Across US, Only Oakland Has Halloween Crime Spree

We looked at the national press after Halloween 2005. Only Oakland reported a crime spree. Yes, in one city or another there was a murder that night by coincidence, but if you wanted to suffer a whole series of carjackings, robberies, and purse snatchings, you had to be in Oakland.

Here are some random incidents:

• Five suspects approached a 50-year-old woman, and one of them said, "We just want candies." One suspect then grabbed the woman's purse, which contained cash and credit cards, then fled.
• On the 4500 block of Howe Street in a drugstore parking lot, a 52-year-old Concord woman was surrounded by a laughing group of people who said, "Trick or treat." When the woman said she had nothing for them, one knocked her to the pavement and grabbed her purse.
• A group attacked a 34-year-old man on the 400 block of 43rd Street, sticking a gun in his back as he was about to open the door to a recording studio. They took the man's backpack, which contained his wallet and some CDs, and got his car keys. One thug asked the victim where his car was. When the victim hesitated to respond, he was punched in the face.
• A 48-year-old man was confronted by a group about 7:50 p.m. on the 3200 block of Kempton Avenue as he was unloading some things from his Ford Explorer. The group demanded his keys at gunpoint and drove off in the vehicle.
• A 35-year-old man was standing at the corner of Mountain and Colton boulevards about 9:25 p.m. Monday when a car pulled up and two men, one with a mask on the top of his head and a gun in his hand, got out and ordered him to come to them. When heshowed a knife, the men got back in the car and fled.
• A 26-year-old woman walking alone on the 2600 block of Harrison Street was confronted by two men who tried unsuccessfully to take her wallet. The men fled, but not before one fired a shot into the air, apparently to scare a group of people across the street.
• A purse was snatched from a woman in her driveway near the corner of Fruitvale and Damuth.

(Last report from the victim; all others reported in the Oakland Tribune, Nov. 2, 2005)

How did Oakland "earn" its sad distinction as the Halloween capital of crime? By running its police department down to half size. When the city council freezes police hiring for nearly three years, lets the number of officers fall from 778 to 690 in two years, and refuses to meet the Measure Y requirement for 802 officers as a first step to the 1,100 officers that this city of 400,000 people needs, you can predict the consequences. The thugs, seeing so little presence of law endorcement, take over the streets. Shame on the city council for playing politics instead of guaranteeing a minimum of public safety.