Oakland leaders tout declining homicide and crime rates

OAKLAND, California – Oakland police and politicians spoke Friday morning at St. Columba Catholic Church to herald a nearly 30 percent drop in homicides this year compared to 2023, saying they believe the city is moving in the right direction to curb crime, but no one should immediately declare it. immediate success

“Of course, we’re here today to promote data,” said Holly Joshi, head of the Department of Violence Prevention. “But this reduction is by no means a victory flag for the city of Auckland. What it represents is data that tells us that we’re on the right track and that we need to continue to focus, and we need to continue to have the resources that we’ve focused on.”

Joshi said the past 10 months have been “an absolute whirlwind of reorganization, retraining, promotion and reorientation” of her department to implement the ceasefire strategy.

“My anti-violence specialists spend every day and night in the community building relationships with those most vulnerable to violence and proactively conflict, mediating and preventing retaliatory shootings,” she said. “My life coaches work every day with people who have been identified as being most at risk of picking up a gun in the next 90 days, supporting them in making the behavioral changes and understanding needed to break the cycle of violence. .”

Ceasefire has now become a national model that uses human intelligence gathered on the street and data to target a small group of people most likely to commit or be a victim of gun violence.

The program has three main goals: to reduce gang shootings and homicides by focusing on the small group of people who commit these crimes; reduce recidivism and incarceration rates by offering at-risk groups real alternatives such as work, social services and life coaching; and strengthen police-community relations.

Still, crime remains a concern for many and is at the heart of the current push to recall Oakland Mayor Sheng Tao, who could be ousted from office on Tuesday. Shen’s critics blame her for the disappearance of businesses, especially along the Hegenberger Corridor, and the proliferation of car break-ins, among other things, in the city.

But current data shows that crime in Oakland is on the decline.

Oakland police have reported 71 homicides this year, down 32 percent from last year’s 113 homicides. In all of 2023, there were 126 murders.

Compared to 2023, the number of robberies decreased by 24%, burglary by 55%, and aggravated assault by 15%. to the latest crime report from the city.

The city’s leadership held its press conference at St. Columba’s Church, as it was here that the ceasefire was implemented in 2012.

Each year, Father Aidan McAleenan places a cross outside his church on San Pablo Avenue to commemorate each person killed in a homicide in the city.

This year, he said, for the first time since 2019, he will have to do less than 100 crosses.

“Catholic social teaching speaks of the common good,” he said. “We as a church, together with the Diocese of Auckland, continue to work and will work with anyone.”

According to Oakland Police Assistant Chief James Beer, police officers are among those who are off duty.

He emphasized that there were no murders in Oakland in October.

Beer credited officers, clergy and community members for working together to reduce crime and violence. He especially thanked the California Highway Patrol for coming in to control traffic, freeing upland officers to focus on violent crimes and burglaries.

He said he’s thankful the city now has 200 cameras to help catch suspects and criminal activity.

And he said with the help of the Alameda County district attorney and the state attorney general’s office, “several groups” have been charged with crimes and “it’s really had a significant impact.”

“We can’t do it alone,” Beer said. “We knew we realized that delaying our way out of this just wasn’t going to work. We needed to be more proactive.”