Burglarized Resident Won't Drink
"National Night Out" Kool-Aid

A resident of the Meadow Brook neighborhood of Oakland is not drinking mayor Quan's National Night Out Kool-Aid. When she came home a week before the event, she found her house ransacked and a door jamb splintered.

The victim was in no mood for mayor Quan's insouciant broadcast email, "See you Tuesday, 530 NNO block parties." Here are excerpts from her personal reply to the mayor:

I called your office three hours after my house had been broken into, three hours after my alarm service made several calls to the police and they still had not come. Feeling maddeningly helpless, I called to ask what your plan is to contain the storm of property crimes in Oakland and the uniquely slow response by OPD.

Your assistant never provided a clear response. Instead, she suggested I organize a National Night Out block party, get to know my neighbors and exchange cell phone numbers. Some magic would happen. If we all chip in and call the police, crimes would go down.

I reminded her that my alarm company acted as the watchful neighbor and called the police immediately – to no avail.

We have nothing against National Night Out (NNO). The problem is that mayor Quan puts enormous energy into promoting it while she keeps the Oakland police force hundreds of officers below what this city needs.

The burglary victim heard revealing comments when she spoke with a dispatcher at the police department.

I asked a very professional dispatch agent why the long delay. She said, "We are very busy and understaffed so we prioritize potential bodily injury calls over property calls. Property calls are important but are second and we will send someone out as soon as possible." Now to this I ask: If everyone including burglars know that the police de-prioritize all property crimes calls, doesn't it send up a big bright sign announcing that Oakland is a free-for-all for burglars? Evidently, the dispatcher agrees. She said, "Yeah, the burglars know the cops won't come out for break-ins."

Since Jean Quan entered City Hall as a councilmember in 2005, she has let police staffing fall by 100 officers. Oakland has well under half a police department, in relation to population, compared with most major cities. It is a crisis, but not for mayor Quan. She spends her time promoting what amounts to a political diversion, National Night Out. On the street NNO is a simple neighborhood event, but for Quan it is an escape from the first responsibility of city government, public safety.

The burglary victim tries to cope. She even proposed to mayor Quan a possible method for coping with the situation in Oakland:

Here is an idea to toss into the soup. Instead of announcing to the world that police de-prioritize property crimes calls (which means they don't respond), get the message out that they use a randomized process, sending officers to these calls immediately, say, once every third or fifth call. You don't need to pass a parcel tax to do this. This to me is what my grandma would call common sense.

By all means, go to your nearest National Night Out event. You might take a copy of this burglary victim's words with you.