OAKLAND, Calif. (KCBS/AP) -- As the Bay Area prepares for tomorrow's funeral for four fallen police officers, Oakland city leaders are looking for ways to improve safety in the area where Saturday's shootings took place.
A $200,000 plan to hire private, armed security guards to patrol the area around MacArthur Boulevard never took shape, despite lobbying efforts by the city councilman who represents the area.
KCBS' Holly Quan reports
The San Francisco Chronicle reports Mayor Ron Dellums told police brass that in the wake of the New Years Day fatal shooting of an unarmed passenger by a BART police officer, he didn't think the city should be hiring private armed guards to patrol city streets.
Former Oakland Police Chief Richard Word, now the chief of police in Vacaville, said the affects of problems such as drug abuse, truancy and high unemployment overwhelm police officers out on the streets.
“It's a city where there's a lack of trust, high violent crime, truly a lack of community engagement, poor student performance,” Word told KCBS reporter Holly Quan.
Trust Funds Established for Officers' Families
As many as 17,000 law enforcement officers and public mourners are expected to attend the public funeral at the Oakland Arena Friday for the four police officers gunned down over the weekend.
That service will follow a private one for the families of officers Mark Dunakin, John Hege, Ervin Romans and Daniel Sakai.
The man accused of killing them, 26-year-old Lovelle Mixon, was remembered in a march on Wednesday night. Mixon was killed during the standoff.
Relatives and other marchers chanted as they walked through the streets.
Mixon's cousin Dolores Darnell, also 26, addressed the crowd expressing her grief over the fatal shooting of her cousin.
KCBS Forum on the Oakland Shooting Tragedy
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