Reygan E. Cunningham is the Director of the Crime and Justice Policy Lab West. With a focus on the Western Region, she works with service providers, multiple law enforcement agencies, impacted community members and elected officials to reduce shootings and homicides involving street gang/groups in Portland, Oregon, and several cities throughout California including Oakland and San Francisco. She also led and continues to be engaged in regional gun violence reduction studies and strategies with a specific focus on management and key capacities for sustainably reducing community violence.
Reygan was the director of the Oakland Ceasefire strategy from 2012-2018, after which Oakland saw significant reductions in gun homicides and shootings. In 2023, Reygan and her team returned to Oakland to assess the strategy in Oakland and worked with elected officials, service providers and law enforcement to implement changes in 2024. In 2024 the city saw a 33% reduction in homicides and nonfatal shootings. That same year San Francisco also realized record breaking reductions in nonfatal shootings and homicides.
Reygan and her team work across multiple agencies and with diverse partners and have received numerous awards for this groundbreaking and lifesaving work, including a resolution from the Hon. Rob Bonta of the California State Assembly. Prior to this position, Reygan served as the Public Safety Legislative Analyst to the Oakland City Council, Complaint Investigator to the Citizens’ Police Review Board, and Public Safety Director to the Mayor of Oakland. Reygan holds a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law, a Bachelors of Arts degree from Spelman College, and completed the Leadership for the 21st Century Executive Education course at Harvard University.
