Oakland Lays Off 80 Police Officers

The city of Oakland dropped the ax on 80 police officers Tuesday following the collapse of negotiations between city officials and union leaders, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The catalyst for the failure was job security. According to the report, the police union wanted a city guarantee that officers would not be laid off for three years in exchange for giving up some pension benefits. However, the city said such a move wouldn’t be prudent because the budget is likely to worsen during that time.

The layoffs are the first for Oakland police officers in at least 30 years, according to the Chronicle.  The layoffs leave Oakland’s police department with 695 officers.