New data shows crime is on the decline in Oakland.
Oakland Police Department data shows a 33% decrease in overall crime this year compared to a year ago.
“It makes me feel good as a long-term resident of Oakland, a city that I really love,” Oakland resident Robert Kuhn said.
Homicides are down 17%, assaults are down 7%, rapes are down 21% and burglaries are down 50%, according to the OPD numbers.
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Dr. Holly Joshi runs the city’s department of violence prevention and credits the progress to the revival of ceasefire.
“It really is a holistic approach. You know, it’s the police, it’s the district attorneys office, its probation, its parolee, its community-based organizations, and faith-based leaders and the Department of Violence Prevention. So ceasefire is a bit all-encompassing,” she said.
Ceasefire was reimplemented at the start of this year. The multi-level approach identifies those most likely to commit violent crimes and tries to intervene. At the same time, the agency works with community partners to help reduce violence.
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"Ceasefire allows us to get ahead of the violence before it happens. To do that, we had to reorganize the police department from a reactive organization to proactive crime fighting police force," Oakland Police Department Assistant Chief Tony Jones said in a statement. "As a lifelong police officer and former Captain of Ceasefire, I was excited that we were shifting back to a strategy with a proven track record of success.”
The only crime that has gone up is robberies, by 11%, the data shows. Something Joshi believes will decline too.
“In the past, focusing on the 350 people that are driving group and gun violence in the city has led to reductions across the board,” she said. “Because we know that the folks involved in group violence, folks that are involved in gun violence are not only involved in those things.”
But some business leaders say the data don’t reflect what they see.
“The environment that we are operating in doesn’t feel like it's getting better, it feels like it's continuing to get worse,” Jeff Weinstein said.
He’s the CEO of Wise Sons Jewish Deli and said their downtown store on 17th and Franklin has been broken into 10 times since last March, including twice in the past week.
Once where a suspect stole electronics and just this week, when a group of people broke their doors and left with nothing.
According to Weinstein, no arrests have been made in any of their burglaries.
“It feels like when something like this happens there is simply not a consequence for it,” he said. “And if there is no consequence for breaking into a business then I'm not really sure why should we expect that the activity is going to be reduced.”
While the data shows signs of improvement, Oakland business owners say they want to feel it.
“Numbers are encouraging when we hear it, but we just got to experience it and see it. We have to see it in reality,” Hamza Ghalib, owner of Mohka House, said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Sheng Thao said in a statement, "Oakland is turning the corner and the public safety strategies we have implemented are paying off. After years of rising crime rates Oakland is experiencing a significant and sustained decrease in overall crime. Our hard fought progress is fueled by strengthening our police department, reviving the proven violence prevention initiative Ceasefire, collaborating with the state and federal government, and partnering with Oakland based businesses. I am proud of the progress we have made together as a community, however, our work is not done and we will continue to fight for the safer and more prosperous Oakland that we all deserve.
