Last week I meet with the Chief of Police, the Captain for our area – Captain Toribio –, the District Attorney, a former Oakland Police Chief, and several police officers. I want to share with you what the Police Department thinks is the cause of the upsurge of crime in North Oakland and what Police Department is doing in our area to solve the problem.

The Police believe that the shootings and murders are the result of retaliations from gangs revolving around drug dealing. They also believe that the robberies are caused because the Police have forced criminals from West Oakland and Berkeley out of their areas and they are now in North Oakland.

The Chief said that he will provide gang units for our area, with a task force in Dog Town, West Oakland. Although Dog Town is not in North Oakland, the Chief said that the Police believe that people are coming from Dog Town into North Oakland to commit the crimes. There are already California Highway Patrol Offices operating in Oakland that the Governors office is providing. The Police Department will be making sweeps with police offices and parole and probation officers during the next few weeks.

As you may know, Captain Toribio has already asked that his officers get out of their cars and patrol our area on foot. The Mobile Command Post is already deployed in our area. His unit has identified a small group of individuals that he believes are committing the crimes in North Oakland and will be monitoring them. There will also be outreach to these individuals to help them join a program or find a job so they can choose to turn their lives around.

When I met with the District Attorney’s office he asked for my help and the help of Oakland residents in obtaining more courts to use to bring Oakland criminals to trial. This request needs to be addressed to Alameda County. I have written a letter to the County and I am bringing the request to the whole City Council so that it can also act to make a formal request for more courts assigned to Oakland.

Captain Toribio also requested some help obtaining a multipurpose motorcycle, plate reader technology, and a shot spotter. I have found funds to support these requests and his office will be able to buy the equipment in the very near future.

We still need a detailed plan from the Police Chief on what his department will be doing city wide in the next month, three to six months, one year and in five years. I have requested this plan several times and will continue to do so until we receive it.

The Mayor is requesting that the City Council spend $7.7 of the measure Y funds on recruitment. I am in support of this request. I will be asking for more information on exactly how the funds will be spent, but I will vote in favor of the allocations.

If you have questions or any ideas of other actions the City can take to help solve this problem, please contact my office.

Jane Brunner
Oakland City Council, District One

February 5, 2008

Dear Neighbors,

Crime in North Oakland is and has been the top priority of my office. It is imperative that the City do everything possible to stop violence in our neighborhoods.

I am working with the Chief of Police, Wayne Tucker, the Captain for our area, Anthony Toribio, and the Mayor’s public safety representative, Lenore Anderson, to escalate the actions the City is taking to protect the safety of residents and businesses in North Oakland.

The City is taking the following actions:

• The Chief, Mayor and my office have developed a targeted, multi-level strategy to augment the police and reduce the types of crime taking place in North Oakland now.
• The Chief has created a police task force to focus on murders and developed a special plan to focus on the 30 most serious offenders.
• The Chief and Mayor’s office have established an intervention program to deal with the groups in North and West Oakland that are responsible for crimes.
• The Captain for our area has implemented a program to Identify crime trends in order to allocate police to high impact areas and stop crime before it happens.
• The police have begun “truancy sweeps” to cut down on robberies during daytime hours on school days.
• The City Human Services department has implemented street out-reach programs.
• Police officers have been directed to spend more time walking beats to be more visible as a crime deterrent.
• An additional police officer will be added to San Pablo/Broadway/West MacArthur areas this month.
• The Mayor and City Council are working on a long term federal and state plan to get guns off the street in Oakland.
• The Mayor has made the commitment to have 803 officers hired by the end of the year.

Crime has been my office’s priority through-out 2007. Among other actions, my office has:

• Worked daily with the police department to track crime in North Oakland and obtain the police officers that are needed.
• Demanded that the Chief provide the City Council with a plan for what the Oakland Police Department is going to do to reduce crime and protect public safety in the short term and long term.
• Demanded that the Chief provide a detailed strategy for how he is going to fill all the vacancies in the Oakland Police Department.
• Proposed and passed an additional $2 million for police recruitment.
• Worked with the Chief to implement the juvenile desk.
• Met with the District Attorney’s office to track what is happening with arrestees.
• Worked with the Mayor to get officers from the Airport into our neighborhoods.
• Allocated more officers for the investigation unit in the budget process.
• Worked with staff to provide evaluations to strengthen the Measure Y programs.

Jane Brunner
Oakland City Council, District One