in Oakland in February. Photo: CHP