The clock to recall DA Pamela Price starts now

Starting today, the group seeking to recall Alameda County DA Pamela Price has 160 days to submit 73,195 signatures from Alameda County voters to get the recall on the ballot.

Save Alameda for Everyone (SAFE), the Price recall committee, announced Thursday that it had secured approval from the county registrar of voters to begin circulating its petition.

Last month, the group filed its notice of intent to pursue the recall and has been working since then to get approval from the ROV.

Recall proponents say Price has contributed to Oakland's crime wave by being overly lenient with the policies she has enacted since taking office in January.

"District Attorney Pamela Price has absolutely failed the people of Alameda County. Crime is spiraling out of control. It’s time to stand up for victims of crime and their families to bring justice back to Alameda County,” said Carl Chan, one of the recall proponents, in a statement Thursday.

As of this week, violent crime is up 21% in Oakland compared to the same period last year. Robberies alone are up 33%.

Property crime has also spiked, with vehicle theft up 51% and burglary up 39%, according to the latest Oakland police data.

Read more about Pamela Price on The Scanner.

Critics also say Price has repeatedly cut crime victims and their families out of the process and driven Alameda County's most experienced prosecutors out of the office.

Price supporters say she is doing what she was elected to do by reducing charging and sentencing and working to seek alternatives to incarceration.

The Price campaign said the recall effort has been driven by "outside special interest groups" who are "trying to seize control from local voters because they refuse to accept the results of a legitimate, democratic election to remove the status quo."

Advocate says Price campaign has used false narratives, intimidation to combat recall

The recall petition is expected to begin circulating for public signatures in September. The campaign is already heating up.

The Berkeley ScannerEmilie Raguso

Homicide victim families demand recall of DA Pamela Price

“As a mother, I cannot accept this,” one woman said. “How can you protect your community if you’re going to do that?”

The Berkeley ScannerEmilie Raguso

The recall group, SAFE, says that could not be further from the truth.

Brenda Grisham, whose son was killed in an unsolved Oakland homicide, and Carl Chan, a longtime community organizer and public safety advocate in Oakland, are leading the charge.

SAFE members include "former Alameda County prosecutors, victims and victims’ families, community activists, and everyday residents of Alameda County."

This weekend, the Price recall group is holding a town hall event in Oakland at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church.

The event, on Saturday, Sept. 30, is geared toward "victims who want to be heard." Topics will include the recall, human trafficking, affordable housing, mental health support and more. (See the event flier.)

As of publication time, the Price campaign had not responded to a request for comment Thursday about the recall group's announcement.

The campaign often posts its statements on social media rather than replying directly to the media.

As of publication time, no new statements had been posted there.

A group called "Protect the Win for Public Safety, Oppose the Recall of DA Price" has also begun organizing to fight the recall effort and formed a committee to do so this month.

The Scanner will continue to follow the story.