Crime Is Not Down in Oakland

City officials say that Oakland crime went down in 2010. They point to a total from the police department, which counted 14 percent fewer serious crimes by the end of the year.

The only fact here is that total crime reports are down. Contradictions in the statistics show that there were likely more burglaries, robberies, and other miseries for Oakland residents in 2010.

First of all, forget about homicides. Killings went from 101 in 2009 to 93 last year, a tiny portion of the 23,000 Part One crimes recorded. (Part One crimes include any crime involving violence and most thefts.) Nearly all homicides are bad guys killing bad guys in disputes over turf and deals gone bad. Murders have never increased or decreased in step with overall crime. Homicides are reported in the headlines, but they are no indicator of public safety for Oakland residents.

Crime totals are never exact, and there is always unreported crime. The figures for 2010, however, contain a contradiction suggesting that more crimes than usual were simply not reported. Residential burglaries and robberies increased while reported burglaries and robberies on the street and elsewhere went down:

The disparity is clear. Residents with insurance must file a report with the police department in order to pursue their insurance claim. When residential burglaries and robberies go up, the increase is real.

Other victims in Oakland, after they have recovered from the trauma of being robbed on the street, for example, are now less likely to file a report. No police officer arrives, asking questions for a report; it is up to the victim. During 2010 the police department lost 120 officers because the city council laid off dozens of police and stopped police academies that would replace officers who resigned and retired. After the layoffs the police department stopped sending an officer to take reports of many crimes. The victim must go to a computer and work through a series of online menus to file a report, or download a form and mail it in. But she knows Oakland has too few police. She knows there will most likely be no investigation to find the perpetrator.

Now you see crime, now you don't!

With the change in how crime is reported and with the increase in workload on the remaining officers, a reported 1,401 drop in non-residential robberies and burglaries is just that: 1,401 or more people who did not prolong their misery by reporting the crime.

Alleged fluctuations of ten or fifteen percent in crimes might be news to City officials, but the enduring fact for Oakland residents is that year after year they are the victims of a huge number of attacks and thefts.

Ther are about 100,000 families in Oakland. They suffered 23,000 reported assaults, robberies, burglaries and other thefts. On average you on the street, your home, or your car are hit once every four years. If you have lived more than four years in Oakland and not suffered one of these crimes, you beat the odds – so far.

Oakland residents are the victims of two to three times more crime than residents of other large California cities. In Oakland, crime is a serious issue to worry about, to take into planning where you go and when, and to spend money for alarms, reinforced door jambs, and other security.

It does not need to be this way. Oakland has less than half a police department compared with most major cities. Don't blame the economy; Oakland's poverty rate is the same or less than the rate in safer cities.

When councilmember Jean Quan took office eight years ago, Oakland had about 740 police. She and her council colleagues reduced that number to 658 by the end of 2010. Newly elected as mayor, Quan still gives priority to everything except the core function of city government: an adequately staffed police department.

How much further will Quan reduce police staffing? How much more unreported crime will there be? Mayor Quan has an answer: advertising. "Quan wants a City Hall meeting with public relations consultants to see what can be done about the city's reputation for being Crime Capital, U.S.A. 'It's one of her biggest concerns,' said Quan spokeswoman Sue Piper." (San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 20, 2010)