11 California Cities Make 'Most Dangerous In U.S.' List 2021 For the same period, African Americans made up 26 percent of the 9,175 victims of crimes in those same categories last year. [28], The Oakland Riders scandal involved a group of corrupt Oakland police officers who made false arrests, falsified evidence, and engaged in brutality. For most years, they did not add up to a significant percentage of the overall crimes, but in 2021, about 5% of the incidents in the data were missing one or both of these values. Crime Comparing January-Oct. 2020 to the same period in 2021, violent crimes increased by 5%, ranging from close to 17% in Oakland to about 1% in Los Angeles In the Alvina Wong is the Campaign and Organizing Director at the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, a nonprofit organization that organizes working-class Asian immigrant and refugee families to push for a clean and healthy environment. [31], The number of OPD officers has varied over time: there were 626 officers in 1996,[8] 814 in 2002,[8] 793 officers[8] or more than 800 officers in 2009,[18] 626 officers in 2012,[8] and 723 officers at the end of 2015. Besides the last five tasks left for the OPD to tackle in order to be in complete compliance, one issue still remains. We spoke to victims, activists, elected officials, community members, and community leadersespecially those connected with the Oakland Chinatown Coalition, a network formed over 10 years ago of neighborhood nonprofits, businesses, churches, residents, and moreabout the recent high profile incidents of crime in Oakland Chinatown, whats been missing from the conversations theyve been seeing, and where to go from here. Oakland native, and UC Berkeley student, Elliot Masouredis, understands MACRO as having the right substantive aim when it comes to dealing with police misconduct. Previously, she was a science fellow at Business Insider, covered COVID-19 and criminal justice for KQED and worked as a private investigator at the Mintz Group. Cal Am is asking to increase charges by $9.4 million (10.52%) in 2024, by $2.5 million (2.48%) in 2025, and by $3.4 million (3.36%) in 2026. Oakland police chief addresses recent crime spike, alarming [30], A remarkably small percentage of current Oakland police officers (fewer than 9% as of 2013) live in the city itself. [1] The population numbers are based on U.S. Census estimates for the year end. While homicides and aggravated assaults continued to increase in 2021, the numbers have been lower in more recent months. GM boosts outlook as sales in US fuel strong first quarter Burglaries are down by about 5%. Some truck vendors responded by hiring armed security guards, citing continual robberies and ineffective police response times. How much did home with views in one of S.F. Several GoFundMe campaigns have sprung up, pledging to fund victims of assaults and Asian-American advocacy organizations and raising tens of thousands of dollars. We believe in the power of good information to build a brighter future for California. Asian people reported fewer hate crimes to the police than Black, white, and Latino victims. Last June, Oakland quietly began publishing detailed, long-term data on crime incidents on its city website. For some people who have been working on the ground in Chinatown for years or decades, the sudden influx of attention, volunteer foot patrols, GoFundMe campaigns raising tens of thousands of dollars in a matter of days, and more has been overwhelming. These are the things we doif we see someone carrying a high name-brand purse, it doesnt matter what color the skin is. In California and the rest of the western U.S., Chinese immigrants were massacred, burned, and killed in the 19th- and early-20th centuries, violence rooted in white supremacy. Property crimes also increased by 6% while larceny went up by 20%, residential burglaries rose by 6% and motor vehicle thefts jumped up by 15%. We dont know what is inside the purse, but just because we want that purse. It shows that LGBTQ people and Black people reported being victimized because of their identities more than any other groups. That also means people have to keep coming to Chinatown and feeling like its okay to be in the neighborhood after dark.. ?This couple in their 70s got home f/ the grocery store Monday afternoon when they were approached by 4 men(1/3) https://t.co/lEPhNlL8QM pic.twitter.com/MJDIgrsbgp. OAKLAND (KPIX) -- Oakland saw a dramatic rise in violence in 2021. Social distancing and stay-at-home measures curbed these efforts significantly. ????? Kennedy. Are we really seeing a unique uptick in crime there, unlike years past, and divorced from whats happening elsewhere and to other communities in Oakland? These attorneys, Jim Chanin and John Burris, noted that the Oakland Police Department has recently made significant progress and after years of backsliding there is real momentum toward substantive compliance. Full compliance, however, has not been achieved. The prevalence of elders out and about in Chinatown lends to the perceptionand, in some cases, the realitythat the neighborhood is an easier target. In 2000, for insurance, there were 109 homicides in Oakland, of which 102 were classified as murders; "Jerry Brown's No-Nonsense New Age for Oakland by Heather Mac Donald, City Journal Autumn 1999", "Jerry Brown's No-Nonsense New Age for Oakland", Oakland Moves From 3rd To 5th In Most Dangerous City Survey CBS San Francisco, Oaklands homicide numbers rise for first time in two years, Murder rates dropped in S.F., Oakland in '96. Antoine Towers, an Oakland Violence Interrupter, chants with other members of SAVE, Soldiers Against Violence Everywhere during a rally in West Oakland. Oaklands murder rate is 4 times higher than the national average. The police reports did not list the victims race or ethnicity, but our review of Muslims entire court files, including but not limited to his victims names, did not indicate that Muslim was systematically targeting any racial or ethnic group. Last year, the city experienced 102 murders, a 26% increase over the three-year average. Before joining The Oaklandside as News Editor, Darwin BondGraham worked with The Appeal, where he was an investigative reporter covering police and prosecutorial misconduct. Read thetraditional version()orsimplified version(). I was a criminal. WebThe following table of United States cities by crime rate is based on Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports statistics from 2019 for the 100 most populous cities in America that have reported data to the FBI UCR system. City of Oakland Oakland, California is experiencing its deadliest year in decades as the city faces an unprecedented rise in violent crimes, local Kron4 reports. Virtual Event. Political chaos has erupted in this Peninsula city over one issue: Housing. Oakland Police Departments Intelligence Division Sergeant Kathryn Jones has been investigating the account, but has little knowledge of who is behind it. She has a special interest in social justice work and policy reform. ???? With a relatively large Asian population, the rise in crime in Oakland in particular may be related to a surge in hate crimes against Asians across the country. The data includes all crime incidents reported by the police going back to 2005, listed in more than 1 million rows. Less than a decade later, one of Oaklands officers shot and killed community member, Jose Barlow Benavidez. I guarantee you they are not going to agree [with lifting the oversight]. As of now, the Oakland Police Department still has failed to come into compliance with five out of the fifty-two tasks assigned to them under this federal mandate. The cause of the surge has been debated by experts. Walking through Chinatown, especially when were not in a pandemic, is a joyful, sweet experience of pink pastry boxes shared between grandparents and grandchildren theyre picking up from school, small groups of elders laughing together as they stroll to the park or get dim sum, she said. The need for fact-based journalism and thoughtful analysis has never been greater. The data also sheds light on recent geographic trends in Oakland crime. Time Planning started in 2009 as part of a nationwide initiative to secure ports by connecting motion sensors and cameras in and around the shipping facilities. Your donation makes this and all our other local reporting possible. Households with annual income from $28,000 to $69,000 would pay $30 a month. After sending out a mass email to the entire department, the Instagram account posted an image with the attached caption that referred to the department-wide email about us. The investigation is ongoing.. In Oakland you have a 1 in 16 chance of becoming a victim of crime. Prior to this, the City of Oakland was experiencing a shift away from conventional policing, offering residents the opportunity to take part in outreach programs to protect the city. State Senator Scott Wiener discusses how California is handling homelessness, crime and climate and what it means for Democrats elsewhere. After hovering around 20,000 reported property crimes per month in early 2021, the numbers have increased, reaching 25,000 in October, the highest monthly total since the beginning of the pandemicand roughly the same number as before the pandemic. According to U.S. census data, the commercial district of Chinatown is home to about 3,000 Oaklanders who are mostly Asian and significantly older than the rest of Oakland. [20], Crime continues to be a serious problem in Oakland, and the city also continues to have a reputation among its own citizens, its understaffed police force, and residents of other Bay Area cities as a dangerously violent place, with one of the top 20 highest rates of violent crime in the U.S.[5][21][9] According to Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts, during 2011 Oakland has averaged three street shootings per day, some of which cause injury or death to innocent bystanders. [3] Crime continued to escalate during the 1980s and 1990s,[4] and during the first decade of the 21st century Oakland has consistently been listed as one of the most dangerous large cities in the United States. Finally, there are thousands of crimes in the data that lack category descriptions or locations. Oakland native, and UC Berkeley student, Elliot Masouredis, understands MACRO as having the right substantive aim when it comes to dealing with police misconduct. There are Latinx people that live in and around Chinatown. The AGs office makes this data available to the public, and while numbers arent posted yet for 2020 and 2021, it does provide a view into which communities in Oakland have reported hate crimes in the past. Oaklands Response to Remarkably Higher Crime Rates Despite its low profile (as of Jan. 24, the data, which can be found here, had been downloaded fewer than 80 times), the dataset offers new opportunities to understand crime in Oakland. Were all working together, trying to coordinate different efforts and its great to see how many people are wanting to follow our lead in this moment., Wong believes all of the outpouring has been well-intentioned and sparked by a genuine desire to help. The city of Oakland has also experienced an unsettling rise in violent crime recently. Their job is to protect and serve. Crime And in the first [29] In 2003, the city settled more than 100 "Riders" allegations in a settlement approaching $11 million. This past Sunday, Kev Choice, who is Black, went to Chinatown to encourage solidarity between the Asian and Black communities in Oakland. [22], Total crime in Oakland dropped by 41% from 1987 to 2012, but the city has consistently been among the highest-crime cities in California; in 2012, Oakland had the highest total crime rate of any California city with 20,000 or more people, with 8,587 total crimes per 100,000 residents, compared to a statewide average of 3,182 total crimes per 100,000 people. Muslim was already in custody: he had been arrested on Feb. 1 after he assaulted several other people on Harrison Street in Chinatown and was placed on a psychiatric hold at John George Hospital in San Leandro. Heres what it shows. Is there evidence that what Chinatown has experienced in recent weeks is racially motivated? It includes where the incident took place, the incidents crime category (there are 50 categories, far more than the eight counted by the FBI) and a more detailed description of the incident. This dataset, on the other hand, counts crime incidents as they are recorded by the Oakland Police Department, yielding far more detailed information than the UCR statistics. Oaklands history paints a pretty clear picture of the troubling issue at hand: how to encourage police accountability and how to build trust between Oaklands police department and the community? He states, I am super supportive of the idea of MACRO, and its aim to mitigate potential police violence by removing them from areas that they dont have to deal with., However, noticing a substantial increase in crime rates from last year, Oaklands Police Officers Association President Barry Donelan attacked the citys limited, unconventional response, arguing that more officers are needed to combat the rising violence and bloodshed [witnessed] on the streets. In response to the Oakland City Councils previous rejection of a fifth police academy, Donelan stated, how about this strategy: support your hardworking police officers and act against violence. Some residents of Oakland have sided with Oaklands Police Department (OPD) and Police Association, similarly arguing for more police officers on the streets., While Association President Donelans demand for more police officers has been situated as a response to increasing city violence, his request also financially supports the Oakland Police Department. Abrupt closure of S.F. Learn more about how to apply to the Berkeley Political Review here. [9], Among Oakland's 35 police patrol beats, violent crime remains a serious problem in specific East and West Oakland neighborhoods. In 2021, Oakland reported 62 murders and had a murder rate of 26.37 per 100,000 people. Households earning less than $28,000 a year would pay a fixed charge of $15 a month on their electric bills. [10], The rate at which Oakland Police Department homicide investigations were successfully solved (the "clearance rate") was 42% in 2009, 30% in 2010, and 29% in 2011, much lower than the California statewide rate of 63.8%. The homicide rate is not the same as murder rate. Both Bas and Fife suggested other solutions, such as investing in violence interrupters, mental health services or quadrupling the number of dollars going into prevention. Against the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement , both in the city of Oakland and nationwide, these city council members and many residents question if more officers on the streets is the right response to rising violence., One such program, Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland (MACRO), even began transferring calls from 911 to , Members of MACRO would deal with certain community issues, such as mental health crises and public intoxication. According to, , MACRO would eliminate the tragic trend of sending armed police officers to deal with people involving cases like mental health or homelessness instances where these troubled individuals often end up dead at the hands of the police. WebOakland crime rates are 175% higher than the national average. To date, 51 people have been the victims of homicides in Oakland, compared to 46 people at the same time last year. Homicides in Oakland, California have surged 400% citywide in 2021, according to the latest crime analysis data shared by the city's police department. [19] A 2007 report by the Urban Strategies Council found than more than 80% of homicide victims in Oakland from 2001 to 2006 were male, and that over the five years, an average of 77% of homicide victims and 64.7% of homicide suspects were African Americans. Attorney General Bonta Releases 2020 California Criminal Justice In Oakland, homicides were up more than 50% in 2021, with more than 100 murders for the first time in a decade. The Oaklandside relies on reader support to remain free for everyone in our community. The Oaklandside reviewed police reports, court transcripts, and other publicly available information about these cases. This decision came after the city experienced its 100th homicide of the year. They have long-term health impacts that take a long time to recover from. Over 30% of all residents live below the poverty line. In June 2021, City Council voted six-to-two to increase OPDs budget by $38.5 million for a total of $674 million. Meanwhile, auto burglaries and petty thefts decreased sharply in 2020, likely because people were out less due to stay-at-home orders and other pandemic health measures. Crime, race, safety: what's really happening in Oakland Chinatown? [8] Property crime in Oakland declined by 58% between 1988 and 2009, increased from 2009 to 2012 (a period when the property crime rate remained stable in comparable cities and statewide). Crime Trends in the City of Oakland: A 25-Year Look (19872012). This case should not be used to pit minority against minority.. ?? Although MACRO is still fairly new, residents frustrated with Oaklands Police Department are witnessing real change. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, rise in anti-Chinese sentiment and physical and verbal attacks, A new fund to help Oakland Chinatown businesses survive and thrive, Rising crime, calls for solidarity: a deeper look at whats happening in Chinatown, Mayor and City Council president collide over policing, with focus on crime in Chinatown, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. I dont see it as Blacks against Asians. But some people we spoke to who are deeply involved in Chinatown say they dont see it that way. rates In an, , Cat Brooks, Co-Founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, stated as Oaklanders that have to deal with the OPD every day, [why not ask] how they feel. This decision came after the city experienced its 100th homicide of the year. For decades, the Oakland Police Department has struggled to build trust between itself and the community, as the department has been under fire for issues of police brutality and misconduct practically since the development of Oaklands Black Panther Party in 1967. March 2021 - 75-year-old Pak Ho was murdered during a robbery. Learn more. Will it help reduce violent crime? Roland Holmgren, who works in OPDs violent crimes unit, said that the department had observed a significant increase in assaults and homicides starting around 2020, in keeping with national trends. Year After the footage went viral and international, actors Kim and Wu teamed up to offer a $25,000 reward for what they have repeatedly described as an example of rising hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans. After Decreases in 2020, Both Property and Violent Crimes Are Up In one recent incident caught on video, an Oakland man can be seen using a machete to defend his parents against four robbers acting in broad daylight. rate increase [18] A 2012 article in the East Bay Times attributed the low clearance rate in part due to understaffing of the police department and in part to the management dysfunction at the police department, and stated that "In a city where police officers consume more than 40 percent of the municipal budget, are among the city's highest-paid employees, and have exerted an outsized influence on Oakland politics, the department's ability to perform its core missions solve violent crime, catch criminals, and keep the public safe is highly questionable. While the city publishes weekly, quarterly and yearly reports using FBI statistics, the data is spread across dozens of reports. Property crime rose nearly 7% (ranging from about 3% in Los Angeles to 13% in Oakland), when comparing the first ten months of 2021 and 2020. In 2020, the statewide homicide rate was 5.5. Sad milestones in Oakland as deadly violence explodes in 2020, 2018 Review: Oakland murders dip to lowest level since 1999; major crimes fall regionally, Oakland sees biggest drop in homicides since 2004, Oakland killings down in 2014 but still way too many, Oakland: Rash of homicides in late 2016 push year's toll to 85, Oakland Leaders Attribute Drop in Homicides and Shootings to Ceasefire Program, "With gun violence on the rise, Oakland ends the year with 134 homicides", Oakland Murder Investigators Worry About More Cuts, "Crime in Oakland: Perception, reality or both?