Officer Derek Souza, 43, finished up his shift at 7 a.m. Saturday and headed for the locker room. He changed his clothes, hung up his service weapon, his Taser and his handcuffs and headed home. The only difference is this time he might not be coming back.

Oakland officials and representatives for the police officers union negotiated all day Monday and into the night but had not yet reached an agreement on concessions that would avoid the layoff of 80 police officers. Although Police Chief Anthony Batts said the layoffs took effect at midnight Monday, the deadline is actually 5 p.m. today, according to the mayor's office. The City Council met in scheduled closed session Monday afternoon to receive an update on the negotiations and will reconvene in closed session this morning.

Both the city and the Oakland Police Officers Association have proposed a two-tiered pension system that has police officers paying 9 percent of their salaries into their pensions, as other city workers do, saving $8 million. As of Friday, the negotiations had faltered because the police association wanted guarantees that no officers hired before March 21, 2009, the day four Oakland police officers were fatally shot by a parolee, would be laid off for three years. The cash-strapped city said it could not guarantee such a deal.

The Oakland City Council voted June 24 to lay off 80 officers from the 776-officer force to help balance the budget and close a $31 million deficit. The city also is counting on voters to approve a new tax measures and amend an existing 2004 tax ordinance. If the November measures fail, the police force could lose another 122 officers in January.

Batts said again Monday that the department would no longer be able to respond in person to calls for service that are not considered immediate, life-threatening emergencies. Also, 57 problem-solving officers and six sergeants that were the heart of the city's community policing efforts would be history, he said.

Batts said he came to Oakland to "build the organization," not downsize it. The department had become more efficient and more professional in recent months, and the chief said he would do what he could to continue that trend, despite the deep cuts to his force.

Batts said the loss of 80 officers was a blow, and he regretted that recent events shifted the department's focus from them.

"When you lay off employees, the organization should wrap its arms around (them) because they've done everything we've asked them to do," he said. "It's not a discipline issue; they've done their job, stood tall. But my time was full trying to prepare for this, so it's pretty tough."

In addition to the layoffs, 27 of the 30 walking patrol officers who have become familiar faces in many of the city's commercial districts, such as Lakeshore, Temescal and Laurel, will be reassigned to patrol duty.

Pamela Drake, director of the Lakeshore Business Improvement District, said Lakeshore's foot patrol officer is important not only as a deterrent to dangerous crime, but he also helps many in the neighborhood cut through red tape and deal quickly with nuisances or street people that the non-sworn security patrols are not trained or equipped to handle.

Many of the 31 officers who received pink slips had graduated from the police academy Oct. 31, 2008. Souza, who followed in the footsteps of two brothers who are Oakland police officers, was one of them. His entire squad of seven officers is being let go.

Souza is married with four children. They will have medical coverage through his wife's job at a Bay Area school district, but it will cost $500 more per month that they do not have.

"The loss of my job will pretty much devastate my household. I'm only going to be able to survive a short time," he said. "We're in danger of losing our house and my car. It's just a reality."

He said it was a somber scene inside the locker room Saturday. The officers who were packing up kept their heads down, and there were a few tears.

Connie Burch, a 65-year-old retiree who has owned her home in the city's San Antonio neighborhood for 40 years, said she was "madder than a wet hen" about the prospect of losing 80 police officers, and she said she would not vote for any incumbent who let that happen.

She said she knows the city is in a bind, and she and her husband would pay higher taxes to keep services.