Playground for Punks

This resident's report is not about a homicide, nor a robbery, not even a successful burglary. But ask yourself, do you want to live in a city that cannot respond to such disrespect?

As I was walking towards Dimond Library this afternoon, I heard yelling across the street at the Safeway store and could see and hear that someone was banging on Safeway's front window. I then saw a group of angry teenagers, one of whom was in a wheelchair, walk out on Fruitvale next to the store.

I went to the library, picked up my mail, and then saw the same teens in front of Radio Shack at Fruitvale and MacArthur, just down the street from Safeway.

After eating my lunch, I went to shop at Safeway, and when I asked the manager what had happened earlier he told me that when his security guard tried to stop some teens from stealing liquor, the teens started fighting with the guard in the front of the store. As they made their way out of the store, they threw fireplace logs against the window.

The manager told me it took 45 minutes for OPD to respond to his call and no arrests were made. The teens spent the entire afternoon after the attempted theft in the Dimond business district! They were not hard to spot because one of the teens was in a wheelchair – all OPD had to do was drive around the block. I saw them a couple of hours later at 5:15 p.m. in front of the Blockbuster on the corner of Dimond and MacArthur looking like they owned the place – calling out to people and making calls on their cellphones.

I called the non-emergency number but couldn't get a dispatcher. I finally called 911, but even that number was busy. Since my cellphone battery was drained, I gave up and went home. ...

These "kids" would not have been able to do what they did at Safeway and then enjoy the afternoon in the Dimond business district if we still had a full-time walking officer in Dimond! I'm sure these "kids" have told their friends about their cool adventure – probably were calling them on their cellphones while strutting around Dimond.

Note: The police department's dispatchers take these calls. A year ago on April 6, 2005, the City employed 63 dispatchers, leaving ten vacant positions. A year later as of April 4, 2006, after the city council adopted the 2005-06 budget last July, the City still has 63 dispatchers – and ten vacant positions.

Another neighbor reports, "As the teens neared the checkout (I didn't see them but could only hear them), I heard the 'N' word tossed around very loudly and frequently, at which point people sort of froze and watched in shock. What frightened me the most was seeing a mother scurry to the back of the store with her child."

The manager of one of the stores later commented, "These teenagers promised to come back and kill my security guard. Maybe OPD will respond then." Subsequently, the manager reports the store suffered a theft later in the evening; at least $3,000 of cough medicines were stolen. He discloses that Safeway spends $280,000 a year on loss prevention at the store. A bitter irony is that there is a police substation in the building. Councilmember Quan has used it for various functions (never about Oakland's need for at least 1,100 officers), but apparently the police are there rarely if at all.