May 2013
Confirmed: Oakland Has More Robberies Than Any Other American City
The newspaper reported that during the first half of 2012, Oakland's robbery rate was 36 percent higher than the second-ranked city, Cleveland. In the Bay Area, Oakland's robbery rate was nearly double that of Richmond, which has its own fair share of crime problems.
No wonder residents -- and journalists -- have been hiring their own private security guards. In the last year, reporters and photojournalists have been repeatedly robbed and some beaten while on the job. Now, many of those television crews are refusing to do the good ol' fashioned man-on-the-street interviews.
http://archives.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2013/05/08/confirmed-oakland-has-more-robberies-than-any-other-american-city
May 2013
Oakland Assigns Just One Cop to Investigate 10,000 Burglaries
Former L.A. police chief Bill Bratton, who was hired by the city of Oakland to straighten out the crime mess, decided that what the city desperately needs (besides more cops) is a burglary unit in each of Oakland's five districts.
"Burglaries have gone up through the roof, and it's got to be stopped," said William Andrews of the Bratton Group, "And the way to do it to assign burglary investigators and hunt down those burglars."
Upon hearing the news, residents interviewed by CBS News described the situation as "frustrating," "upsetting," "amazing," and downright "crazy."
http://archives.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2013/05/10/oakland-assigns-just-one-cop-to-investigate-10000-burglaries
