Kaiser, PG&E to pay for new Oakland police recruits amid staffing shortage

Shomik Mukherjee, The Mercury News on Jan 21, 2026

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OAKLAND, Calif. — Police officers have left this city in droves over the past few years, but a newly revived cadet program — funded by two of the area’s largest local corporations — may offer a slight boost to the dwindling staffing levels.

Kaiser Permanente and the Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which are both headquartered in Oakland, will pay to reinstate the initiative with $900,000 in one-time funding, officials said Wednesday.

The program, which recruits college students to earn part-time work experience and receive mentorship, is intended to retain more officers for longterm careers.

But it may increase Oakland Police Department staffing only slightly. The program funds nine new cadet positions over the next two years, a tiny fraction of the 618 police officers who serve on the force following the city’s latest recruit academy graduation.

Police staffing numbers have declined from three years ago, when there were 680 officers officers. In 2015, the number of sworn cops in Oakland was 715.

“One of the most effective ways to strengthen public safety is to ensure people entrusted with this responsibility come from Oakland,” Mayor Barbara Lee said Wednesday at a news conference.

College students between the ages of 18 and 21-and-a-half can apply to earn part-time work experience, mentorship and other training through the program. They would be invited to join OPD after earning at least a bachelor’s degree.

Officer Isaac Harris, who spoke at Wednesday’s news conference, said he and his twin brother Isaiah always “knew our calling was law enforcement.” The pair started out as police cadets before they were sworn into OPD.

The public-private partnership makes good on a campaign promise by Lee that she could get Kaiser, PG&E and other corporations to invest in Oakland.

It comes amid a decline in Kaiser’s footprint in downtown Oakland, from where the healthcare provider has diverted more than 1,000 workers since 2023 to its office campus in Pleasanton.

The following year, Kaiser warned its employees not to leave their offices at The Ordway business center in Uptown for lunch, citing crime concerns in the area.

The corporate policy change sparked national criticisms of Oakland’s reputation for being unsafe, though it also drove backlash from local residents who said the company was overreacting.

Citywide crime has fallen in Oakland since 2024. Dante Green, a senior vice president at Kaiser, said Wednesday the policy had been relaxed.

“They’re allowed to leave for lunch and enjoy this great food,” Green said, noting Oakland’s recognition as one of the country’s best food cities.

PG&E’s headquarters on Lakeside Drive has its own security force, which has generated 1,300 of its own recruits at a training center in East Oakland. David Leach, the utility’s head of security, said the training center resembles the city’s cadet program.

“We know this is a model that works and that we want to invest in,” Leach said. “This is that same kind of model: practical skills, apprenticeship and a sustainable career path.”

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