Clay Burch, CEO

Clay Burch, CEO of Common Sense Leadership is a seasoned public safety professional with decades of experience in deployment based on emerging trends and real time data, crime data integration and analysis, technology integration, conflict resolution, homeless encampment management, organized event and protest strategies, staff development, and community and business relations. Clay spent most of his career in the Oakland Police Department, retiring as a Captain at the end of 2023. In this key leadership position with OPD, Clay was responsible for police operations including patrol, special unit enforcement and police training, with an emphasis on community engagement, covering the entire West Oakland area including Uptown, Downtown, Jack London Square, Chinatown, and the Port of Oakland. Clay has decades of experience planning, leading and managing small and large planned and unplanned events including First Amendment demonstrations, critical incidents, and large-scale operations such as reopening of the Port of Oakland in 2022 during the truckers’ protest of California Assembly Bill 5, the 2023 removal of the Wood Street mega homeless encampment, and the 2022 Oakland Police Department holiday season crime prevention deployment. Clay is a creative problem solver with experience recommending policy solutions such as the Safe Work Zone legislation to help address the growing issue of homelessness. Clay is passionate about bringing positive, measurable changes to communities, in partnership with businesses and community groups, government entities and institutions, utilizing the Five Pillars of public safety approach.