Oakland managers meet with police chief to push themselves to solutions

Oakland, California. – – Small business owners in Oakland say that they know that their problems cannot be solved overnight. But they came for solutions.

In a unique meeting on Tuesday, they sat down with police chief Floyd Mitchell and the newly appointed district attorney of Alameda, Ursula Jones Dickson, to express concerns, demand answers and drive a way if they are faced with an ongoing property crime.

The organizers said the goal was to open direct communication lines and ensure that the city tour understands that the toll crimes will take over the local business.

Frustration hits a call for solutions

While the emotions were temporarily high, the focus was on finding solutions. On the upper concerns: slow 911 reaction times, lack of police resources and the restrictive vehicle persecution of the city.

“What they see is property crime that concerns them very much,” said Chief Mitchell. “Someone who smashes through their window and causes damage worth 50,000 US dollars just to steal goods worth 5,000 US dollars. We have to hold these people accountable.”

A business owner bluntly shared his frustration.

“The only solution I could see today, and this is my opinion that we try to get the national guard and get a few tanks here and get some drones and be serious,” he said. “Because we are in the city of Oakland, where we have real murderers.”

Residents and business owners also expressed concerns about the emergency response delays.

“I know that we have a problem with 911 calls – that is currently coming up while we are talking,” said a business owner. “What are you doing at the current moment to improve that?”

Mitchell replied that the department is working on stopping more dispatchers.

“We will continue to try to stop and fill the positions. I think we currently have 13 positions that are not occupied,” he said. “We have several people in the background phase to try to fill these positions. It takes about a year when the dispatcher is set until they are on the console.”

Business owners also urged themselves to change the persecution of Oakland, who are currently not allowed to pursue suspects in cases of ownership crimes. But Mitchell was with the existing approach.

“It is national best practice that we don't pursue crimes,” he said. “The value of life compared to the value of the loss is one of our 19 risk factors that we have to evaluate.”

There works with the police

Since Jones Dickson said her office worked closely with the police and actively calculates cases.

“It is clear to me that when I look outside of my window that lies on the Lake Merritt and I see that almost nobody goes through the lake – it is very different than 10 years ago,” she said. “The goal is that we have a better perception of the city and know that they can come to their systems – so that they know that they work in their name.”

Ali Albasiery, who owns five markets in Oakland, helped organizing the meeting with the lawyer of the community and the activist Brenda Grisham.

“All of my shops were broken into the shops of everyone else,” said Albasiery. “Many companies conclude and close, and the city of Oakland will not get any new companies.”

Grisham encouraged the participants to take their concerns beyond the meeting.

“I think it's all in cooperation,” she said. “And I think the more information the people have, they are more likely to work together.”

She asked the business owners to bring their concerns directly to the town hall and to account for the mayor and the city council.

Boss Mitchell repeated this message and emphasized how important it is to report every crime to paint an exact picture of what is happening in Oakland.

“We can only report on the data that are presented to us or the crimes presented to us – be it or down,” he said. “So I would say to get a good picture of where we come from a crime. We all need to report the crime that appears to you.”

According to OPD data, the overall crime has dropped all along the line this year: murders. So far there have been 27, which is slightly higher in the past year than this time.

Oaklandoakland Police Departmental Salameda County