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Quan Meets With Oakland PD's Rank And File

OAKLAND (KCBS) - Oakland's new mayor met with rank and file members of the city's police department Tuesday morning.

Jean Quan said she was looking to improve what's been a tense relationship between elected officials and law enforcement over the last year.

KCBS' Bob Melrose Reports:

Quan was greeted by Police Chief Anthony Batts as she arrived in the pre-dawn hours to meet with the 6:15 a.m. and 7:15 a.m. shift workers.

Quan was not endorsed by the union representing police officers, and has disagreed with police leadership over pension costs.

"We've always been willing to talk about pensions and stuff like that but it's the idea that we have to have some fairness here," said Dominic Arotzarena, president of the Oakland Police Officers' Association.

Quan acknowledged other contentious disagreements, as well.

"As I said this morning, we're working with the 500 kids that get arrested every year, we're working the 300 kids that age out of foster care. Many of them are recruited into crime because they literally become homeless when they're 18 if they don't continue in school."

(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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