Oakland, California residents speak out on the growing problem of crime in their city.
By Eileen Griffin
Oakland, California residents expressed frustration and anger about growing crime at a recent town hall meeting.
Hundreds of people attended a community meeting organized by city council member Dan Kalb, at the Oakland Tech High School, KTVU in San Francisco reported. The meeting in early June was called to discuss rising crime rates in the city. The meeting room was packed with many people expressing anger and frustration.
People attending the meeting reported incidents of violence in their own neighborhood. Residents described violence and physical attacks they have been subjected to. They described how their quality of life has eroded as homeless people use their doorsteps as toilets.
Oakland resident Denise Lillian spoke about being violently attacked in her neighborhood. She was attacked by a group of young people in front of a flower shop during daylight hours.
“It’s one of the most terrifying things that has happened to me in my life,” Lillian said. “I was down on the pavement. Punching me. Kicking me. Dragging me through the street.”
Kalb told KTVU the response to violence and crime must be consequences for the perpetrators.
“If they are committing these violent crimes repeatedly, we can’t just say please don’t do this again,” Kalb said. “We have to catch them and create consequences.”
Oakland is rated as safer than only 1 percent of U.S. neighborhoods. Annually, Oakland reports 5,452 violent crimes and 24,927 property crimes.
The chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime in Oakland is 1 in 80. The chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime in the state of California is 1 in 227.
The chance of becoming a victim of property crime in Oakland is 1 in 17 compared to the state average of 1 in 43.
In April, the Oakland Police Department issued a warning to residents about the growing crime rates, NBC reported. The police warned of increased car jackings and armed robberies.
In May, KTVU reported on a crime spree allegedly committed by a group of minors. The group included 3 girls and 6 boys. The youngest participant is 12 years old and the oldest is 17. The group of kids are accused of committing 35 robberies all over the city.
“It’s not enough that you are robbing people and taking their property,” Kalb told KTVU. “That’s still a violent crime, but when you are unnecessarily kicking and pushing and hurting them physically when you don’t even have to, that’s weird. It’s sick.”
The juveniles arrested in May have not yet been charged, the Alameda County District Attorney’s office reports. “Oakland Police Department acknowledged to the Juvenile Division Charging Deputy that there was not sufficient evidence to identify the suspects to charge any of the juveniles,” the press release says.
The Oakland Police Officer’s Association reported that the teens were released and back on the streets by June 3.
On June 11, a robbery suspect with a long criminal history forced the closure of a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train station in a standoff with police, The Mercury News reports. The robbery suspect was identified as a criminal with numerous felony convictions.
BART trains were stopped for about two hours while the police attempted to remove the man from his vehicle. Eventually, the suspect surrendered after the deployment of a K-9 unit.
“Thanks to the abysmal idea of defunding the police, exacerbated by soft-on-crime initiatives instigated by people who have zero business leading, police work is increasingly perilous, causing cops to exercise even more hypervigilance at every turn,” writes Stephen Owsinski, a retired law enforcement officer, in an article on the National Police Association website.
“If you look at the media attention, it’s all on the police and what they are doing,” historian and author Victor Davis Hanson told Megyn Kelly in a discussion about soft-on-crime polices and the defund the police movement on The Megyn Kelly Show, a podcast on SiriusXM.
“The result of that is police don’t have the funds to cover the … territory … and second, when they get calls, they are not going into particular neighborhoods because it’s lose, lose, lose,” Hanson said. “They feel that if they don’t pull their gun they may be shot. If they do pull their gun and injure someone their career is over. If they shoot in self-defense they are going to be in prison, whether they should be or not.”
“That filters down to the street,” Hanson said. “And if you are arrested, you are not going to be indicted. If you are indicted you are not going to be convicted. If you are convicted you are going to be paroled. Put all that together, Megyn, and people feel that the law is not being applied equitably.”
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